The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I bought a Navitimer in September 2009 and noticed it was running 8.5 seconds a day fast.
Took it back to my AD about five months later who sent it to BUSA and six or seven weeks later, I got it back.
It remained within COSC spec. for all of two weeks and then settled back into exactly 8.5 seconds a day fast again.
Took it back to the AD again who promptly sent it back to BUSA again.
Just got it back after seven weeks and it is running about 7 seconds a day fast so far.
Wouldn't surprise me if it settles back into 8.5 seconds a day fast again.

Do the users of this forum think it is reasonable that I am pretty miffed?
I understand that this is a mechanical watch and over several years it is likely to drift out of specification, but this particular watch has never been in specification from the moment I bought it.
And Breitling have already had it back twice to tune it while I have been without my watch for getting on for three months in the just-over-a-year I have owned it.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

I think you are well within your rights to expect it to remain within COSC tolerance after a regulation at Breitling for longer than 2 weeks!

I've never personally come across this type of "drifting" issue with Breitling watches. As they ETA based movements (expect the B01 obviously) they are usually pretty easy to regulate.

What you can do is request that BUSA send your watch back to Breitling in Switzerland if you are unhappy with the service BUSA are providing. Might be worth a shot.

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

Hi Driver8. Thanks for the info.

When I picked it up at the AD this last time, since I had been bitten before, I got them to put it on their tester and they said that it was running "about +7 secs/day" fast in the initial orientation they tried. But they spent quite a while supposedly trying different orientations and apparently found one where it was running +2 secs/day.
Since that was behind the scenes, I've no idea whether that was true or not, or whether they were just trying to get rid of me, but I've tried leaving it overnight in all sorts of orientations and never really noticed a difference.

Is it fair to expect the watch to run within the -4/+6 secs/day with normal usage?
I wear it every day and leave it on my bedside-table at night and it consistently runs the 8.5 secs. fast each day.

Since it is so (impressively/surprisingly) consistent, I expected that a quick visit to Breitling for them to regulate it slightly would be all it would take and all would be fine.

But the fact it has been back to Breitling twice and they keep on sending it back to me unchanged (checked again last couple of days and it is back to +8.5 secs/day) makes me think I'm expecting too much.

If it is true that there is one orientation for which it measures at +2 secs/day, are their specifications fulfilled, and I just have to accept that my particular habits for wearing the watch give the accuracy I get?

Thanks for your advice.

Have them give you a printout of their tests. The watch should be tested in five positions for a full regulation, and to regulate it properly to all five positions could take several days.

The watch may still be out due to temperature variations, isochronism, etc, but they should be able to prove what they have done with a 'before and after' printout.

...mine rides 2.5 seconds faster a day now!

but not always was like these, when i bought it (in October with 1 year use), it was almost 0s a day!

I think I will try to contact Breitling USA directly rather than going through my AD.
See if they can send me the records of what they have done.
Will post an update if I get any joy.

Thanks all.

This kind of customer service is not only with Breitling but with other companies in various products.

Most likely they did not even open it, just let it stay there for few weeks to make believe they are working on it and sent it back after. It is their time management efficiency.

Example: something similar I experienced recently...purchased online a pair of expensive Revo sunglases and after receiving found them defective (glass edge chipped in one place), returned the defective pair for replacement with another new defect free pair. After 2 weeks I received "another pair" to find out that was the exact pair I sent back previously with the same exact defect.
I called back to explain that this is the same pair, why it was not replaced and their answer was "sorry we can not help further, they all are the same".

So back to your B. Navi. topic, they will not spend time on requests like this because almost all requestsors of this nature will give up.
You have the proof that this is true - your watch is still running 8.5 sec faster, same as before you sent it to them.
Try again and maybe you get lucky to have it finally adjusted.

I could not disagree more.

There is absolutely no evidence that Breitling does this. ADs can be unreliable at times but BUSA has an excellent reputation. There is clearly a problem with the watch, but when the watch was returned it ran within COSC specs, it just didn't stay there. That suggests that there is still an issue, and the fact that it takes a few weeks to show itself suggests that it could be hard to nail down, but to suggest that Breitling just ignored the watch is frankly foolish.

The AD game me a print out from Breitling when I picked up the watch this last time which describes what they did.
It says the did a "Basic Service" which included "Quality Control", "Pressure Test" and "Movement Adjustment".
Also listed are various gaskets and washers, which I presume they replaced.
I don't know if "Movement Adjustment" equates to time rate regulation, but they, at least, claim they did some work.

Anyway, I'll find out when I speak to them.
Unfortunately, I'm traveling for the holidays so won't be able to get to it for a couple of weeks.

I really hope I can sort this out with Breitling. Apart from this regulation issue, I love my watch.

Well. My saga continues.

I got Tourneau in San Francisco (the authorized dealer I bought the watch from) to send the watch back to Breitling yet again.

The good news: It looks like someone has actually finally done something with the watch rather than just holding on to it for awhile and sending it back to me (a full overhaul according to the documentation).
It looks like it is just about in spec. at about -3.5 seconds a day, or so.

The bad news: There are a bunch of scratches on the back now along with tool marks. One scratch goes through the serial number which will make it difficult to polish out. Called Breitling USA. They said, "yes" they noticed it too. They said it wasn't them. Looks like Tourneau decided they would open it and fiddle with it themselves (probably without the perfectly matched tools). Then perhaps they gave up and sent it to Breitling.
WTF! This is still under warranty (and hasn't worked in spec. for any length of time since day one.)
What gives them the right to touch it at all?

And now more bad news: Especially the chrono hand stutters pretty badly. (Not an occasional missed beat. I mean regular stuttering).

I'll have to call them yet again.

No doubt they will send it back to Breitling for the fourth time.

Frankly, it is about time they declared it a lemon and replaced it. We'll see what they say.

The combination of authorized dealer and Breitling themselves have been an awful experience.

That can't be good for a company selling luxury goods that basically trades off of perception and reputation.

They have lost at least two sales due to friends of mine being interested in buying one, them asking me what I thought of my Breitling and me telling them in no uncertain terms.

I'm sure there are many very satisfied Breitling owners on this board.

As yet, I am not one of them!

Its not all that hard to do. I normaly regulate my own watches if they need it, with a bit of trial and error you can normally get it to within about 1-2secs without much effort.

_________________
Watches:
Navitimer A23322 steel/blue arabics on Bracelet
Hublot Big Bang Steel ceramic carbon
Bell & Ross BR 03 Type Aviation

I'm sorry to hear your case has been damaged by someone using the improper tool to open the back. Tools are readily available to fit the Breitling 15 flat case back. Any authorized Breitling service center should have them. You can also get the tools from supply houses. There is no excuse for damage like this. Unfortunately, Breitling and Tourneau will likely each accuse the other.

BUSA will accept direct shipments from owners. That is the method I use. That way there is no middle man. When they regulate the movement they will test it to COSC specs, but that is really no guarantee that it will perform to that spec in the field. There can be exceptions, but they should be able to offset the error with another adjustment.

I usually regulate a movement to keep the best time in the position it will be worn the most. I use pendant up (PU), pendant left (PL) and pendant right (PR) for pocket watches and pendant down (PD), PL and dial up (DU) for wrist watches. Then I tell people to wear it a few days and let me know how it does. If it is not satisfactory, I will regulate it to reduce the error.

_________________
1809 Cosmonaute
1903 Navi
Navi Olympus
Super Avenger

I have a blackbird model that was gaining 3 to 5 minutes per day and sent it in for repair recently (bought it in late 2009). After waiting over 3 weeks without notice from my dealer I called only to find out that Breitling is not going to stand by their work and is going to charge me around $800 to affect repair and it will take about another 3 to 5 weeks to receive it.
How do I get in touch with Breitling USA to complain?

http://www.breitlingsource.com/contact.shtml

What was the reason that they gave for not affecting the repair under warranty? They must be claiming that the problem was caused by misuse if the watch is less than 2 years old.

I have this issue with a Steelfish, 4 minutes a month. Do you work with a lot of electronics, this is prob the issue.