The Breitling Watch Source Forums

. Not quite, but Breitling would have been down closer to 80% without him (on the upside they would have a lot more pink boxers to give out as gifts)!!

Interesting numbers. As Sharkmouth I'm not really surprised that the blow was so big, actually I'm more surprised to see a similar drop for Omega.

However, as these were production numbers the blow could be both more or less severe. Let's say that a lot of the watches produced in 2008 were still unsold, that would give reason for lower production and as a result the blow was less severe, but instead spread over multiple years. Another way to think, if they sold what they produced in 2008, then what if a big share of the 2009 produce (which already was down a lot) was unsold? That would be very disturbing.

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

WOW, those numbers hurt...

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Chronomat, Black on Black with Romans
Avenger Seawolf, Black Face on Rubber
B-2, Black with Silver Subs
Movado Sport

I think the numbers will increase for 2010.

Did you all know that Panerai's In house movements are not COSC?

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Nah, those numbers don't hurt me one bit. The way I see it, Breitling will either be forced to realize their yearly price increases have pushed them out of their core competency and market, or they will go out of business. Nothing released within the last two years even remotely peaks my interest, and all my watches are based on common ETA movements. Parts will therefore be available elsewhere if push comes to shove.

I predict we will begin seeing either deeper discounting or less price increases for a little while. Until it's time for the bubble cycle to begin all over again!

I dont agree that we'll see less price increases....or deeper discounts. Look at what Breitling has done with creating these 'limited edition' pieces. They make a minor change and charge a premium for it. Not only does this limited edition marketing allow Breitling to charge a higher price, AD's can reduce their discounting by feeding customers a line of bullshit by saying 'if you dont pay full price for it, someone else will, since it's limited'.

I think as the economy continues to recover we'll see production climb higher along with prices.

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Honestly, I think its because they are making "Playskool" watches like the Superocean II.
Im sorry, did i just write that?

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Breitling for Bentley Barnato 42
Rolex Submariner

In my way of thinking Breitling production numbers are down my choice. Ted Schneider could see the hand writing on the wall and chose to limit his exposure in the down market. As a privately held company he can make quicker moves in either decreasing production or ramping it up as the market dictates. There is a reason there is a shortage of the most popular Lings in the market now.

Just my opinion of course.

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Coasterkid
Breitling Super Avenger
Breitling Steelfish
Breitling B01
Omega Seamaster
Rolex T/T Yachtmaster
TW Steel TW22

I wonder if any submissions get rejected? Then what, they go back through to get "re-conditioned?"

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UN Maxi Marine Ti
B01, BEB
SOH
Aerospace Ti
Chrono SO
Omega 300 Master Co-Axial Chro
Omega PO Chrono.
AP ROO Diver
Titan Black Rolex DSOD Honeycomb Dial

Well of course production will increase as the economy increases and sales increase - Breitling has pursued a market expansion strategy for the last decase and will inevitably continue that - value priced models (relatively) like the SOII are evidence enough of that, and of course it was a conscious effort to ramp down production to reduce costs - that's why so many people were laid off last year (across the entire industry).

Aleister makes an interesting point that as a one year blip we can't deduce too much about sales, Breitling likely did try to reduce overall inventory by cutting production further than would otherwise have been necessary - I think the interesting numbers will be to see how quickly things recover to 2008 levels.

In terms of rejection, I haven't seen the numbers for 2009, but COSC does publish rejected totals, and from memory the number is generally very small for Breitling - less than 0.1%. That's doubtless because of the amount of internal testing undertaken before submission.

Roff,

Do you have the full list of production #'s I would like to see where IWC sits on that list.

Thanks!

I have the top 27 (and IWC aren't on it). Which models do IWC certify?

List:

Rolex - 607,512
Omega - 187,558
Breitling - 108,220
Tag Heuer - 70,195
Panerai - 40,562
Chopard - 37,314
Mido - 17,730
Ball - 15,455
Titoni - 10,935
Tissot - 6,932
Chanel - 5,702
Enicar - 5,617
Ebel - 4,705
Ulysse Nardin - 4,051
Montblanc - 3,807
Bulgari - 3,712
Concord - 3,160
Rado - 3,095
Corum - 2,740
Bremont - 2,478
Porsche Design - 2,171
Cattin & Cie - 1,681
Carl F. Bucherer - 1,588
Numa Jeannin - 1,488
Tourneau - 1,482
Paul Picot - 1,341
Ernst Borel - 1,134

All others <1,000

What should one deduct from the optional participation in the COSC program?

I would Imagine if IWC doesn't certify watches it is by choice and not from lack of ability, but I havent had any experience with IWC. Do their watches run within specs?

COSC is simply an independent certification of a watch's accuracy (-4 / +6 seconds a day for mechanical). For Breitling they feel that it's a distinction from competitors, for others it's meaning less - it's just choice. IWC certainly produce a lot of movements (in house and generic modifications) that are capable of attaining the specs, they just choose not to for most (or all - I can't think of any that they choose to certify).

Are Breguet's COSC?

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"