The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi All,

I had a question that I was hoping you could help me with. I have a blackbird that is only a few months old and I don’t typically wear it every day so I never noticed this problem before this week. As an everyday watch, it doesn’t seem to generate enough power via movement to stay charge. Unlike my other automatics, the oscillating wheel or the weight or whatever it’s called (sorry not the most technically knowledgeable about these watches) doesn’t seem to spin or move as freely as any of my other automatics and therefore doesn’t build the power reserve. Every other automatic, if I spin it around a bit (replicating a watch winder), I can hear and feel the wheel spinning around and around multiple times. If I do that to the blackbird, it sounds like it maybe spins a half rotation or maybe a full one at most. I’ve been wearing the watch every day since this past Friday and have had it on for probably 18 hours per day and the watch has now stopped twice in one week. That has never happened to me when wearing an automatic before.

So some background on what I do to see if this is normal. I wound the watch with the normal 40 turns on Friday morning and have been wearing it about 18hrs per day since. On Friday I went to work where in a roundtrip commute I end up walking about an hour as a part of the commute. On Saturday went to a wedding where I’m sure it got lots of movement from dancing up a storm and Sunday I was on my feet running errands for much of the day. Then wore it to work on Monday and Tuesday (I’m travelling so no hour walking commute). On Tuesday night, the watch stopped while it was on my wrist. I didn’t notice it until Wednesday morning when I got up for work as I guess I didn’t really look at it on Tuesday night but could tell based on the time/date. So I gave it the full 40 turns to the crown on Wednesday morning and wore it to work since then. I didn’t have a ton of movement during the day in the office and didn’t have my hour walking commute, but I’m also not a statue and wore it for 18hrs each day. When I woke up this morning the watch had stopped again, this was only about 47 hours after I wound it. So with significant movement over the weekend, the watch lasted 113 hours in total, with less movement in the office, the watch only lasted 47 hours, both after a full wind. It seems like the power reserve is fine as it lasts after a manual wind, but it seems to barely pick-up any power from normal movements. So is there a way to test to see what the problem is? I’m thinking about stopping into a dealer and giving one of their blackbirds a feel to see what it sounds/feels like when it moves. Just curious if this is a warranty issue or something where I’m going to have to send the watch in. Has anybody else experienced this before? Any ideas/suggestions/comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

It's possible that there is an issue with the automatic winding, but it could also be any number of other issues in the running train. Definitely needs to be addressed under warranty and it will need Breitling service attention.

Thanks for the quick response, figured it was something that it would have to go back for unfortunately. If I basically just explain the situation as I did in the original post, is that enough information for them or do you have any suggestions as to the best way to present it to help them pinpoint the problem?

I would just describe the symptoms that you did here - let them figure out the cause. If they are told that there is a problem with the rotor winding then they may not look for other issues.

Makes sense, thanks again!! Sucks that I have to send in the watch for a problem already, but I guess there is always a chance for problems with anything mechanical assembled by hand with that much detail. Oh well, just got a little unlucky I suppose. Hopefully it's not with them for too long cause I'd much rather have it on my wrist

Do I just pack it up and send off to BUSA with a note explaining the symptoms? Probably a dumb question that I'll be able to answer myself once I'm done work later and can read the warranty booklet.

That is exactly what you do. Include your email and ask for an email from the assigned rep upon receipt of the watch.

The one thing that sounds normal is not hearing the rotor spinning on your wrist. The BB movement winds in both directions. The watches in which you can really hear the rotor whirring away are unidirectional watches, like the classic 6, 9, 12 7750 based movements - the Evo & SA come to mind - and what you are hearing is not the rotor winding, it is the rotor free-wheeling in the opposite, non-winding direction.

Hope you have a good experience with Breitling Service. The good news is warranty work gets priority over non-warranty work. Good luck.

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SHARKMAN

Gotcha, thanks sharkman! I'm not the most technically knowledgable about all the inner working of the watch and I don't really know the difference between all the movements (I'm trying to learn because all the detail and intricacies are really fascinating!!) so I might not be describing it properly based upon what you are saying. More basically, it just seems like the weight that winds the watch seems tight, like it barely moves in either direction. But like Roff said, I'll just keep the description basic, say that the watch is stopping within 48 hours after a full wind and wearing it 18 hours per day and let them diagnose it. I don't want to lead a solution since I'm really not the right person to be leading on this kind of stuff.....

Good to know they prioritize warranty work because I was half expecting to be without it for 2 months like I hear some people are when they send it in for service.