The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Gentlemen,

My '68 Top Time 814 (Venus 178 calibre) is in need of service & repair after 21 years of service to me. I'm in London but have not had any dealings with any local horologists for some time. Would any members here have any advice to offer as to who could best repair my watch. I would prefer not to post as I'm quite attached to my Breitling after all these years, however any recommendations would be helpful.

Any tips or advice here would be most welcome. Thank you.

I believe that Breitling themselves still look after vintage pieces in the UK so you can drop it off at an AD or take a trip to Tunbridge Wells. There may be other UK watchmakers who can assist more cost effectively, but BUK is a good fallback.

Thanks Roff, it's good to know I can get BUK/factory service, however I would still appreciate any advice from members as to which independent horologists may offer service too. The thing is that the Top Time isn't the dearest piece, so if an independent can offer better value I may go with them.

If anyone has any tips for me I would be most interested to hear them. Thanks.

Well there's always Craig (forum ID chronodeco) here in the states (Oregon) that can help you... but I don't know anything in regards to the logistics of shipping a watch here and receiving it back... (in terms of tariffs and the usual red tape) he pretty much does a lot of our work and I'll vouch for him...

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

Not sure if it is the same in the UK, but in Canada you have to pay tax and duty on the repair costs plus any additional value that the work creates in the article. That makes it a reasonable deal to do cross border, the only reason that I didn't recommend Craig was that the OP doesn't want to mail if he can avoided (us English people call it post rather than mail)

And I also noticed the British call french fries "chips"... (I'm in the restaurant business)

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

Not used him myself, but I understand that a chap called Stephen Burrage at Rytetime (just google that) comes quite highly recommended from some of the other watch forums.