The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I bought brand new Aerospace and extremely dissatisfied. Breitling could not align hands properly: small one is always behind. i.e. when it is 9 o'clock the angle between hands is more than 90 degrees. Same you can see at 3 o'clock. Ridiculous for such a brand! At 12 - small hand is clearly behind... Moreover, Breitling service could not repair them for 3 months now.. and in the end I hear from dealer that ALL watches within this model have same issue. I have visited the shop today and was shocked to see that it is TRUE - two other brand new copies really have the same problem! Unbelievable! Any 100$ watch will have hands aligned properly in nowadays. To me it does not matter if they have super-quartz and all that as long as hands show crap. So, look at yours carefully, perhaps you have bad luck too. I attach a picture so you can see it for real. This is NOT an instrument .. and NOT for professionals.. I would love to hear from anyone who has the same model. Thanks for your feedback in advance.

Well it it weren't for the lines showing it out of line i don't think i would have ever noticed. However as you say you do expect perfection from these "instruments" hope you can get sorted to your saisfaction.

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Breitling Blackbird (original)
Oris TT1 lume 44mm
TAG Professional 2000
Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird

I've got to agree with Rick that without the boxes drawn on the picture I'd never have noticed it. Maybe it's more apparent at 12 o'clock........

If it bothers you, then you might have to bite the bullet and send it in for 3 months, but if it was mine I wouldn't let it worry me too much. (But then I'm a mechanical watch fan, so I have to be prepared to accept a certainly level on inaccuracy!)

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I have to be honest and say that to me it looks like the amount of tolerance that you absolutely have to have in a mechanical movement.

if there isn't some slight play in the wheels then they will completely lock and the movement will never turn and given that the hands are attached directly to the wheel shafts that play is going to transfer to the hands where of course it is more obvious because of the distance from the pivot point.

Happiness comes from within. I think the watch is outstanding. I would compare it to some other brand; although, I have never looked closely enough. Oh well, ignorance is bliss.

R/

Thank you all for feedback so far. Regarding 'if such issue exists with other brands' - I can say: we have 4 other Swiss watches in the family, including Tissot, Longines and Raymond Weil. NONE of them has such a problem, while being same type digital-analog. When it is 9 or 3 o'clock you can see 90 degrees exactly. And for some reason - such a precision does not stop 'mechanical movement'. Some people say I have 'way too sharp eye'.. maybe - I am a CPU designer by profession, so can catch 90 degrees angles quite easy.... I did draw red boxes only after couple of conversations with a dealer. But besides, I am simply terribly surprised that such a famous watch maker can't align hands. I though it is like ABC in their business. Well, it is not.

I bought mine because of the comfort resulting from the light weight and was very very satisfied, up until now, thanks a lot. Casio G shock, I see you down there in the bottom of the drawer, come here.

I really cant see the problem here, I love the Aerospace, it's a great watch and as for the allignment, were talking millimetres here, I have one and enjoy it. But if it makes u unhappy u should sell it and buy something u will enjoy.

Hi. No doubt that the hands are not lining up at 90 degrees. I also have a good eye for things like that and would probably notice it without been told about it. That said I probably am one in a hundred or as roff called me once a "freak". . . Did you try to "sync" or "hack" the hands. three is slack in the movements that could account for the "OFF" of the hands. Search some threads about it. I also would say that the fact the hands are straight, not angular, would make it way easier to spot a perfect 90 degrees would not help. Think of the same problem in hands that were angular or not parallel and the problem would not be as noticeable as in your case. Just my thoughts hope it helps. Breanach78

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Breanach78

A Few Breitlings.

very easy, mate, do not look at the digit part, focus on the minute hand then you will see you can not tell out correct time...
already 17:57:10 but the minute hand still point to 17:56 , it should point to 17:57, why? quality issue.

depends on the model, the very very old aerospace did not have this issue, only the recent several years, aerospace got problem, the minute hand can not align with the marker.

mate, this is issue from Breitling, the minute hand can not align with the marker, 23 among 25 made by breitling have this issue for model aerospace, but some old aerospace do not have this issue and citizen, seiko, casio, and all the other brand do not have this issue, but as we like the looking of breitling so we are not happy they produced such kind of bad quality watch....really bad....

That would annoy the hell out of me too. Personally, I would have returned it. If you can not longer return it, definitely send it in and have them fix it.

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I'm not sure there is anything to fix here guys, there has to be some, tolerance as stated before. I would personally just wear the watch and not worry about it, if it is working properly and accurately then IMHO I would leave it alone.


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I just thought I was picky, but I see both sides of this point. It is very much like that scratch on your car that no one sees but you know it is there. Some things just can't be unseen. I have tolerated worse on watches, but not at this brand level. That being said, This particular example is something that I could live with though watches are a very personal thing.

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Blackbird Blacksteel Chronograph
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