The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi folks my name is Ian and I am in the UK. Around 5 years ago my girlfriend bought me a Superocean as I have always wanted one. It took her a year to pay for it !, I have a few concerns mainly regarding the UK official service centre. I had the watch for 3 years before its first service. It was pretty marked by then so it needed the full service incl bracelet polish. It cost me £275 UK pounds/ $412 USD and they quoted around 4 weeks. They had it for around 15 weeks. I have seen the official videos on youtube so I know what goes on in the service but a few things I am not happy with. When it came back it looked stunning almost like a brand new watch, but they had polished out the serial number from the watch back, firstly how can I prove its mine? is there a serial number inside anywhere? secondly they replaced various seals/gaskets and all the hands...ok they usually do that but I now have different hands in another style. My new hands are a different style and size so it looks like the newer model. I have the MK1 professional bracelet with the straight links but I now have the set of hands from the later model with the diagonal bracelet links eg professional mk2 so now it looks like a mish mash and a fake as nothing matches up. The original second hand was a round tipped red hand with 3 sections in the round bit, now I have a red arrow style ???? I was looking at websites that show how to spot a fake as the hands are always wrong so mine now looks like a fake. And the worst part of all they did not stamp my service book or write any remarks in it so it looks like its never been serviced and I have a blank book. All in all a very poor service indeed. One unhappy owner. Can anyone shed any light on this ? Incidentally it came from a reputable Large British jewellers so there really is no excuse.

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

Sorry to hear of your issues, it's certainly worth contacting BUK in Tunbridge Wells to discuss the issues.

In terms of your specific questions:

1) There is a serial number on the movement that matches the case.

2) The hands tend to be automatically replaxced with the new style unless you request otherwise. If they still have some of the older hands then they should be able to replace your more recent ones (and given the other issues I would press for them not to charge). I wouldn't worry about it looking fake, but I understand that it's not the look that your girlfriend bought you.

3) You should have got a receipt from BUK that breaks out the service, I would send a copy of that and the book back to them and aske for it to be updated.

Hi thanks for that info, I never did get a break down of what they did as I sent it via the jeweller and not direct. The service centre is only about 20 miles from me so next time im taking it by hand as they said I could drop it off.

Similar experience here regarding the serial number.
I picked up my Colt Ocean Automatic yesterday from Breitling Service Centre and my initial reaction was WOW !!!
It looks stunning now comparing to the rather sad state after being a daily "beater" for 11 years.
The WOW factor turned to horror when I took a closer look at it at home - where is the serial number ???!!!
I can see vague traces of it upon close inspection with the watchmaker's lupe. Using a bit of imagination you can actually recognise some resemblance between the vague traces on the case and the actual number on the COSC certificate.
Am I likely to encounter problems with future services at Breitling?
Can Breitling re-stamp the serial number on the back case or even replace the back case with the number re-stamped if I am willing to pay for it?

Cheers,
Wessa

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"It is just a matter of time!"

It would be good if they could re stamp. Mine is due another service soon so if they polish it again it will be lost altogether