The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi,

In early 2009 I bought a used (2006) Chrono-Matic 24h. It was (and still is) in very good condition with no scratches at the housing and very little wear at the straps. I bought it from a dealer in Texas and the way it looks it probably wasn't worn much.

The watch was "in the box" for about six months before I started wearing it (had bought myself a present but had to wait before wearing it).

After some time (I cannot remember if from the beginning) the watch just stopped. Being new to automatic watches I just wound it thinking it was "recharged" while I was wearing it. With time the cycle got shorter and the watch stopped even a few hours after I had wound it (always 40 rotations). I sent the watch to a Breitling service center here in the US and described the problem. A service was done and I got the watch back after eight weeks. It worked finefor some weeks until the old problem came back: It just stopped.

I wound it 40 times and did not wear it in order to find out if the power reserve was OK. I repeated this several time and it always reched 40+ hours until it stopped.

Then I started keeping track of for how long it ran when I was wearing it regularly (every day about 14-16 hours, idling over night for about 8-10 hours; 40 windings at the beginning; no windings in between). It usually stopped working after 60-70 hours.

I sent the watch back to the same service center in May (it was still under warranty from last years service). This time I got it back after two weeks. Unfortunately it stops working after a few hours now!!!

I am very disappointed because I don't know what is going on with the watch and I have completely lost the trust in that Breitling service center.

Since I will be flying to Europe soon I am planning to send the watch to Breitling in Switzerland hoping they can identify and fix the problem. But before doing that I was hoping to get some response from the forum. I appreciate any feedback. - I love that watch despite the issues, but I want to get it fixed.

Forgot to mentions: Sometimes the watch can be "restarted" by activating the stopwatch. It will then run (with the stopwatch being stopped again) for a few minutes up to an hour.

Great watch!

If you had it serviced by an AD I would send it to your regional Breitling Centre (BUSA/BUK). I think services carry a limited warranty.

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Al

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"

The CM 24 Hr is a great watch, so it's a real shame you are having problems.

I'm at a loss as to why BUSA (I'm assuming you're in the States) haven't been able to fix it. Sounds like there's something a little more unusal going on inside your watch, which has apparently slipped through the QC net. You can insist that a watch is sent back to the head-office if you are unhappy with your local service centre so that's probably worth trying. I did the same with IWC after I was unhappy with the ability of the service centre here in the UK.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

But if you leave the stop watch running then it will happily run normally right????

Make sure that the service centre has that information, there's a problem between one of the arbors and a plate jewel setting. Could be a damaged arbor, could be end shake, could be something else.

Thank you for the advice, Roffensian. - I just wound it up 40-times and let it running. I will try to start the stop watch when I see that the watch had stopped.

Question on the side: What is the impact when having the stop watch running for along period of time? Does it deplete the energy storage earlier?

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10011

Here's a pretty big thread on people using their chrono.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

The power reserve will be reduced, but it won't be an issue for a daily wearer. That said, the watch still needs service, that's just a temporary fix for the symptoms.

I tried to verify the cause of the failure. Here is what I did and what the result was:

- Wound the watch 20 times (half-windings) and set the date. The watch started immediately.
- Watch stopped after 9 hours
- Started stop-watch. Watch started, too.
- Watch and stop-watch stopped after approx. 25 minutes.
- Pushed stop-watch button. Watch started, stop-stop did not.
- Watch stopped after appr. 2 hours.
- Pushed stop-watch button. Watch and stop-watch started...
- And so on...

Roffesian, my conclusion is that you are probably right with your description of the cause. I will send the watch for service.

Thank you. I will keep you posted when I receive the watch back from service.

Am I overreacting when sending the watch to Switzerland for service?

It's just that I had it twice at the same service center here in the US and it did not get repaired. Maybe, if I (and the service center) had known what I know now (Roff, thank you agian) they would have been able to do the repair. Maybe. -

Your opinions are appreciated!

I would send it directly to BUSA in CT with an explanation of the symptoms.

That's what I finally did. - Described the symptoms, added your hint regarding arbor and plate jewel settings and handed it over to Fedex yesterday. I expect hearing back from them in about two weeks (that's how long it took last time). Hopefully the news won't be to bad.