The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi everyone,

Has anyone sent their watch to Mark Heist before? Any thoughts on his work and whether it’s worth the wait?

Currently his wait time is 7 months. And I know a fellow watch collector who fixed his Breitling top time, paid $1800, and waited 8 months to get it back. Seems like a lot of money and a lot of time, especially for a piece in that price range. After almost a year what if I’m no longer interested in the watch or have found a better example. I may even forget he has it

I’ve also heard about Mark doing some things I’m not a fan of. Like replace an original Navitimer dial which wasn’t that bad, polish an unpolished watch, replace hands which ended up having a different lume than the lume on the dial. Anytime I go to my watch guy he always leans toward the side of don’t do anything to the watch unless it’s completely needed. Leave the watch original and enjoy the history it’s gone through.

I do have a watch that I’m interested in possibly replacing the dial because it’s destroyed and replacing the subdial hands because they are non salvageable. I’ve heard Mark has access to NOS dials which is a reason I’m interested in his services, also because he’s a vintage Bretling expert. The movement of the watch is fine and was serviced 2 years ago. But Mark and his site say that to do those things he has to first service/overhaul the movement for minimum $600, not including parts, then I’ll be “allowed” to change those things. Basically he has created a barrier to entry so people don’t just send their watches in to get parts swapped out. It’s understandable but isn’t great for my pocket or patience haha. My guy fully services a chronograph for $200 and I get it back in a few days.

Where do you guys draw the line on spending money fixing up a watch? I’m not talking about the regular service. Seems a bit unreasonable and careless to spend $1500-$2000 on fixing a watch that at the end of the day is worth 3 or 4 grand.

Never used him as this is my first journey into Breitling. I do have a few Heuers and found using the expert in those watches (Abel Court) can be a good idea and worth added expense/time in certain cases. Hope that helps.

I've had a few watches that have had the Heist treatment. He does first rate work. I only send watches to him when they are a collector watch, like a Navitimer or Cosmonaut, where originality and attention to detail are important. He's usually receptive to requests to leave original dials, hands, etc, alone if that's what you want. I think he only installs new factory replacement dials now vs nos and there are minor differences if you go that route and originality is out the window. My only complaint is the length of time it takes to get a service accomplished. Being a factory approved service point for vintage watches you would think he would hire a couple more experienced watchmakers to lighten his workload. That said I've never been disappointed with a watch that he's done for me. For me, as long as the repair cost and purchase price don't exceed the value of the watch I'm usually ok.