The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello fellow Breitling Fans! I'm new to the forum but not to the beautiful piece of art that is the Breitling watch. I have a question regarding the manual winding of the automatic movment: can you over wind the watch? Also, would anyone know how long the power reserve would be if the chronograph funciton is left on?

No you can't overwind an automatic as they have a clutch mechanism to prevent it.

The power reserve will be slightly less than the standard 42hrs with the chronograph on, but not too much less. A couple of hours or so.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Thank you Driver8 for your quick response, truly appreciated! I have another question and please forgive me if my questions sound lame. When setting the time should i wait for the second hand to go to the '60' before I pull out the crown to set my minute hand? or will the watch reset it self approriately to correspond to the second hand and the minute hand moving right onto the minute marker?

Hey there fellow watch lover!

As far as I am aware non of the Breitlings have a zero reset feature, I know some Lange sohne's do!
So if you want to keep the second hand aligned witht he minute hand as it strikes it's markers, yes pull out the crown as the second hand reaches 60.

Being OCD as I am I like to do this to observe accuracy of the watch!

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All the best.
Ian

thanks Ian, will do!!

Right, you have to pull the crown at 60 seconds. Or, alternatively, if you have a good eye and some skilled fingertips, you can estimate the position of the minute hand according to the position of the second hand - e. g. at 30 seconds it's not a big issue, the second hand should be exactly between two minute marks.

V.

Thank you V, will try that as well!

Ok, tried both options in trying to have the 60sec hand line up with the minute markers. After trying it the first time with the utmost care in esuring that I was right on the middle of the minute marker and tried stopping the second hand right at the 60, the watch was running 15sec out of sync. Tried setting it again with compensation for the 15sec and its still running 15 sec off. Am i doing something wrong? I'm moving the minute hand clockwise and trying not to have any 'jerky' movements, trying to land right in the middle of the marker....Can someone please help me out?

Don't worry about the position of the minute hand just make sure that the second hand (the one that sweeps) is right on the mark at 12 o'clock then move the minute hand to the next minute marker, for instance if it is 4.02pm move the minute hand to 4.03pm and then wait until the reliable time source that you have (tomic clock or watch or atomic time such as US goverment one http://www.time.gov ) hits the12o'clock position and push the crown in on your watch, the second hand will then start moving and you have sync'd the watch!

just check but if you lined the minute hand correctly as you see the second hand reach 12 o'clock the minute hand should be striking the next in line minute marker!

If the watch is running withing cosc you should find that in a 24 hour period the watch will have gained around 2-6 seconds. Now the fun part! How you place the watch at night when you take it off can advance or retard the movement.

In my case if I place my watch flat down face up it will advance around one second over night, it I place it crown up it will loose 2 seconds. By following the print out the dealer gave me for my particular watch I only have to adjust it when we have a time change twice a year! Mine keeps within a second a month following this procedure every night!

All watches differ and if you want to be as anal as me on this go to your AD and ask him to time it and give you the print out.
Mine looks like this


Hope that helps!

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All the best.
Ian

Hi Ian, thanks again. Don't mean to be anal but with such a precision time piece one expects perfection. I will adjust the watch right after this response and let's see if it works. And by the way thanks for the placement of the watch info, had no idea! Cheers!

No worries, I hope it works for you! As I said though, if you can get a print out of your watch it will be even more accurate!
As for anal, heck, OCD is my middle name...And I do not mind a bit

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All the best.
Ian

Wow....you were spot on...set my watch according to atomic time after my last post and it's almost been 24hrs and just checked the watch with the atomic time... it's about 3 secs ahead of the pace!!! (had it resting on it's side last night, will synch again and have it resting face up tonight and check the difference in time again tomorrow)

thanks again Ian

No worries, I think you will have fun with the resting positions and getting to the point where you do not have to adjust it at all! One other thing, I find my watch to be more accurate when it is fully wound.
If you wear yours around 8 hours a day then that will be fine, if it is much less, say half then give it around ten winds of the crown to keep it topped up!

Sounds like yours is well with in spec!
How old is your watch? when I got mine new the AD said that after a couple of months everything settles down and the watch is more accurate!

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All the best.
Ian

Just got it from an AD here in T.O. It's the discontinued B2, just love the 'busy' blue dial, bargained him down pretty good. Sure was a long wait for it though, not that I couldn't have purchased one earlier, just had to be at a certain pillar in my career before I thought I was worthy of a Breitling on my wrist. Last year was a pivotal year for me and have been shopping for one since mid Jan. So being a new timepiece will account for it being a bit 'off'? Guess everything new has to be 'broken in', sure am happy with it though. Will post a pic soon, not that anyone hasn't seen this model already.

There will be a 'settling in' period. Your watch is getting used to running constantly after sitting in the AD's display case / safe for quite some time and it's going to take a few weeks to stabilise. If you are only out 3 seconds a day now you won't have any problems!