The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi everyone. I am new to this forum. I currently own a Breitling Superocean Heritage and have recently been tempted to the darkside by my local dealer....via a super avenger limited edition blacksteel. Because I am a regular buyer I seem to be able to negotiate decent discounts. However I need your advice. He has agreed to sell me the watch at £2600.00 GBP and he tells me the watches RRP has just been increased to £3600.00 What do you think. Should I buy or walk away. The watch is great but is big!! It does seem quite cool though in black. Is it a good investment?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated as the money is burning a hole in my pocket!!

Watches like this should not be considered investments - their value will drop over time. The LEs do tend to command higher prices on the secondary market immediately after they come out because of the difficulty of obtaining them from ADs. That's likely going to hit it's peak in the next 3 - 6 months as the final pieces are released to ADs. eBay is a good indication of current secondary value.

Can't really comment on how good that price is in the UK - it seems reasonable, and it's a decent discount from list. The revised list price is likely not too relevant as the dealer probably had an invoice price based on the pre increase price.

thanks. Anyone else got anything to add?

It also depends upon how you wish to wear your watch, ie do you "baby" your watches, or do you wear them at all times and not really care if they gets dings and scratches. I don't baby my watches, and my favourite is worn every day, all day, including at the gym and at work where my hands are in and out of machinery all day.
Unfortunately, I wore my AS Blacksteel in this way. It did get some dings, but one day it caught on a piece of equipment, and the ding did go through the black coating to the metal inside. Admittedly, it was on the sharp edge of the bezel, and it was only just as large as the tip of a pencil, but it made me think that it could get scratched through to the metal in other places as well. You can barely see the metal through the ding, but if you look at the right angle and in the right light, it is visible. Normally a person just admiring the watch would not notice it.
It cannot be polished, but the bezel can be replaced at a cost of appx $600.00.
I now have a new Avenger Seawolf, which I wear every day. If it gets the odd scratch or ding, so be it, at least it has no outer surface that needs protection, and the scratches and dings can be polished out. I will be putting my Blacksteel up for sale for these reasons.
Sorry to ramble on. The Blacksteel is a beautiful watch, to be admired and enjoyed. I thought of keeping it, and just wearing it sometimes, but that doesn't seem to be suitable for me.
Like I say, a beautiful watch, and the coating is a tough as you can get, but you do still need to take precautions unless you want metal showing through the coating like mine.
Hope my opinions and comments will help you.
Cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

thanks very much for those observations. I was curious as to wether the finish was through the metal or as you describe a coating. My job is office based and though I do like to get my hands dirty I usually take off my watch. I own a Zenith Port Royal which I scratched doing a service on my car...needless to say it taught me a lesson I won't easily forget.

It is interesting to hear your comment about the scratch to the black surface. I like the watch and am considering buying one but this problem does seem certain to reduce the value of the "investment" because it is such an obvious sign of wear. I have the same problem with an PVD treated anonimo watch. Is their any known way of fixing, masking or hiding the inevidable wearing on the corners like bezel and lugs?

No way at all. The coating on the Breitlings Blacksteel, although very tough (compare to finish on some high-end tools), is also very thin and cannot be polished or touched up. The only way to get it back to the original coating, is to replace the part that has the ding or scratch. In my case, it is the very edge of the bezel. To replace the bezel is was appx $600. when I checked about 6 mos. ago. The bezel itself is not that expensive, but Breitling outsources the coating process, so they have to send the bezel out to have the work done, then it's returned and the watch repaired. Not only is it expensive, but very time consuming. I have found these things out over the past year or so, by various postings on this forum, and also by research and info from my AD.
Having said all this, it is still an extremely beautiful and durable watch, provided it is worn with certain care.
Hope this helps.
cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

Personally I steer clear of anything with a surface coating for the very reasons the guys have already stated.

Sure, DLC is very tough compared to many other older PVD coatings, but it's worth remembering that DLC is still applied via a PVD process - i.e. it is very thin and even if the surface coating is super tough in terms of abrasion resistance, the resistance to dings and dents is entirely dependent on the underlying strength of the metal. In other words if you hit the watch on something hard enough (or pointed enough) to dent the underlying metal, you will damage the coating.

On the positive side, you will be unlikey to ever wear away the surface just by wearing it and having it rub on your shirt sleeve over teh years. This is in contrast to some of the earlier PVD coatings from the 70's and 80's, that simply rubbed off over the years.

Basically if you want a Blacksteel piece, you've got to either be prepared to "baby" it, or just accept the fact that you may get one or two dings that will show silver through the black..... and be impossible to repair unless you have the entire case refinished.

To me they are great looking pieces, but I'd personally never own one. Now, if Breitling had joined the 21st century and made one in ceramic...... well, that would've been a TOTALLY different story!

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

I actually hit my blacksteel the other day while closing a file cabinet, THUD! Couldnt quite look at it for three minutes. When I finally mustered up teh courage.....not a dent or scratch! Steel would have showed up for sure! In fact I do not even get the swirlies I usually do when changing straps!

The down side is, like already mensioned, it is pretty irreversable if it does get scratched. But thats a risk worth taking for me, love the Blacksteel AS


Now a ceramic 45MM Chronomat? That would be something!!!!!!

_________________
Certified watch nut.

As some of you will remember, I had one for a few days 'by mistake' and even with a 15% discount I paid a good deal more than the £2600 you've been quoted. So, i would say it's a good buy but if it's for investment purposes, like a good wine, you'll need to lay it down for the duration and not wear it it any 'risky' environments.
It's certainly a chunky little blighter, which i mistook for a AS Blacksteel because of the stencilled numbers.

_________________
The Colonel
_________________________________________

A watch is just for Christmas; a 'Ling is for life

Skyland-Slate Grey, Steel Prof 2 & Blue Croc
Navitimer World-White, Tan Croc
Seawolf 09-Yellow, Brushed Steel Prof 2 & Blk Croc

I love my BlackSteel Skyland Avenger... Its awesome... Its a completely different watch; looks like nothing else out there.
This said, I would be open to trades, just for the sake of having something different to enjoy! Tried with a couple of members on this forum; I am 0 for 2 )
I wear it quite often and I "baby" it just as much as any other watch (which is not much ) in my collection. Yes I have dinged
it a few times and to my surprise....still no major scratches, if any!
Its a pretty big and thick watch that gets hit quite often (on door knobs, doors, walls etc).
I am sure that if I had the SA version I would have wrecked it by now, just like I did with my regular SA
Remember guys, I'm the same guy who scratched the AR coating of my SA !!!

Spartan
That AS BS looks eye wateringly good old chap. You appear to have similar sized wrists to me. You're dead right, the SA is just a tad too large for the likes of us and very prone to dinks as a consequence. Fingers crossed for a BS LE to celebrate the anniversary this year, eh??

_________________
The Colonel
_________________________________________

A watch is just for Christmas; a 'Ling is for life

Skyland-Slate Grey, Steel Prof 2 & Blue Croc
Navitimer World-White, Tan Croc
Seawolf 09-Yellow, Brushed Steel Prof 2 & Blk Croc

You can already see the problems with the SA iBS in this thread....upside is....a great collectors piece that needs to be handled with care........downside.....easily marked and scratched ....buy it if you dont intend to use it as a daily beater.............

ALL watches need to be handled with care and the BS is no exception. Also it doesn't get marked and scratched as easily as many people believe.... trust me, I should know.... I wear it practically everyday and so far its still in MINT condition ....

My AS BS has fewer dings than my other watches - it really is resilient to that sort of thing. The problem of course is that a ding that does distort the metal (you don't really damage the DLC, rather the steel shows through as it distorts) can't be fixed like it can with a non coated watch.