The Breitling Watch Source Forums

My wife went away for the weekend to visit her mom. She looked at it in church on Sunday and was totally heart broken as the crystal had moisture all inside it. I gave it a panicked look and it is all steamed up. Second hand still moving and I promptly pulled out the crown to stop if from moving.After having the crown out and the watch in the sun for a couple of hours it is better but still I can see some beads of water inside.

Said she did not EVER get the watch wet. for sure not submerged. I asked if she washed her hands with the watch on and she said she might have but surely it could withstand a minor splash from the faucet. I said it does not have a screw down crown and water proof to XX feet does not really mean what it says. Still I think it should be able to take a errant splash or two, no?

It is a Cartier Roadster, will be coming up on 2 year anniversary in December and believe it has a 2 year warranty. Obviously it needs to be looked at. Any chance at all this might be covered by warranty? I find it hard to believe she messed with the watch and actually had the crown out. She won't even set the watch. She always gives it to me to wind and set when she wants to wear it. She actually likes the Colt Quartz better because it is, in her words "always ready to wear". I tell her she needs a winder but that is a different discussion all together.

Am I looking at an expensive bill or might there be a chance the watch is defective in some way?

Thanks!

It clearly got wet somehow, if it passes the Cartier pressure test then it will likely be denied warranty coverage, but it needs to be seen to now. Put it in a container with some silica gel until it is sent away.

I had moisture under the crystal of my superocean after going jet skiing with it. It eventually went away, but the crown seized up. Sent it to Breitling and received a $1000 estimate. I wouldn't be surprised if cartier was even more expensive, although mine was saltwater damage.

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-RJ

Well it took a long time, but Cartier finally got back to me. Good news bad news sort of thing.

Bad news they say the watch had been opened up and not put back together correctly and the gasket was damaged/not aligned. More bad news they denied the warranty claim because it had been opened by someone besides Cartier. More bad news I bought the watch new from the same AD I bought my SteelFish from. It surely looked 100% new so I cannot possibly figure out how it was "opened" after it left the factory. In my mind it has to be a QC problem when Cartier put it together.

Good news the AD, yes the AD is going to take care of the repair bill so in the end it will cost me nothing. All is well that ends well and I should have the watch back in 3-4 more weeks. My wife is bummed she does not have it for the holidays. She is vindicated in that she was positive she never got it wet or had the crown out. I can only guess that over time small bits of moisture got past the incorrectly aligned gasket?

Cartier was nice enough to send along pictures to show the gasket problem and the AD sent them to me. See below. Still I feel like Cartier dropped the ball here. I seriously doubt my AD sold me a used watch as all the paperwork was blank and the watch was flawless. Why on earth would they have opened it? 99% sure they did not. This has to be on Cartier. So very cool to see a company do the right thing and not push that cost onto their customer. Kudos to my AD. Another reason to get a new watch from an AD and not gray market.

Final bit of good news is the service will include a polish and at just under 2 years it was starting to show a scuff here and there. So it should show back up as good as new. Its a Christmas miracle Tiny Tim!

Strange episode with the gasket, but in the end it worked out. Good job on your AD, should come back looking like new.

Happy Holidays!

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Chrono Jetstream
Montbrilliant 1903
Aerospace E79362

Obvious damage to the gasket, but I'm with you - likely a factory problem rather than anything else. Glad that it got sorted anyway!

That AD is a keeper

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard