The Breitling Watch Source Forums

and people wonder why the breitling bezels cost so much..........

I was wondering that too. I don't like them on gents watches, but I do know quite a bit about diamonds, and a change of colour of an untreated diamond is something I've never heard of. Very odd.....

However, the only thing I HAVE heard of is occasionally some dealers have been known to apply a surface treatment to a diamond in an attempt to mask the yellow tinge on a less than colourless stone. Some treatments are permanent, but a lot aren't and can rub off over time. The usual reason for doing it is to improve the colour and hence make it worth more. I've not personally come across this, but that is the only time I've ever heard of a diamond apparently "changing colour".

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Driver8

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i just think you compare rons factory look to alot of the aftermarket and u can see the quality difference maybe not in the stones but in the quality of the product, id only go factory if it were me but then i dont esp like diamonds on a watch for a guy so kinda irrelevant

I have my bezel at a Rolex dealer in Mi, trying to get it fixed and come to find out it looks like Liori diamonds drilled out my Breitling bezel too much in three spots and had to GLUED the diamonds to stay in those spots!! and that is why the diamonds keep turning rust/yellow color...I have pictures of my bezel on my cell phone I am trying to upload them but file is too big, if anyone would like I will text them to you..untill I find a way to upload them...I would not buy nor send anything to Liori diamonds ...I also contacted the NYC BBB...watch for that. They very well could have had a diamond setter in the past that did good work, but who ever they are using now is a hack...BEWARE OF THERE CRAFTSMANSHIP...

ive said this before, and ive said this again, setting diamonds in stainless steel like a bezel, is very very hard and complicated. you need a laser to do it correctly. most places do not have the means to do it and have it hold up in the long term. you can post 10 diamond bezels, 5 factory, 5 aftermarket, and i can tell them difference 90% of the time from a picture and probaly 100% inperson. i have both, its obvious.

The man speaks the truth! OEM diamond bezels are impossible to beat IMHO.

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Driver8

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How much would a gen Breitling Super Avenger diamond bezel cost??

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ROLEX SEA-DWELLER DEEPSEA

A WHOLE LOT! IT ADDS ABOUT 7K TO THE PRICE OF THE WATCH WHEN YOU BUY IT. I HAVE ONE I WOULD SELL, $2500. I HAVENAT SEEN ANY FOR SALE THOUGH

listen guys, I've said it before and ill say it again, ILL DO THEM FOR YOU, ive mentioned it in many threads before, that we have a family owned jewelry store, we specialize in custom work, I personally do Cad/Cam jewelry designing, and can make ANYTHING, when i say that i mean anything, ive done it all, shit i could design a watch if i had the time, we have a milling machine right in house for our wax models, as for my father, hes a master bench jeweler, thats where the quality of workmanship comes in.....so going back to the bezels, to date we've done 3, mine was the first, once we knew we could do it, i did some of my buddies, THEY ARE VERY DIFFICULT YES, but if you know what your doing and have the quality and workmanship and patience to do it anything is possible, stainless is one of the hardest metals and biggest pain in the ass to work with. My father got to work, drilled the holes, and set the stones, yes you need much different tools than working with gold. I have seen my share of Liori, they dont compare to how mine are, cause when your dealing with a mom and pop shop, thats been in business for 30 years, there gon give you there best, all stones obv matching, no single cuts, no off colors, we use E-F color stones, and VS clairity all round brilliants, very professionally done, heres a pic of my watch, i suck at taking pics, lighting messes everything up hahah, im gon post some better closer up ones

on a side note, i absolutely agree, theres nothing compared to OEM, there just gorgeous, but from the Liori ones ive seen its hit or miss, like ppl have said, some stones are off, not set right, and hey some are spot on, (as for 123breitling, yes thats very true, they drilled through and theres no foundation to set the stone) but not for nothing guys, why deal with a factory, when god knows who your talking to, when your dealing straight a store owner

Cheers Gents

http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f200/jonban/?action=view&current=IMG_1508.jpg

So how can they fix my bezel? are they wasting there time and my money? What would you do?

i didnt want to do it, really, but this kinda proves my point. this is abotu as good a job as you are gonna get on an aftermarket job, but look to the left of the 45 marker, those 3 stones are set at 3 different depths, that's what i mean.

the aftermarket bezels the stones end up at different angles, and depts and it shows, if you look closeley. i am not trying to bash your work, really, i thougth about even pointing it out overnight but i felt it just makes my point so well. the quality of the stones is a big part of it, but the setting is the hard part.

again, no disrespect, that not an easy job by any means!

I respectfully agree. No wonder the OEM bezels add so much to the price of the watch. For just three examples (all in SS) the diamonds increase the price by $8360 USD for the Super Avenger, $6320 USD for the Chronomat (Evolution) and $3950 USD for the Ladie's Colt Oceane. These are the list prices from the 2009 price list subject to change of course. I was extremely fortunate that my wife gifted my Evo to me for my 60th BD in early 2007 before that year's annual price increase. At that time the SS Evo was $4835 USD on Pilot bracelet. The diamond bezel was an additional $4500 USD for a total of $9335 USD on Pilot bracelet. Same watch (diamond bezel) in 2009 was $12,160 USD on Pilot bracelet. The SS diamond bezel alone had increased by $1820 USD in two years, the bracelet increased by $300 USD and the basic SS watch head alone had increased by $665 USD. Obviously the over 40% increase in price for the bezel eclipses the 30% increase for the bracelet and the 17.5% increase for the watch head. Straps increased from $130 to $160 (23%) for leather, $400 to $480 (20%)for croco. I didn't bother to look at gold or two tone price increases but you can readily see that Breitling is quite proud of their OEM bezels and have become even more proud of them with time. As far as stone quality/pricing is concerned, this from the web... "To give some sort of reference point for the cost of a diamond, at the publish date of this article, a VS1, G .33 carat diamond retails for $600. A .33 carat diamond that is S1, G costs $450 and an I1, G in the same size is $300." Obviously an F color, VVS1 top Wesselton will cost much more than these examples. In any event, aftermarket diamond bezels can certainly increase the "bling" factor of a Breitling at a much lower price than the OEM versions and may well be a bargain even if not as near to perfection as the OEM bezels seem to be. Below is a shot of my Evo shortly after I got it and if you increase the size of the pic, you'll see the settings apear to be perfectly even and immaculate. Even under a loupe, I honestly can't see anything but perfection in the settings and the stones. Just my .02 worth of course.
Best,
Ron

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"The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea"...

Click to view: 500px Photo Gallery "Flow" or... 500px Photo Gallery or... Breitling Pics Slideshow

.33 vvs2 ideal cut, F colour, excellent polish, excellent symmetry, and no fluorescence = $783 canadian.

check it out on bluenile.ca for yourself.

there is absolutely very little difference from a VVS1 and a VVS2, and only truely visible to the trianed eye with 10x magnification (loop)

sure the craftmanship is great on the bezel ie.. SS, but lets not try to over compensate for the diamonds used by Breitling...these are not speacial diamonds, nor are they unique, or hard to come by... and no way in hell are their 1.23 diamonds worth 7-8K....

only those you spent the the 7-8K will surely try and justify the value...

Hmmmmm, while I'd agree that on their own 1.23ct of diamonds aren't worth 7-8K, the same argument could be levelled at any of us who have spent 5 or 6K on an ETA(base) powered watch....... like most current Breitlings out there.

A lot of what you pay for is the perfection of the overall package. Yes, the diamonds are pretty small and not that hard to come by, BUT they are perfectly matched, and perfectly set. I guess it depends if you're happy with second-best or demand perfection. Personally I'd never entertain aftermarket diamond set bezels as they are never perfect. Sure, some are very good, but they can never be as perfect as a bezel deisgned to accept diamonds from the outset. And that means I'd rather not have them at all than have second best. So again it comes down to personal perceptions of value. If your need for perfection outweighs the need to just have diamonds at any cost, then an OEM diamond bezel most certainly IS worth it IMHO.

But hey that's just me...... and I'm not even a fan of diamonds on men's watches anyway.

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Driver8

Site Moderator