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After being happy with two previous Breitling watches, I decided to buy the Cockpit B50 from a "Breitling Boutique".
After only owning 29 days, while changing functions, the crown fell off! I was amazed, but apparently this is happening to a other owners, among multiple other troubles with this watch.
I assumed that I could simply take it to my authorized Breitling service center, and I hoped it could be "fixed while I waited". However, I was astounded to learn that I had to take it to a Breitling store, so that it could be first, shipped to Breitling USA, and second, shipped to the Breitling factory!
Does anyone have any comments on how long the turn around time is on this sort of problem? They have told me "about 3 weeks", but I have seen some horror stories on the time period for the repair, and I assume that the "seal is broken" by the crown coming unscrewed, and that they will have to take the whole watch apart.
I hope I don't need to to dispute the charge with my credit card company, and that Breitling will honor their warranty in a satisfactory manner.
Any comments from anyone with a similar experience, and any comments on how long fixing a Cockpit B50 takes?

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

These threads may help:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56283
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=55267

Hi David,

I was one of the affected B50 users Roff refers to in the above threads. Am I missing something or is there a reason your Breitling dealer isn't swapping the B50 out for a brand new replacement once checked?

I had crown functionality issues (i.e the crown didn't fall off but it skipped functions and then wouldn't work at other times) and Breitling Uk and my AD really looked after me. i.e there was no sugestion of repairing the original unit.

There were some very minor issues with the replacement Night Mission which I could have lived with but I didn't want to risk it given above and I ended up giving back the B50 and getting an Emergency 2.

Chris

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Breitling Emergency 2

I bought it at a "Breitling Boutique" while on vacation. I was told that that returning it to Breitling for repair was the only option. When I took it to the LOCAL Breitling Boutique for shipment to Breitling USA, I was told that had I purchased it from them, instead of while on vacation, they would not have taken it back either! Maybe the is a differene with "Authorized Dealers".... I just don't know.
David

These B50 problems continue to astound me..... Just unbelievable.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

impressive, isn't it ?
I now know of ONE B50 that's been functioning flawlessly for 10 weeks or more.
and still no preemptive replacement strategy, people waiting for weeks to get them repaired.

Very alarming! (No pun intended!) Its funny, I did all my research on what it did, on the visability of the display, etc. but didn't even THINK I should Google "B50 Cockpit PROBLEMS" until it happend to me. It looks like they are going to be loosing a lot of long time customers. Breitling, are you listening?
Anyone reading this, do you have your own actual[u][/u]turnaround time that you can share?
David

I agree. Been to a few ADs lately while traveling and they all had the B50 in stock, didn't want to get into any discussion on them but had to wonder if any of them were in proper working order. This is worse than I would have imagined.

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Chrono Jetstream
Montbrilliant 1903
Aerospace E79362

Wow! I wonder if there are ANY satisfied owners! I can imagine that the reason that it is taking a long time for the factory to repair the Cockpit B50 is because they have so many being returned and maybe they don't know how to fix them properly. One would think that if a 29 day old expensive but defective time piece was returned, for good will, they would simply immediately ship out a brand new one, first having checked to see if it was working, of course!

I think Breitling has bigger fish to fry at the moment.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bre ... -1.2119334

Employee discontent and a defective product calls for changes in the company, most certainly! Getting back to my original post... I am still waiting to hear from others with B50's as to how long the servicing took from the time they took their watch into their AD for ultimate shipment to the factory. Anyone who can advise on this?

Other than what has already been posted and linked to I'm not sure what more you are going to get. Policy for most has been to replace watches with new ones because of the inherent issues in early pieces. That may have changed now either because Breitling believes those problems have been resolved (obviously a mistaken belief) or because they simply don't have the stock and / or will to replace as a matter of course.

quoting from an fb group, seems typical for replacments, repairs apparently longer:

AH: T, are they giving you a new watch. And have they said anything about the issues?

TP: A, the watch is coming direct from Breitling and so far has taken 4 weeks with next week being the 5th. There has been no mention from AD. I will comment when I collect it.

Hi Guys. I must be the only B50 owner without problems. I've had my B50 since the 10th of Jan and so far NO ISSUES. I wear the watch every day. It keeps perfect time. I play with all the functions all the time and still no issues. It's so ironic to me. I also bought a Brand New Chronospace on the 20th of August and still don't have a watch. The Chronospace has a trail and tested movement and 3 replacement watches later and still no joy. But my B50 works perfectly. Go figure


Ling ling

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Yours is a limited edition B50 - one that works!

And long may it remain so.