The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I hate to admit this but that is one of the reasons I have not bought a 01 is just this. I hope to pass these down to my grandchildren and have to understand that, while I love these machines and feel they are worth every penny, my family may not. I also believe that, if push comes to shove, I can get my ETA based calibers repaired by a good watch repair person. Not a BUSA overhaul but possibly what I need at that point in my life or theirs. My father told me a long time ago that anyone can make the payments on a 5 series but not everybody can afford to maintain it. Something I have tried to live by. Just my .02.
Best health, Frank

This week I sent my Aerospace II (F5606110B) to the Walton Connecticut Service center because the battery needed to be replaced. I opted for a complete overhaul. The charges are $504.63 for the required work plus $37.80 to replace one of the riders on the bezel.

For my part, I expect Breiting service to disassemble and thoroughly clean my watch with care using their special tools in a clean environment. They will replace the standard quartz movement (ETA 988.332) with a superquartz movement (ETA 988.352) and replace the back cover which announces this improvement. Lastly trained people will polish my watch using techniques, tools and abrasives developed by Breitling. I expect my watch to be returned better than new with the work guaranteed.

I don't know of any well equipped repair shop with skilled mechanics that does not charge north of $100/hr for services these days. Breitling estimates five hours of service time for the repairs. Putting all of this in perspective, I think the charges for over hauling my watch are reasonable.

I understand perfectly. I like nice things, but my children do not share my tastes. I do not intend to foist "my stuff" on them. I enjoy these items while I can.

About finding a "good watch repair person" that is a seperate issue. On a recent visit to The National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia, PA, I got into a long discussion with the librarian who is also a very skilled watchmaker. He said he could undertake the repairs, but he recommended that I send the watch to BUSA because he did not have easy access to the needed parts and supplies. I bought this watch at Tourneau in NYC. The deal included free battery replacements for as long as I owned the watch. After their repair department had replaced the battery several times, I noticed some dirt under the crystal. They also installed the wrong rider to replace one that I lost. The replaced rider used to catch on my clothes and was a nuisance. I live in the greater metropolitan area around NYC. I am sure there are lots of watch repair services that might do a good job. It would be trial and error and risky to find a suitable shop that offered an economic alternative. Along the way one repair person might just take a short cut that would pre-empt me from ever going back to BUSA. You are correct in your analysis. If you can't afford the maintenance, it is best to focus on a watch that you can repair or replace without it being a burden. Regards, Aaron

My father told me a long time ago that anyone can make the payments on a 5 series but not everybody can afford to maintain it.

I have owned my Cronomat since '90.
It's been overhauled 3 times now. Just picked it up this afternoon from the 3rd.
The whole movement was replaced! They had quoted me at $550 cad when I brought it in. That price apparently was for the old movement overhaul. Breitling Canada didn't have all the parts in storage-so they upgraded me to a new movement assembly at the estimated price.

I guess I am now the (proud) owner of a 1990 crono with a 2011 movement!
The date numbers are different for sure..but I like it. Seems very precise.
Any comments would be welcome!
Cheers,
Dave

As I've written on the forum recently, my Navitimer Heritage had a problem when i bought it pre-owned about 18 months ago. The jeweler i bought it from provided a good service and it was sent to Breitling UK for a complete overhaul. I'll not go into all the details, but when it was returned from what would have been a £372 overhaul, the watch was running 15 seconds a day fast. Mind you, it did look like new, but it didn't exactly look old when it went in! At the time I was very glad to get the watch back, and let it lie. I shouldn’t have.

I'm collecting a watch (Tag Heuer Chrono ETA7750 movement) tomorrow from a service by a local jeweler and Fellow of the British Horological Institute. When I took the watch in it was running around 10 seconds a day slow, it's now 1.5 seconds a day out. It's been given a general service, lubrication, regulation, check over, re-seal, and pressure test for £85. He is also supplying some genuine spare springbars for my Seawolf, a new springbar tools, and is going to demonstrate to be now to refinish my Titanium Seawolf.

The Tag was serviced first as a bit of a test, and, if the test goes as well as I hope and expect, he will be regulating and servicing my Breitling collection over the next few months. I agree that expensive items deserve special treatment and care, but there is no justification in simply assuming that a properly qualified, experienced, and dedicated person cannot provide that special care and treatment. How many of the service personnel at Breitling UK have FBHI after their name?

All this is not necessarily true of the B01 yet as many good watch makers will not have worked on the movement, but ETA 7750, 2892, 2824 et al, these have been the bread and butter of good watch makers for many years.

I suppose what I'm saying be cautious about how you let loose on it, not prejudiced about who you let loose on it.

B'ling

This week I sent my Aerospace II (F5606110B) to the Walton Connecticut Service center because the battery needed to be replaced. I opted for a complete overhaul. The charges are $504.63 for the required work plus $37.80 to replace one of the riders on the bezel. I could easily be motivated to join the rants over the costs involved. However, I have learned that very nice “things” require special handling by specially trained people to remain nice. For instance, supposing you owned a beautiful Ferrari Sports car and the time came for an oil change and routine servicing. I am sure that such service at a shop qualified to work on the car would run north of $500 just for the oil change. It certainly would be far less expensive at a local garage that handled routine service. The local mechanic would not have the experience to anticipate even the simplest of pitfalls. In driving the Ferrari onto the lift he might face clearance problems that only came to mind as the lift scraped the length of Ferrari chassis and bumped the transaxle. The mechanic might guess where the lift supports needed to be placed. A few trials when the chassis groaned or crunched as the lift was engaged were necessary to get it right. The mechanic found the drain plug was a strange shape for which none of his tools was appropriate. He went at the plug with whatever he could. The tools left the plug sufficiently distorted that the tool specified by Ferrari would no longer work. Ect. Ect. I hope you get the picture.

http://www.breitling.com/service links to a page on the Breitling website with three videos that illustrate the services offered. The videos should go a long way to dispersing the anger upon presentation of the repair bill. (BTW the defualt language for the videos is French. Look for the work “languages” to the right. Clicking on the word will bring a drop down menu for other choices.)

For my part, I expect Breiting service to disassemble and thoroughly clean my watch with care using their special tools in a clean environment. They will replace the standard quartz movement (ETA 988.332) with a superquartz movement (ETA 988.352) and replace the back cover which announces this improvement. Lastly trained people will polish my watch using techniques, tools and abrasives developed by Breitling. I expect my watch to be returned better than new with the work guaranteed.

I don't know of any well equipped repair shop with skilled mechanics that does not charge north of $100/hr for services these days. Breitling estimates five hours of service time for the repairs. Putting all of this in perspective, I think the charges for over hauling my watch are reasonable.

If you look for local watch repair shop they might be able to do it for a little less money. Especially since we have heard multiple stores about people sending their watches out to BUSA and getting it back with a ding in it.

If you want to keep your Breitling within Breitling specs your have to service it with an authorized dealer or with Breitling directly.

Like you don't service your Jag at your local garage, same goes with Breitlings. And if your car's in for an oil change, it certainly needs more than that, likewise for Breitlings. 'cause during a Breitling service, they don't only change the oil either.