The Breitling Watch Source Forums

wearing my '95 Shark auto for the first time. So I try to set it - first time since I got it. I unscrew the screwdown crown and pull out slightly and turn. Nothing. So I figure I just didn't pull out enough and pull out slightly further - POP, the whole crown and stem come out!! I don't know whether to be angry or sad
So I put it back in and try to get it to engage. I am able to turn the date wheel but it will not engage anything to set the time/move the hands.
This watch was completely overhauled by BUK in 2007. WTF??
Does anyone know what I should do short of boxing it up and sending it to BUSA so they can charge me a few hundred bucks to fix what should already be working on what should be a quality product?

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Omega21

You aren't going to be able to reinsert the crown stem yourself. There are lots of pieces that need to engage and other parts that may have moved now that the crown stem is out - the castle gear had a spring loaded clutch pressing against it and the crown stem went through the middle of the castle gear. Additionally, there are some lubriacted pieces that could now be attracting dust and dirt.

Sorry, it will have to go back.

I hope you didn't pay too much for it.

It's a Breitling so by definition what I paid was too much. As I'm coming to discover on this forum (e.g. recent discussions about fogging after showers) and through personal experience high price + crappy quality = Breitling
Think I'll go back to Omegas.

Roff - thanks for the info. I'll pack it up and send to BUSA...

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Omega21

Saddly i keep hearing more and more 'horror' story...

Good luck mate

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Panerai PAM212 | Panerai Diver Strap
Panerai PAM111 | Black Croc Strap
Omega Planet Ocean | SS Bracelet
Rolex Submariner | SS Bracelet (Sold, Awaiting Funds)
Breitling Navitimer Olympus | Brown Croc Strap (Arriving)

...

I'm sorry, but how is that possible? Did you have the watch sleeping in the drawer or safe for 3 years? It just wouldn't make sense to me...

Or the previous owner had it overhauled 3 years ago, you bought it from him a couple of days ago, and now you're trying to put the blame on BUK? If this is the case, then I would return the watch to the previous owner and get a refund/chargeback.

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Ingenieur - Speedmaster - Submariner

My brother's Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow had a chronograph button pop out several years ago and repaired under warranty. It recently stopped working so it went back for overhaul (out of warranty). So does that mean Omega have crappy quality as well?

Things happen with mechanical watches. It sucks when it happens, but I don't think it's fair to paint Breitling as "crappy quality" just because some people post their Breitling issues on forums. As far as I know, Breitling has not had any quality issues on the magnitude of the Omega 33xx movements.

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My Breitling team:
SuperOcean (blue, circa 2007)
Airwolf (black, circa 2009)

I've also read of Rolex, Omega and others having water problems. No watches are intended to be used in hot water. It's not a Breitling thing.

Sounds like you bought the watch second hand. The first time you pulled out the crown the whole stem came out. Again doesn't sound like a Breitling problem - sounds like a a prior owner problem.

I bought a Skyracer used and the center totalizers don't reset to the exact zero position. Again that's not a Bretling problem. It's a seller problem. Though now it's MY problem.

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SHARKMAN

You realize that its now 2010, right?

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-RJ

Sorry to hear about your problems Omega21, but GX9901's post above is spot on - people will always be lightening fast to post about problems on forums because it's a quick and easy place to vent, which explains why you (and others) will always see a larger proportion of "issues" on forums than you might find in the real world. It's just human nature to want to tell all and sundry about problems. Personally (and I'm tempting fate MASSIVELY here!) I've owned probably somewhere near 15 Breitling watches over the years and never had a single problem with any of them. Maybe I've been lucky, I don't know.....

The 3xxx series of Omega watches do have issues that are known wider than just on forums, but apart from that, what you have unfortunately experienced is quite rare in the grand scheme of the numbers of mechanical watches produced per year. I know that's probably of precisely zero consolation to you now, but hopefully Breitling will be able to fix it for you and you can get back to enjoying your watch.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Sorry to hear about it, I can sympathise as I am having crown problems with 3 of my watches at the moment (none of which is an Omega or a Breitling). Extremely frustrating.

Not another one?! That really sucks.

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Collection: http://s540.photobucket.com/albums/gg32 ... mview=grid

The third one hasn't actually gone wrong yet, it's just given a warning sign once or twice (e.g. it seems reluctant to catch the thread properly when screwing back in) and I am a bit nervous.

Next time I try on a watch I will be checking the operation of the crown to see how solid it feels. I know that isn't necessarily conclusive but I need to feel reassured!

While I have heard of plenty of problems with Breitling on this forum, I haven't actually personally known anyone locally that has ever had a problem with their Breitlings as far as them breaking within a short period. I personally have owned around 30 of them and have never had a problem with any one of them. One fellow that I sold an older one too did have a problem with the watch about 9 months later saying that the watch only had about 20hrs of power reserve.

However, I know about 10 people that own Panerai's, and two of them broke within the warranty period, one of them twice! A third guy got his Panerai back with a tweezer mark on the dial from where the watchmaker goofed it while fixing it.

I've owned about 6 Omegas, never had a problem with one of those.. even one of the notoriously bad 3301 movements. The only marginal problem once was a scraping sound inside my Bond Chronodiver. The watchmaker opened it up and tightened the rotor screw and it was good as new.

I've been really lucky so far *knock on wood*.

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BreitlingSource Admin
http://www.breitlingsource.com - http://blog.breitlingsource.com

That's what I do after the screw-in threads of my new Tag Heuer Link have been stripped after just 7 months. Now the first thing I do when I handle a watch is screw the crown in and out, and manually wind the watch.

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Ingenieur - Speedmaster - Submariner