The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Is it normal that I can rotate my watch 360 degrees and get the rotor over the top? Even tapping my watch doesn't always make my rotor drop to the bottom...
The reason I ask is that lately, I'm under the impression that I don't have enough power reserve in my 9 months old Navitimer 01 46 mm. I'm not 100 % sure since I wear another watch every time I go to do sport, so my Navi has some downtime every week.
Today I looked a bit at the reaction of the rotor, and I can't remember that I was ever able to get my rotor over the top ( 12 o'clock position when holding te watch vertical )...

One more thing: today I found my watch had stopped 24 hours after I last wore it. I hand wound it 40 or 50 turns. Could it be that I wound it 100% and that the rotor has a little bit more resistence once the power reserve is at 100 % ?

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

Rotor doesn't gain resistance with winding. If the watch stopped 24 hours after you fully manually wound it that's a problem that has nothing to do with the automatic winding, it suggests a problem with the running train that is preventing the mainspring from fully winding down.

However, that doesn't explain a rotor that isn't turning relatively freely because there are bearings and jewels isolating that from running train / mainspring issues. There is some resistance n the winding so its not automatically a problem, but if the reserve is seriously reduced as it sounds, it needs checking out.

Thank you for your reply. It seems I wasn't clear in my explanation: I wound the watch fully today after I found it dead. Since it was only 24 hours since I last wore it, and since it's not the first time I was under the impression that I didn't get the full 70 hours reserve, I looked at the rotor motion (after fully winding the watch ) and saw what I explained.

To simplify things: is it normal you can get the rotor over the top ( 12'clock position ) when rotating the watch?

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

Same answer, not automatically a problem. I would wear the watch consistently for a few days and see what happens. If it stops after 70 hours or so there is a real problem, if it stops after 4 - 6 days there is a possible problem.

Ok, thanks Roffensian. I will keep a close eye on my watch and see what it does.

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

Ok, a small update. I've been wearing my Navi continuously last week. It didn't stop working. Then I put it away and the power reserve was done after approx 32 hours. I didn't manual wind before putting it down, the power reserve was just from wearing.
Since I'm fairly actice, would this be considered normal? I was always under the impression I got full power reserve with other auto-watches just from wearing them...

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

Fairly active is subjective, but would expect more than 40% power reserve after a week of wearing. Clearly the automatic winding is working, there may be other issues. Give it a full wind and then leave it alone and see how long it runs for.

Ok, new update.
Full wind gave me 65 hours of reserve.
Wearing the watch for a week after the full wind gave me approx 32 hours. So the same as before.

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

So it needs Breitling attention....

Ok, didn't really wan't to do that, but I also think something is not right... Thanks again for your reply Roff!

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto

Final update ( I hope ! ): watch was dropped at my AD on monday june 15. Next day it was sent to Breitling Switzerland. Today it was back at the AD! So, contrary to all the horrorstories, my watch made the return trip in 10 days
The rotor now doesn't get stuck anymore at first sight. On top of that, my Navi was polished. Very nice! ( Even though it's only a year old, the deployant buckle had tiny scratches all over )
It was delivered with a Breitling polishing cloth ( didn't get that when I bought it ) and in a Breitling zippered transport box.

If the problem is completely fixed, I'm a happy camper! I had already taken into account that my watch wouldn't be back before the end of july...
All in all, I'm pleases with how it was handled.

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Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm, Chris Ward C11 MSL auto, Lüm-Tec Combat B16 auto