The Breitling Watch Source Forums

All,

I am happy to say that I sold my POS Flying Fish B01 after one year of ownership. I actually would not even call it a full year as it spent 2.5 months being repaired for a failed chrono only to come back with a broken winding crown. Overall I took it to another AD and sold it for a whopping 3k loss (after my initial huge discount). Since my time with this brand and this forum I have actually expanded my collection to a Rolex Sub ceramic dial, a Panerai 320 and an IWC aqautimer. I can easily say that breitling is the worst brand out there and by far.

Time keeping + B01 movement on my watch was easily 7-8 seconds gain per day. My chrono broke after 2 months of use and I thought that was an exception to the rule but 2 of my friends also had their models break in a very short time. After learing more about other brands and using them I came to undestand that Breitling is like Spirit airlines. Once you you fly once you never fly them again. My panerai and rolex and IWC are so far superior to this garbage brand that I can only be happy that I had a learning experience. A costly one but well worth it to move forward in the watch collection.

The forums like paneristi and various rolex and IWC(most) are a pleasure. I find that breitling forums all have the same theme of "Customer service was great", "Watch came back from service in such great condition", "BUSA is so nice". The reality is if yuo spend that much money on a watch, it shouldnt be at BUSA at all unless it needs an overhaul. Yup breitling is by far the worst brand out there. If they charged 1k for their garbage than all this would be moot points. Resale is the worst as well. 60 cents on the dollar and all AD throw 22% discount instantly. Try doing that with PAnerai or Rolex.

Who cares what a few naysayers think? I've a Rolex submariner and hardly wear it. It doesn't excite me and in fact Rolex as a brand doesn't really do it for me. But I accept some people love them. I've never had any issues with my Breitling watches and I now have seven. As for resale value I buy watches for me only. If they make a loss if I decide to sell well I've enjoyed it while I had it.

As my first watch I went with this brand. My experience was pretty bad. My friends experiences were very similar. Its not coincidence that our chronomat with the B01 broke so soon. As far as rolex and what brand does what per person is up to them. The fact is those brands charge a similar amount and are far superior quality wise. Even comparing the box from a panerai to the plastic breiting. Huge difference. Resale is not a big deal to me but when you lose that much right away it really sucks.

Well don't buy a Breitling it's quite straightforward.

Right. I hope others follow in my footsteps and read this before they drop money on garbage.

As an owner of a Rolex and Breitling, I am much more excited by the Breitling I have and the brand as a whole. To each his own, and to me Breitling is my favorite brand. Call me crazy but if I could have one watch, it'd be a navitimer rather than a DJ, Sub, Patek, or AP

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Breitling Navitimer 01 LE

It's a shame you had a bad experience with Breitling, as there are literally hundreds of members here (me included) who have bought a great number of Breitling watches with little or no problems at all. Personally I have owned somewhere between ten and twenty Breitlings over the years, and with the exception of a couple of simple regulations, I've had no issues at all.

From a personal standpoint, my experience with IWC has been absolutely disgraceful - to me they are by far and away the worst luxury brand I've personally come across..... and yet there are many members here who say they're brilliant. It's human nature to base your opinions on your own experience - we all do it.... it's just the way it is.

So once again, I'm really sorry you had a bad time with Breitling, but on balance in the cold light of day, they're really no better or worse than any other brand of comparable price and standing : it all just comes down to personal experience, and unfortunately with all brands there's always a few customers who have poor service. Glad the Rolex and Panerai are working out for you.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Unfortunate experience and unfortunate that Breitling didn't try and do more to put it right for you. There are faulty pieces from every brand, heck I bought a watch that has a sticker price higher than the vast majority of Breitlings and never even saw the piece because it broke before the seller sent it to me!

Not every Breitling is good, not every one is bad and everyone will have different experiences. To extrapolate those experiences into absolute statements is unreasonable, If somewhat understandable when feeling frustrated. In terms of resale, well resale pricing is pretty easy to research so there shouldn't be any surprises.

I counted it up and I have now owned twenty Breitling watches (I still have ten of them), both vintage and modern. Only once have I had a problem: a broken crown, which Breitling fixed, out of warranty, gratis!

Driver's right: personal experience is not objective fact. It's a shame you had a problem but I can guarantee you this: some day soon your Rolex or Pam will also stop working. It's the nature of mechanical instruments.

I own a B01(1 and a half year old)and a Rolex GMT(7 mths old). My B01 has been keeping excellent time and in fact it often runs on the dot without any time gain/loss, unlike my GMT, who often gains at least 2 to 3 sec per day. I have also been using the bezel and chronograph regularly for my daily routines and so far they have never failed me. Does this mean that I should conclude Breitling is better Rolex? No....Every individual's experience is different and I can understand your disappointment with Breitling due to yr experience. But to attempt to influence everyone in a Breitling forum that Breitling is the worst luxury brand because of your experience is a little unreasonable IMHO, since there are many members like me who have excellent experiences with Breitling. Well their current box indeed sucks but their previous Bakelite box is arguably the best box ever made IMO.

To me Breitling has this charisma that makes me want to buy more. They all have this common "Breitling Look" but every model have their own distinct characteristic that give you the pleasure of versatility when you own different models. I didn't have this feeling in the beginning but owning my B01 overtime makes me love and appreciate the brand more. In fact I was aiming a PAM or even a PP to my collection next as I wanted to own just one from different brands and also to increase the versatility in my collection. However out of nowhere the Navi 01 46mm squeezed itself to the top of my list now. I am still trying to convince myself not to get it since it is completely the same movement. I think it's a little impossible though.

No watch is an investment unless you buy preowned at the right price. You can earn profit from even buying a preowned handphone and selling it later. I have done it many times before. But that doesn't equate the value of it but just simply buying right. That applies to all brands. Yes generally Breitling resale sucks as compared to brands like Rolex, PP and PAM, but unless if you have no intentions of owning it permanently, it doesn't matter as compared to the enjoyment of wearing it. As mentioned, if you have intentions of flipping it after sometime, you can simply buy a preowned and sell it near to the price that you bought, even earn profit, if you buy right, regardless of brand.

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Breitling Chronomat 01 Limited Edition
Breitling Navitimer 01 46mm

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with Breitling, I've had several without any problems what so ever, but your in cloud cuckoo land if you think Richemont service dept. will be better than Breitling.

Panerai is the worst brand out there for service horror stories, here's just one.

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?2 ... 4-14/page5

Subjectivity is the foundation of human experience in my view (get it? ) It's really unfortunate that you've had these experiences with the brand, but I've read similar posts on other forums about other brands. I only own dive watches from Breitling, Omega and Rolex, and in my own experiences, they've all been excellent in terms of CS and quality of product. I had one issue a few years back with a Planet Ocean that stopped, and this was put right by the excellent AD who replaced the watch immediately. Anyway, glad you're happy with your current pieces.

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Regards

Steve

Happy for you.

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"It is just a matter of time!"

I have a breitling transocean unitime, it was 1 year old and stopped working, who cares I sent it in for repair no big deal, I have 10 breitlings and would buy 10 more, like roff said you can have problems with any watch

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5 Super Avengers
1 Super Avenger 2
1 Super Avenger limited edition
1 Super avenger night mission
1 Limited edition chronomat Boston Celtics
Navitimer GMT
Transocean Chronograph Unitime
2 Omega planet ocean chronographs
1 Tag heuer Monaco

Love my Breitling. No problems at all. My Omega AT 8500 went back for warranty service, I guess it's by far the worst luxury brand on the market.

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sco
Breitling Chrono Superocean
Omega Aqua Terra 8500
Rolex Submariner Date Ceramic