The Breitling Watch Source Forums

My 1998 Superocean and 1996 Chrono Colt Automatic are at BUSA right now being serviced.

Quotes on both watches, including polishing, exceeded the cost of the pieces when new (I am the original owner of both).

I decided to forgo polishing since neither watch really needed it, but it still cost much more than I would have liked.

Is this common with other manufacturers watches? A friend recently had a nearly identical service performed on his Submariner and only paid about 1/5 of the purchase price of the watch.

Well percentage of purchase cost is kind of a difficult metric because it depends on when the watch was sold - inflation and all that. Full service, including polish is currently in the $550+ range in the US I believe which is less than 10% of most current models and way more than the cost of virtually all pieces sold in 1960, not sure that means anything.

Found recently that Breitling are not on their own regards servicing cost. Took a seamaster to omega to find out that the repair they need to do was not even on the quote I got back.

Before they get down to that, they needed (no, insisted) on a full service and replacement if dial and hands. All it required was a repair to the crown stem! $1150.00 and the actual repair was an extra. I left after asking if I looked like I had 'welcome' written in my forehead, for which they had no answer!

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Jim

"You have Control".

Have found in my experience servicing many different brands of watches that Rolex and Cartier are the most affordable. That may have to do with the local Rolex and Cartier authorized service centre being reasonably priced, however. Some brands are extremely expensive... I would say that IWC and Panerai can get up there... Breitling is somewhere in the middle from my personal experience.

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BreitlingSource Admin
http://www.breitlingsource.com - http://blog.breitlingsource.com

I realize it's not a very good measurement, but something just rubs me wrong about paying more to service a watch than it did to purchase the watch new.

As quoted from Breitling, for the Superocean:
Movement, complete service incl. hands - $430.00
Crystal - $300.00
Dial - $210.00
Polishing - $561.00

For the Chrono Colt Automatic:
Movement, complete service, incl. hands - $660.00
Crystal - $180.00
Dial - $300.00
Polishing - $561.00

I'm not having either watch polished.

Strange, I had several watches serviced by Breitling and polishing was always included in the overhaul price. In fact it still is according to the service price list on their website.

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"It is just a matter of time!"

I think someone is taking you for a ride there, or not communicating clearly.
The polishing is not charged extra, rather included in the cost of a full service (even an intermediate service for that matter).

Did you send them in directly or via an AD?

Reason I ask as in the UK if you send in via an approved dealer/distributor, they have a habit of taking the Breitling quote and 'gold plating' it by adding on costs or increasing the Breitling costs to make their cut.

And BUK also have a habit of sticking non-essential works on as if they are required works, so here in the UK a service sent in via an AD can get VERY expensive; I have found that the only way to deal with it is to actively manage BUK and tell them explicitly when the watch goes in what you are expecting for the price (as per the service schedule price list) and unless you know something is damaged (like the crystal) and are happy with the old one, then tell them not to replace it.

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Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

That's a lot more than a service - dial and crystal replacement put the costs up a lot. Polishing charge is way out of line and needs to be challenged.

After reading the original post, I thought that I was losing my mind to have not recalled such a large charge for service. I have had well over a dozen watches serviced by BUSA and just went through a few of the bills. There was not a separate charge for polishing on a single one of them...as several have said, either there was a large miscommunication, or else you have been well scammed by a dealer.

Hello again, all.

I got my Superocean back last Thursday. I'm happy to report that polishing the case and clasp were indeed included in the overhaul cost.

However, I still don't have an answer for what the other charge was for.

Also, I sent them my Pro I bracelet to repair along with the watch (the watch is currently on a Pro II strap), that was in pieces and a bit beat up.

For this repair, I was charged $45.00, which I thought was more than reasonable, so I paid it too.

The bracelet was returned to me exactly as I sent it to them, it was even still dirty. Stay tuned.

I'm with the others that polishing/refinishing case & bracelet should be part of the service costs. I see that they are recommending dial replacements on both - did they state why?


Sent from my iPad Air 2 using Tapatalk (so I blame autocorrect for the spellin' errs)

The lume on both was pretty weak.