The Breitling Watch Source Forums

This post is to document a problem with my watch and hopefully get some feedback to prevent this from happening again to me or someone else.

In December I purchased a New Navitimer Montbrillant Olympus.

I have used the chronograph feature several times since I bought it and found it working perfectly.

Today was another story. I started the chronograph and about two hours later I noticed the seconds and hours were working perfectly, but the minutes had never moved. I stopped, reset and started it again and again found the minutes were not working.

I repeated the start/stop/reset twice more and each time the start/stop button felt a little "different" (ie a little harder to push). On the next try I found that the start/stop button would no longer depress.

To give the complete background, earlier in the day the watch naturally died. I rolled it around on my wrist a little and I tried to start the chronograph. I pushed the chrono start/stop a little before the watch actually started back up. It didn't seem to do anything, but this is the only thing I can think might have messed it up. Is there a restart procedure or things "Not to do" when your watch is dead? Has anyone else "killed" a chronograph before and if so how did you do it?

Taking it back to the AD tomorrow, hopefully they cover it with the warranty!

The good news is the time still works fine.

That's weird.

Shouldn't be anything to do with the mainspring being wound down. It sounds as though part of the mechanism to engage / disengage the chronograph has become damaged. Definitely take it to the AD asap and I would suggest not wearing it - if there are little bits floating around in the movement then they will only cause more damage.

It could be something as simple as a loose minute hand, but I don't think so with the chrono start / stop problems that you describe.

Breitling got back to me on this service repair. They said the watch case must be replaced at my cost in order for them to repair the internals under warranty. Their policy being that the case has "impact damage". We could probably debate whether this impact had anything to do with the failure (I don't think so given how long the watch worked fine post-scratch). My question is: why should the case have to be replaced if the scratch doesn't bother me? Any technical reasons?

If I want the watch repaired under warranty I'll have to replace the case for $500...I'm a little bent over a barrel here!

Sound reasonable to everyone?

$500 for a case isn't bad - I got quoted $150 for a pusher!

In terms of whether it's necessary, I'm guessing that Breitling are suggesting possible damage inside the case- they don't usually identify work unless it is needed.

IMHO, that's a wee bit more than a scratch. Looking at that while putting in on my wrist would make me sick. I know I would replace the case for cosmetic reasons alone.

Now to the length of time between the hit to the case and the subsequent problems with the chrono. The operating levers for the chrono are, by necessity, close to the case wall because of the proximity to the pushers. The operating levers are held in place by screws and springs to keep them from conflicting with each other.

The impact could have loosened a screw that, after a while, backed out by the motion of the lever to the point that it allowed the lever to go where it is not supposed to be. Or, a spring could have come loose and the chrono kept working until the case was in a certain plane that permitted unwanted interference when the pusher was activated. This is all conjecture on my part because I haven't seen the watch. Having worked on a few, I know there is usually not a lot of clearance for things to operate properly and even the slightest misalignment can cause major problems.

Good luck with the repair.

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1809 Cosmonaute
1903 Navi
Navi Olympus
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