The Breitling Watch Source Forums

It is hard to believe a three year old watch needs full service. You should argue that. I did on a 2 year old watch (just out of warranty) that was running 30 seconds slow per day. They said the oil was dried up. I argued that no way should the oil be dried up on a two year old watch. they agreed and dropped the price to about 200 if I remember correctly.
You can argue these things to some avail and I would do that here.
The high cost , however, is a problem of a mechanical chronograph. I try not to own them long enough to have that done.

U can't Argue it shouldn't need. Service if the date change is broken as terenciuld henand likely is buts of metal in the movementtyat have Broken off the damaged bit

so t does need a service it just shouldn't cost so much

My point is that you can negotiate what Breitling is quoting.

Fair enough u can always negotiate but that has sweet fa to do with a broken watch not needing a service whilst being repaired

personally I think the ad is screwing round

your ad uis screwing you, they are trying to mark it up. tell them to send it back to you, no service done and re send it back in yourself if its no too late, or find a good ad.

a good dealer is priceless, my ad scratched my blasksteel by mistake, i wasnt that mad, but he insisted on buying me a new case, thats well over 1k to him and i didnt let him, but thats the kind of service that gets me buying multiple watches a year from him....time for new dealer.

Someone's adding $$$ to the quote somewhere imo.

Waiting with interest for you to find out who/where and let us know

sorry to hear about this. I am still new to this whole dealing with service stuff since both my watches are under a year old. I would be very interested in finding out the outcome. I agree with the other members....you should call BUSA and talk to them directly. This is a pretty big brand and I am sure that Customer service must be a priority fo them over there.

Based on my AD's sayings, full service every 4 to 5 years is advised but not mandatory. However, the longer you wait for a full service, the more it will, eventually, cost. Furthermore, with each full service, you get 50% off a new bracelet, if you have croco or leather.

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

Thats not true unless your watch is in very poor condition and needs parts to be replaced that arent already included in a full overhaul. The cost of an overhaul is supposed to be a flat fee.

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-RJ

Correct, the cost of an overhaul is a flat fee of around $ 550. However, the longer you wait for that overhaul, the more parts will, eventually, need replacing and are not included in the regular service. Thus, the extra cost.
Don't forget that a watch is a machine, a very complicated hand-made machine but a machine nevertheless. It's like how you treat your car. You don't wait for it to break down before you bring it to your garage. You do services at regular intervals, even if the car runs smoothly. You clean the engine bay, change the oil etc.

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

Well, I took your advice and called Breitling USA this morning to inquire about the high cost of service on my watch. The lady I spoke with (Angela I believe) was absolutely no help at all. She said since my AD sent the watch in, she could not speak to me about it. She was very adamant about it and insisted that she would only speak to Finks (my AD in Charlotte). I asked her what the overhaul price on my 6.75 should be and she said up to $600 plus the cost of parts (Hands and gaskets). I told her what Finks was quoting and she said to have them call BUSA to discuss the charges. I am waiting to hear back from Finks with a better explanation of my service cost.

Thanks to “Angela” my perception of Breitling has diminished. It is a beautiful watch but broke with in 3 years of purchase. I could buy a $50 dollar watch that would keep time and tell the date. The customer service I received this morning makes me question the brand even more. Perhaps when the POS returns ill sell it and buy a Rolex DSSD. Ill update again once/if I learn anything new.

Regards,

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Jibba
Rolex DeepSea | Rolex Sub C-LV | Panerai PAM 111

definitely call BUSA, your AD might be trying to pull a fast one on you, my local one has tried it before to many people not just on breitling but on rolex, guess thats why rolex pulled out!!

Huh?

If you run a watch with bad lubrication or broken down oils then you run the risk of damaging more parts, but if the watch is maintaining COSC specs for 7 years then clearly the oil is still doing its job and it will cost no more for a service if the watch loses COSC specs after 7 years, than if it loses COSC specs after 4 years.

Jibba, i am just curious when you bought this watch from your AD was it brand new or second hand?

Final Update:

I got a call from my AD this morning to further explain the high cost of service. She said they had “made a mistake” and quoted me the wrong. She said they inadvertently charged me for parts, which we part actually baked into the overhaul price. The new breakdown was:

Overhaul 680
Parts 100
Polish 100
Total 880

With tax and shipping it would be $913.59 instead of the original quote of $1045. Although this cheaper, it is still more than I was anticipating and not in line with the experience of the folk who have commented on this forum. Sensing my disappointment, the customer service rep at Finks (who was extremely friendly), said she would discuss with her manager and see if any additional discounts were possible. I got a call back about an hour later with news that Finks would further discount my service fee and the new total would be $851.77. this is still higher than I expected, but nearly $200 cheaper than the first price. I guess I have no choice but to pay the man and get the watch fixed. Next time I will just send the watch back myself and deal directly with BUSA or just give up on Breitling all together.

Boogiebot, I purchased the watch second hand about year ago from a local collector in my city. After noticing the issue, I contacted the seller; however, he would not stand behind the watch…..which ultimately I understand. I didn’t expect any special treat from my AD since I didn’t buy the watch from them. I simply just wanted to be treated fairly and not charged more than the $25 they quoted me to send the watch back for me.

Thanks to everyone for the support and information.

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Jibba
Rolex DeepSea | Rolex Sub C-LV | Panerai PAM 111