The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Thanx again Roff,

OK, If truly the sugestions are that he is as good as the more expensive ones, it's worth a concideration.

My main aim is proper overhaul of the moovement & replacing whatever is needed, am not too fassy about cosmetics.

well, it was Fred, not Roff, but yes, for the work you want done on this I would think Craig/chronodeco is second to none.
and, even if you are not not fussy about cosmetics, replacing the chrono pushers seems like a good idea ?

Sorry Fred,

Ofcource the buttons, salty swet of years in the desert & E.Africa chewed them up. Also a small hand, the seconds mechanism, the rotating part of the slide rule, the glass & whatever else mechanical is needed must be done.

Polishing sharp edges & blemishes on case will also delay corrosion accumulating later.

I guess cosmetics I saw as fansy straps or whatever would be unecessary expence.

thanx .....nick

When is done, if am still around, I'll come back with before & after shots.

Movement and function are the important pieces. After that see what Craig says, but a good clean and new crystal will likely go a long way to making it look much nicer cosmetically.

You probably need to shop the UK for someone to work on your aircraft clocks. Roff is correct about value vs. repair cost. These are relics from a bygone era.

You might try Dewey Clark at http://www.historictimekeepers.com/ if you can't get someone in the UK to work on them. I know he can make parts if necessary, but it can get expensive real fast.

I restored a WWI German aircraft clock a while back. It was a poor quality ebauch and was never intended to last. I probably lost money on the restoration. That's why I only work on my own now.

I can't get parts for the Wakmann (Breitling) clock in my airplane. It's over forty years old and every time I service it I spend more time on it than the last time. Things are just wearing out.

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1809 Cosmonaute
1903 Navi
Navi Olympus
Super Avenger

I've tried contacting HistoricTimekeepers by phone and e-mail on numerous occasions, I've never received any response.

You can usually find the Elgin-Hamilton 37500 sell in the $600 range. Basically they are just a big watch. I eventually had mine serviced by a local watch repair shop for under $100. Works great.

Parts availability,
http://www.ofrei.com/page1406.html

Mike

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Breitling Navitimer: Black Dial
OMEGA Speedmaster Professional
Steinhart Nav.B-Chrono II
Elgin-Hamilton 37500 (Aircraft Clock)

Hi all, many thanx for helping me, I never realised that there are such enthusiasts on these watches/clocks.

I am wondering whether you can advise me where/how I went wrong & offended someone.

Unfortunately I blue it somehow without wanting to cause any harm & I got this em from a Company I was about to sent my clocks for servicing, it said:-

".....Nick - I recently found out that some other people in the watch trade are upset because of the price comparison you posted on Breitlingsource. As a part of a small number of watchmakers who work on vintage watches like the Navitimer, we usually trade parts when needed. Now one of them will not do any business with me because of your posts on Breitlingsource. Therefore, I will not work on your watch so do not send it for repair....."

I did not mentioned names & in endevering to go the right way about it was just inquiring on aunthentic spares parts & costs in servicing in UK & abroad.

I sincerely apologise to the Company I harmed & for the life of me cannot understand how my inquiries were construde in such a way & how were assigned or pointed to specific names, unless ofcource all this was meant for somebody else & by mistake I was suspected.

If you can understand what happened please explain it to me so that I do not offend people in the future. ........thanx again ......nick

Nick, this sounds VERY strange ! You posted no names, just pointed out those discrepancies in pricing, I can not believe this would lead to blacklisting/boycotting you. Even the lower prices were far more than I would pay, so if this is true it sounds like a a "UK vintage watchmaker mafia", good reason to never, ever give them work in the future.

There is more to this than appears.

I suggest that this is a case of 'least said, soonest mended'

Like what Roff, can you be more specific? would like to know as it concerned my name .........thanx .......nick

A watch restorer got very upset with another watch restorer because of comments posted here (since edited) that inferred (they didn't directly state) that one restorer was cheaper than another.

If you need to know more then I suggest you contact the person directly as they are much closer than I am.

Thanx Roff,

I did not post any names or edited any post of mine, so your friend must have got the names mixed up.

At least it clears my concious that I did not do any thing wrong inadvertenty.

Just to add, if you were looking to use Breitling UK to do an overhaul it's around £400-£500 for an overhaul.

My 1969 Chrono-Matic Navitimer cost £1,100 for a full overhaul, new plexi glass, pushers, crown and outer bezel (£450 alone).

They cleaned the dial and slide rule but left it with it's 42 year old patina, the case was sympathetically restored too so as not to modify the original shape or loose any of the case back markings.

It did come back with a sticky chrono which was quickly rectified but overall I was very happy with the work they did.

Stef

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Thanx Steff,

I am sending mine on Tue elsewhere & hope it turns out like yours. Will post when done.

Could you put a picture of it here please? ......nick

This was before......................



............and after................



Stef

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