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How long should my Breitling Superocean run before requiring manual winding? I wear it everyday and am quite active. After an 80 turn wind , it stops after 4-5 days. This is not too different from just letting the watch sit. Is there a problem with the self winding mechanism?

Well it's quite a lot different from letting the watch sit - the power reserve freshly serviced and with a new mainspring is around 42 hours - 5 days is 120 hours.

80 turns isn't any different from 40 turns - once the mainspring is fully wound it will just slip in the barrel, but if a daily wearer is stopping from a full wind in less than a week then the natural assumption is that it needs service. How old is the watch and when was it last serviced?

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

The watch is 10 years old. It received a complete mechanical overhaul 4 weeks ago by Breitling at a cost of $875.00.

The watched was purchased in February 2006. I have never gotten more than 5 days out of a full wind.

Well if the service was 4 years ago then it's approaching the service window again, but if it has always been that way then I would suggest that your activity level isn't enough to keep it wound and occasional manual winding as a 'top up' will help.

It was serviced 4 WEEKS ago, not 4 years ago!

Apologies for the misread, no need to SHOUT!

When you say it has never given more than 5 days without stopping if that is since new then previous answer stands, if that is only since the recent service then I would ask for it to be checked under warranty. The automatic winding is working or it would have stopped sooner, but there may be another issue like an incorrect mainspring or balance complete.

Basically, if you're wearing the watch every day and you are reasonably active (i.e. not confined to bed) then an automatic watch should keep running indefinitely. That's the point of it being automatic - it automatically self-winds.

I have never once had a watch stop on me if it's a daily wearer, and I work in an office with is obviously not the most active of jobs, plus I remove my watch before bed and also for any sporting activity.

If your watch was service 4 weeks ago (and you are wearing the watch for a decent amount of time each day) then yes it's safe to say there's a problem that Breitling need to fix.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Driver8 thank you for that info, I've been looking for this answer, i read elsewhere that you still need to wind a watch manually even if you never take it off which didn't sound correct to me... I didn't want to start winding my new colt auto unnecessarily.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

OK, a bit of an experiment here for you.
I had to dust off one of my "toy" watches for this as it is the only automatic I have with a power reserve indicator.
The watch was at a complete stop when I picked it up this morning. I gave it 3-4 turns of the crown just enough to get it ticking again and set the time as you can see in the first picture.
Take note of the power reserve indicator just under 3 hours later at 10AM and 4 hours later at 2PM.
I can not claim to be very active right now. The opposite could not be further from the truth, I would be asleep if I moved any less as I am on crutches recovering from a nasty fracture of the calcaneus.
Based on this I say there is something wrong with your watch.

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"It is just a matter of time!"

Not all automatics are created equal though when it comes to winding. The turns per day indicator for a movement is a good indication of how much activity is required, but remember also that it is the type of activity, specifically the changes in orientation of the watch on the wrist. I can wind a watch more during a 1 hour speech in front of a room than in an entire day of typing on a laptop.

You must have some some Italian genes in you then

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"It is just a matter of time!"

Lol - entirely possible, or maybe I just have to be the centre of attention