The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi,

I haven't posted since I bought my Chronomat 44 GMT in March this year so apologies for only posting when I need advice . It's been going great until last night when I decided to give the stopwatch some exercise. I wound the watch about 20 turns manually then started and stopped the stopwatch a few times. I then left the watch on it's side and a couple of hours later I noticed it had stopped.
I wound the watch again and set the correct time. This morning when I woke, I noticed the watch had stopped last night at 11:45 with the seconds hand at 0. I tried starting the stopwatch and it started indicating the spring was still wound. I set the correct time again. I've left the stopwatch running all day and the time is still perfect.
Any ideas what is wrong? I'd appreciate your technical input Roffensian if possible?

I am quite concerned about it after spending so much.

Cheers,

Austin

What is likely happen is friction in the running train that is too much for the power of the mainspring to overcome. Running the chronograph will exacerbate the problem by reducing the amount of torque from the mainspring that is available to the running train. Its less likely to happen when the watch is worn because any movement can help to overcome the resistance.

As to what is causing the friction, it could be a million things, dirt, lack of oil, inconsistency in the polishing of a pivot, etc.

It will need Breitling attention.

Thanks Roffensian, that's concerning......

Just an update, it worked fine all day on my wrist. I came home and left it on its side (crown facing up) and it stopped 15 minutes ago, even though the stopwatch had been left running before.
I picked it up and pressed stop then start and the watch started again.

I'm disappointed that a 3 month old watch costing about 7K GBP can suddenly stop working just because I used the stop watch.

I'll leave it in a different orientation over night to see if it still stops.

Thanks again for your advice.

It's not stopping because you are using the chronograph, it's stopping because there is a problem that is showing up more easily when the chronograph is running.

Sorry Roffensian, I didn't explain things very well. Last night when the watch stopped twice, it was without the chronograph running. I had used the chronograph earlier last night for the first time in months.
Today was the longest it's run without stopping and that was with the chronograph running. The chronograph seems to help it run or brings it to life if it's stopped.
I'll get in touch with breitling and start the service procedure.