The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Here are some interesting figures, again from the latest special issue of Bilan "Watches" (17-03/12-05):

Price comparison 2008-2010, based on entry level models for all brands, in CHF:

Brand 2008 price 2010 model 2010 price

Tissot 295.00 PR 50 355.00
Louis Erard 635.00 Heritage 725.00
Longines 645.00 HydroConquest 1'150.00
Maurice Lacroix 1'825.00 Les Classiques Date Automatique 1'500.00
TAG Heuer 1'700.00 Acquaracer 300 1'550.00
MontBlanc 1'865.00 Montblanc Star XL 2'210.00
Breitling 2'450.00 Colt Automatic 2'530.00
Ebel 3'950.00 Classic Hexagon 2'990.00
IWC 3'100.00 Portofino 3'500.00
Omega 3'150 Speedmaster Professionnal Moonwatch 3'900.00
Zenith 5'400.00 Elite Ultra Thin 681 3'950.00
Bulgari 2'650.00 Bulgari Bulgari 38mm 4'050.00
Panerai 4'900.00 Panerai Luminor 4'200.00
Vulcain 3'100.00 Aviator GMT 4'220.00
Rolex 4'400.00 Oyster Perpetual Air-King chronometer 4'400.00
Chopard 4'430.00 1000 Miglia Chrono limited edition 2009 4'700.00
Cartier 5'500.00 Tank Française Grand steel 5'500.00
Corum 4'600.00 Admiral's Cup GMT 44 5'700.00
Jaeger-LeCoultre 5'700.00 Reverso Grande Taille 6'500.00
Ulysse Nardin 6'900.00 Maxi Marine Chronometer 6'900.00
Blancpain 7'200.00 Villeret Ultra-plate 7'100.00
JeanRichard 2'800.00 Aquascope 7'400.00
Breguet 7'600 Chronographe Type XX Aéronavale 3800 7'600.00
Hublot 5'300.00 Classic Fusion Zirconium Ceramic 8'400.00
Girard Perregaux 8'050.00 Vintage 1945 8'950.00
Parmigiani 8'500.00 Kalpa Grande 9'900.00
Vacheron Constantin 13'500.00 Overseas steel 11'800.00
Piaget 11'300.00 Piaget Altiplano white gold 12'300.00
de Grisogono 10'900.00 Instrumento no UNO 12'600.00
Audemars Piguet 14'100.00 Royal Oak calibre AP 3120 14'100.00
Patek Philippe 15'900.00 Calatrava with "Clous de Paris bezel Ref. 5119 yellow gold 15'900.00

Note: 18 brands raised prices, 6 dropped prices and 6 maintained prices

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- This is Ghost Rider requesting a fly-by. - Negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.

These figures are for Switzerland and show an increase of 3%. Very reasonable.

But they bear no resemblance whatsoever to the extortionate increase seen in the UK.

Colt Auto on leather/tang in 2008 was £1200. Latest price (1st June 2009) is £1720. Increase 43%

I know a lot (I estimate about 25%) of this rise is due to currency fluctuations but it's still a massive increase.

And we don't even get a baseball cap!

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For more information on identifying Breitling replicas, please visit my web site
http://f4buz.com/watches/breitling/fakes/fakes.html

Using historic exchange rates (arbitrarily using Jan 1st 2008 / 2010) those UK prices work out to be CHF 2,697 and CHF 2,873 so actually (and surprisingly) only a 6.5% increase. Of course UK prices include sales taxes so if there were any VAT changes in the UK between those two dates that will throw the figures.

Indeed, reasonable as far as Breitling is concerned.

But how about Hublot (58%), Longines (78%), Bulgari (53%)? Not to mention JeanRichard (+164%)

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- This is Ghost Rider requesting a fly-by. - Negative Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.