The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello everybody. This is my first post here and I'm in need of some advice or help regarding my 10 month old Breitling Steelfish XL. Several months ago I purchased a programmable winder from Brookstone. It isn't an Orbita winder, but it seems to do the job for all my watches with the exclusion of my Breitling.

If I fully wind my Steelfish (40 turns) and then place it on the winder which is programmed to both directions at 650 TPD, as per the Orbita Database, I notice that after about 10 days the watch will completely stop sweeping. If I take it out and wind it back up it works fine and stays within COSC specs again. I've had this happen twice now and I'm concerned that there may be something wrong with the movement. On a side note I also have my Tag Heuer, and Omega SMP's on the other 3 winders as this is a quad winder and they never stop sweeping no matter how long I leave them on the winder.

I even switched the watches around on the winder as I thought it might be one particular motor, but alas it is doing it on the other motors as well. I spoke with my watch maker and he thought that there may be something wrong with the movement, but then I spoke with the AD and they advised me that it is most likely the winder and not the watch. I'm looking for any advice or suggestions from all of you. I still have 14 months on the warranty so sending it back to Breitling is my next option if I can't find another solution here. Thanks in advance

Rob

Sometimes what should be enough isn't enough.

First fully wind he watch and do not wear or place on winder. If the power reserve is materially less than 42 hours, i is time to send to Breitling for a minor (hopefully) service interval. .


Up the RPD on your winder to 800. That's where I set mine just becuase a couple require 800 and the rest 650. It gets confusing what spot to place a given watch. Ideally you want the lowest RPD. Check 800 for a couple weeks and if ok, redudce to 750. Then 700. But surely 800 RPD will keep them all running without creating a an uncceptable wear problem.

And just becaue I am in my bi-monthly fit of insomnia, I need to be snarky enough to point out it is not a Steelfish XL. At 1 year old it is simply a Steelfish. The 44mm Steelfish was introduced in 2006 as the Steelfish Xplus to differntiate it from the original 42mm Steelfish produced olny in 2005. Ever since 2007 it has been the Steelfish with no post script.

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SHARKMAN

Thanks so much Sharman. I will do exactly what you said and report back. As for my error on the name of the Steelfish I figured I would catch crap for that LOL!! I knew that about the 44mm I just wanted everybody to be clear as to which one I have and not to be mistaken for the 42mm version. Thanks again my friend. I will take your suggestions and see what happens.

Rob

Ha ha I was pretty sure to find your post further down this topic Tom as I began to read Watchguru58's thread on your beloved Steelfish

I appreciate the precision of your post

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

After 24 hours exactly, I'm happy to report that my Fish is still swimming strong with only a 2 second loss so far. Heres for another 18 hours Keeping my fingers crossed to get to the finish line of 42 hours + before she stops sweeping with no winding or wear. Then I will move to plan B and fully wind her again and place it on the winder at the next setting of 785 TPD to see how well the winder keeps her going. Thanks again for the advice Skarkman.

UPDATE: After being fully wound (40 Turns) my Fish stopped sweeping after exactly 41 and 1/2 hours making it 30 minutes shy of the estimated 42 hour power reserve charge for this movement. I'm very happy with those results. I fully wound the movement again (40 Turns) and placed it back on the winder. I turned the winder up from 650 TPD to 785 TPD in both directions. After 12 hours the watch has gained about 1 second. I will see how long the watch can stay wound while only being on the winder at 785 TPD. I will also track the accuracy of the movement during that time.

Just a guess here - but my money is it stays wound essentially forever.

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SHARKMAN

I sure hope you're right Sharkman