The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Gentlemen, I have been reading posts for a while now and found the info extremely helpful. I was thinking of purchasing a Seawolf Avenger Chrono from a grey market source, as there is only 1 AD in the state.
Well today I drove to the AD to see the Seawolf. It was a great watch. I got to see it in person, touch it feel it, all that. I figured I would go home and order it online. Yeah right. The salesman stepped away for a second and I looked up and saw the Super Avenger. Black with white sub-dials, steel bracelet.I didn't think it would look right on my wrist, but I have big hands and big wrists, and once I tried it on it was over. I had to have it.
I figured I was going to go over my preset budget, which was set by grey market prices. I talked with the salesman and he gave me his rock bottom price. To my amazement it was identical to the lowest price I could find on the net (I checked as soon as I got home). I am so glad I went to the AD to look at the Breitlings. He also sold Rolex, Tag, and Panerai. He showed me all sorts of watches, but when I saw the Super Avenger it needed to be on my wrist.
I guess what I am getting at is , you can look all you want on the net, which is fine, but to actually feel the weight and presence of a nice watch you should check out an AD.
I now know that I have an authentic Breitling.
I look forward to adding to my collection.


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Let me put this simply!!

AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD.
AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD .AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD. AD AD. AD. AD

Sorry a few beer on board!

enjoy your breitling

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Breanach78

A Few Breitlings.

If I were buying new I'd definitely go through an AD. The discount you can get from an AD, a good one at least, is as good or at least close to what the Grey Market sites have plus there's the added benefit of getting the warranty. As far as I'm concerned the warranty alone is worth the extra $100 or so you might save using a Grey Market site.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

glad it all worked out for you and welcome to the Breitling source. as the others have said AD all the way.

Depends on the deal. I bought my Motors T for 44% off retail. It was brand new with all the labels and wrappings still on the watch. Every thing was in tact and it came with the box and all paperwork including the warranty booklet stamped by an AD in France. I had the watch authenticated by Torrneau just to be certain it was real. I went to my AD at the time and was quoted $2100 more plus tax. In that case gray market worked out.

Recently the same gray market site can't compete with my AD. If it's a matter of a couple of hundred dollars, I'd definitely buy from an AD.

EDIT: WOO HOO !! Post # 100!! I'm cranking now!

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Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

I have a dealer that I've been working with for years - I bought my wife's engagement and wedding band from the shop, and I have bought 2 watches from them as they were ADs. That being said, he can get me stuff that they are not ADs for - and I trust him and know that if something were to happen under warranty, they would take care of me.

However, going to an unknown source, someone that I've never dealt with before, I wouldn't do it. The small premium to pay for guaranteed authenticity far outweighs the risk and cost if something were to go wrong and the gray market dealer told you to go it alone and good luck.

My BlackBird needed serious servicing within 4 months of buying it. Had I bought it through a gray market dealer, any "savings" i realized from the purchase of the watch would have been wiped out (and then some) had I not bought it through an AD.

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PAM359, Omega PO Big Size, 1951 Omega Seamaster, Rolex Sea Dweller

You can't put a price on the relationship that you get with an AD. Sure it's more significant if you are planning multiple purchases, but just the ability to drop by for a chat, get phone calls saying "I've just found out about this limited edition, are you interested", the ability to get introductions to other ADs who carry other lines, etc is worth far more to me than a few hundred bucks. I also find that over time I get much better deals than I could ever get grey market - although granted some of that is because I would have to pay import duty on grey market pieces.

I've just recently begun to develop an AD relationship with an out of state AD... who I was introduced to by a fellow forum member. I've never met the AD but I've already purchased my two JLCs from him; and hopefully another one in 2011. As said earlier, it's nice to have that contact especially when you're interested in a new watch that's coming out or if you need some more information to make the buying decision. The prices that he gave me were far better than any grey market site; and one of the watches happened to be a hard to find LE which aren't usually discounted. He had to pull some strings with his JLC rep to even find the watch, he got it in stock in two days, and he even gave me a nice discount on it...I'll forever be his customer as long as I'm a watch fan. No website can compete with that service.

AD all the way!

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"I don't own any watches, I just lease them"

Like I said before gentlemen, the info on this forum is extremely helpul. I picked up my Super Avenger this morning and could not be happier. My sales guy gave me a thorough lesson on my new watch and even tossed in a nice hat and wallet. I don't know if this is standard protocol, but it was very much appreciated.
Thanks to all for the feedback, I'm going to try and post some photos soon. Cheers.

Both my watches were bought grey, and things went well, but I have to agree for what I saved it probably would have been better to stick with an AD. I guess time will determine if my gamble worked out.

I bought my first Breitling - SOH - at the AD. I needed to try it on first, feel it, weight it etc. No website can beat that. Also, the AD offered a 20% discount, just like that. So at that point I saw absolutely no need to try grey market for the same money.

But then something happened... I went back to the AD to buy my second Breitling: a Seawolf. They didn't have the colour I wanted in stock and would have to order it from Breitling. I tried the two colours they had in stock but they were not what I was after. I said OK, let's order it from Switzerland, I can wait. Two days later the AD calls me with bad news: the dial colour is discontinued. My AD contacts other ADs to try and trace one in stock, with the help of Breitling, but absolutely not a single AD has it! As it sounded all a bit odd to me, I called all the 9 or 10 ADs in my city . Four of them confirmed it was discontinued according to Breitling Switzerland. Some suggested to change the dial on another model to the colour I wanted, as the factory could have the spare part, but I didn't want to go down the retro-fitting road, especially considering there was an extra cost for the swap. So what did I do? What could I possibly do? I called ADs from other cities. Same story: no one had it, no one could get it from Switwerland: onlyn three colours are being made. No one could tell me why Breitling still shows all the colours on their website. The whole thing was so annoying. What else could I possibly do?...Call the A-team? They've retired. McGyver? Doesn't give a damm. You've all guesed:: grey market or in my case "new unworn condition'' from a reputable company, with good reviews from customers, booklet recently stamped by AD and matching serial nr, with a 15 days money-back guarantee. The watch should arrive in two days time. If everything is as the sales manager said, then I'll keep it. Savings over MSRP: 25%.

I would still prefer an AD over the internet, as I value the relationship, the trust, the proximity and the face to face contact. Plus you get to sit, relax, try watches and talk about them. But when a watch is discontinued, you have to go grey market. There's not much else you can do, apart from second hand from a private seller. There again I had no luck. A Seawolf Stratus Silver is a rare thing to find second hand, my friends.

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life's too short and you only live once

I would be very, very suspicious of that.

If a watch is discontinued, popular and rarely available on the resale market then:

a) Why would a brand new one be sitting at an AD for so long?
b) Why would the AD need to offload it to a grey market seller?

It screams warranty return on open papers to me, but hope that it works out.

Watches can remain unsold at ADs for several months. I bought a SOH at my local AD 3 weeks ago (beginning of May), and the date of manufacture on the case shows 5012 (50th week of 2012 for those who haven't seen the thread about how to date your watch).

I don't know yet when this particular Seawolf silver dial was made, I'll tell you in a couple of days once I get it.

According to my local AD, people have bought this model mainly in black dial, sometimes in blue, rarely in yellow, and almost never in silver. Popular color it is not, if I judge from what I've been told and what I've been reading around.

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life's too short and you only live once

A watch manufactured in 12/12 and bought 5/13 is in fact a very short span, esp when you consider that the date-stamp on the watch is the date of the batch of cases and not of the actual assembly of the watch. I would reckon most timespans between date-stamp and AD-purchase were longer than that - 2-3 years is quite common.

Exactly,
for example my B-1 was assembled in 2004 and sold in 2007, where this particular watch wasn't even in production anymore.

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Rolex 16523 - Rolex 1601 - Omega 3752.50 - Casio GIEZ GS-1100-1AER
Seiko: SPV002 - SDX008J1 - SFA005J1 - PSZ006P1