The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi all,

Newbie here please go easy!

I've just bought a preowned SuperOcean that gets delivered tomorrow. It's from WatchbuyersUK. It's got all its papers and I'm sure its the real deal. Where would be the best (cheapest!?) place for me to get it validated and serviced?

I'm in Cambridge in the UK. Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

Suggest you pop onto the Breitling website, go to 'Service', 'My watch needs a service' and select Europe, UK and you will get a drop down list of all of the UK authorised repair centres. But to save you the time, it gives this as your nearest:

MAPPIN & WEBB
17 MARKET HILL
CB2 3NR CAMBRIDGE

Phone
+44 1223 353 889
Fax
+44 1223 314 354
E-mail
m&wcambridge@mappin-and-webb.co.uk

Suggest you email or phone them up and as they are local to you, pop in and ask for a formal appraisal. Their watchmaker should be qualified by Breitling to open up the watch and check it out and then reseal it, if that's really what you want.

HTH.

_________________
Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

Big money for the service which I appreciate is probably the best thing to do. Is there an independent anyone uses they could recommend?

Independents are not recommended for modern watches because they don't have access to Breitling parts.

As Roff says, I don't know what an independent is going to do, other than charge you for a supposed 'service' where none of the parts have been replaced (if any were needed). It's not like it's a quartz where any market trader could change the battery (Breitling charge £75 for a battery by the way), but being a mechanical there is a lot more to it than that.

I have just had my SO returned from Breitling UK. It took 14 weeks and cost £308 and looks like new and currently keeps time better than COSC. Over the next 2 years or so, both of my Aerospaces will need to go in for an overhaul, and my wife's Oceane needs 'looking at' as the date doesn't always change cleanly. Whilst I get my Aero's and the Oceane batteries changed by an approved service centre, they will go back to BUK for the overhauls, especially as even the approved service centre has made a mistake by fitting the wrong batteries in my Aerospace and Co-Pilot which was worrying.

Good luck with finding an independent, but remember you have spent a fair amount on a premium automatic watch. It will cost you significantly more if a non-approved independent screws something up and it has to go back to Breitling and will devalue your watch significant should they attempt any replacement of parts with generic, non-Breitling parts.

_________________
Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

Thanks for the advice. I won't be going the independent route!

Took my SO to Mapin & Webb yesterday and they have quoted me £500.00 for an overhaul. I'll have to book it in, in the new year but I won't be chancing it with someone who isn't qualified to work on it.

I suggest you look to going to Breitling UK directly. See here:

http://www.breitling.com/multimedia/pdf/sav/sav-894.pdf

M&W may be 'gold plating' the price by going through them - you need to get them to give you a breakdown of costs. A full overhaul of a SO should be £290 + return P&P costs, which also include a nice Breitling-branded service case.

_________________
Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

£290+ P&P I'd be more than happy with that...

Just been officially quoted £540.00 @ M&W, £410.00 from Breitling on Bond St. £290.00 sounds reasonable. I don't need the bracelet polishing etc as it's immaculate but I'm not being quoted anywhere near that £290.00 mark. It's an A14330 so I'm guessing I should be looking at that £540.00 figure on the service chart link.

Might just go for the basic service, should it need an overhaul?

It's caliber 13 which fits under the chronograph category - overhaul is GBP410. Major cost difference between that and maintenance is case refinishing, only you know whether that's needed. The mechanical work will also be more thorough and the need for that will really depend what the service history of the watch is.

Thank you all so much for your help... really appreciated.

Sorry, didn't pick up on the fact it was a Chrono ... so yes, it's £410. My SO is a A17360 which isn't.

M&W are definitely uplifting the price, but that is what some dealers seem to do to 'handle' the watch for you. You might want to just consider the Maintenance Service if the watch is cosmetically mint and runs well within COSC. Again, my SO was outside of this and it was quite an old watch even though the case on mine was in good condition but it came back after the full overhaul looking brand new with all the tiny wear marks on the case completely gone. They also replaced the hands and mine came back with the new style 'arrow' second hand which I prefer to the 'dot in square' type.

_________________
Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

This will sound stupid so apologies, is there anyway of doing a quick check against the COSC? It's keeping great time (from what I can tell) but would be interesting to see how it's really faring.

Again apologies for the noob questions.

Test against time.gov or similar 24 hours apart and see what the difference is.