The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Came across this little list on a french forum
Quite the increase , must be inflation compensation and the swiss franc getting stronger :-/

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Really interesting. I'd say that increase is slightly larger than inflation .

It makes me feel slightly stupid for paying what I do for watches.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Interesting to see the variations within a brand from model to model. Also noteworthy that Breitling is relatively more expensive than Omega and Rolex compared to 2000.

I think a large part of the Breitling increases are due to the inhouse chrono movement ?

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Could be, which makes it a rather unfair comparison. Can't think of a model offered in 2000 that is still offered today without changing significantly - guess that says a lot.

This is part of the reason I've been buying far less watches than I used to : the prices are now so far out of kilter with general inflation and wages, it's just not as much fun as it was.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that a brand new SO was £800! Watch buying was a lot more fun in those days.......

(Or maybe I'm just getting old)

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Driver8

Site Moderator

to ALL statements

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Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)

So based on the above, the Type XX is kind of a deal? Maybe i'm not done with Breguet yet.

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Scott

AP Royal Oak 15400, silver
Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Classic Cars
Vintage gold Corum
Rolex DJ 36 TT, oyster dial, oyster/smooth
Baume & Mercier Riviera 200m, silver dial/aquamarine bezel
Breitling Superocean 57, rose/stainless

I guess this is for France. If the list is for RRP including taxes then I wonder if the explanation is more than currency fluctuations and Cost of Living (CPI). Of course, not sure all buyers are actually paying this increase.

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Jim

"You have Control".

That's an interesting list indeed, thanks for sharing. I too am surprised at the increase in watch prices over the past several years, particularly given the economic crash of FY'07. It has meant I've changed my approach to buying watches - I'm a lot more choosy now - which is both good and a shame, as some watches that were 'affordable' several years ago are just simply out of reach now. The market drives pricing so there's either a lot more people with higher levels of discretionary income than there were years ago or costs have risen (excluding e.g. Breitling going to in-house movements which naturally cost more). I wonder if this is going to stop anytime soon.

I agree Scott. With Breitling, Omega and others increasing base prices, watches that seemed a lot more expensive several years ago (IWC, JLC, Breguet) suddenly appear quite affordable.

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Happines is Good Health and a Bad Memory.
"Ingrid Bergman"

Breitling prices increases up x2 over Omega, JLC, IWC, etc...? Is the difference mostly the cost of gearing up for and using in house movements? It doesn't make sense any other way. The sales (or rather the COSC) numbers haven't evidenced meaningful increase in demand. Couple that with pressure on ADs to reduce discounting and the picture is not a serene one.

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SHARKMAN

I'd love to feign offense at this Boney, but it's sadly true!

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Driver8

Site Moderator

I'd like to believe that, but.... Businesses have a few ways of introducing new product features and the costs associated with them, and one is to amortise the cost over the foreseeable sales period and thereby reducing abrupt changes in the asking price of their products. Sometimes savings can be made elsewhere because of those new features, (cost savings by moving to different arrangements) and that may offset some of the cost increases. We don't know the year on year rise here either, and perhaps some annual increases may have been small, leaving some years with larger cost increases and for good reasons that are not clear.

Does this list include local taxes that might have been raised higher in (say) France than elsewhere? Would that distort the increase? Were some other models in the Breitling range not so affected by changes in price, and these listed ones being the worst in the period, offered for sale?

Like you, I wished it was a bit clearer where this increase calculation came from.

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Jim

"You have Control".

Chronomat on Pilot SS

-2000 Chronomat -- $3221.

-2009 Chronomat Evo -- $5840. (Plus 81% in 9 years)

-2011 Chronomat 01 (Manufacture Movement)-- $8200. (Plus 40% in 2 years)

--Average Annual Increase Over 11 years = 14% per year (9% per year pre manufacture movement; 20% per year post manufacture movement).



Superocean on Pro SS

-2000 -- $1825

2009 -- $2854. (Plus 56% in 9 years)

2011 -- $3395 (plus 29% in 2 years)

--Average Annual Increase Over 11 Years = 7.8% per year

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SHARKMAN

Wow, that's incredible. Thank you Sharkman. Look at that rate of change after the manufactured movement is introduced, its double year on year.

At that rate can we safely say that for every Breitling changed over to an in house movement, prices will rise exponentially? That will put Breitling into a different price point ballpark altogether on just about all models.

OK, I can see where thats going I think, and its different to where I thought they were going.

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Jim

"You have Control".