The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I hope your story has a happy ending, David.

We bought a B50 last week. I loved it, it has so many features. It is light and handy, and wears so well despite its size. But it developed a problem with the battery counter; it would not indicate the state of battery charge and read 100% no matter what functions were operating or for how long. Later, the UTC detection in the module went wrong, and was reading current time as four hours off GMT when set to UTC+0. We ended up taking it back, since we'd only had it six days, and using the store credit to get us most of the way to buying a Cosmonaute instead, which we'd nearly done in the first place anyway. I'd try another B50 at some point but not til the issues are sorted and it has a better track record. We also bought at a boutique, and did not have any of the problems you had. It may be because we took it back so early.

It does not appear that the problems with the B50 have been gotten under control, based upon your letter! You indicated that the Breitling Boutique offered you a "store credit". I am curious as to whether they offered a refund, or what there reactions were to the problem, e.g. surprise, lack of interest, or more telling, a "there goes another defective one". Please post your response for all to know!

There have been many posts and comments that the B50s were recalled and fixed, but it looks like your was either another example of a defective one with problems, or one that that had been "sitting around" and not sent back to Breitling pre-sale for problem fixes. It does not seem, however there was any real effort on the part of Breitling to actually recall the watches, as far as this board seems to show, Breitling has allowed them to be sold, hoped for the best, and let them fail and be repaired one by one, with no care whatsoever for its reputation or the feelings of its customers.

I have still not received my watch back. I have been told by Breitling USA, as of yesterday, that my watch is now being shipped back to Breitling USA for shipment to me. We'll see when I get it, and if all functions work, and of course, for how long!

Well, they did not offer a refund. That isn't surprising, frankly; as a rule, jewelers don't, in my experience. We took the watch back to the boutique. We were within ten days of purchase. In fact, we'd only had it for six. Their policy is that if you bring back purchases within ten days in the same condition as when you left with it, you can return them. Additionally, ours had issues as stated above. The boutique manager told us that they'd never heard of that particular issue but I was able to demonstrate the UTC time issue right there. He was aware of the recall last year, but did not comment about it. He offered to swap it for another B50 or to allow us store credit in the amount of the purchase price. We chose the latter option. It was more pricey, but we'd nearly bought the Cosmonaute anyway. I feel that they dealt with our problem fairly and in good faith.

Thanks for the further information! I had mine for 29 days, as indicated above, when the crown fell off, and exchange or store credit was not an option available to me.

I'm not sure whether the boutique manger's comment that they had never "heard of that particular issue" [emphasis mine] was an admission/indication that there were many issues with the watch, but that your problem was special, or whether he was pleading complete ignorance of the many problems, including the circuit board/software of with the B50.

I continue to feel that when issues with a new B50 come up, because of the many known problems, Breitling should have an "instant replacement" policy, to preserve its reputation, rather than making a customer wait more than a month to have the watch serviced in Switzerland.

I've had mine back about a month and, fingers crossed, no problems. I have found that my experience is typical: no refund, no replacement, repair, and in the interim no communication. Breitling USA is not to be blamed because the people in Switzerland don't give them any updates whatsoever. BUSA knows that a B50 problem requires them to ship the watch (on Fridays only) to Switzerland where it stays incommunicado for a month, which seems to be the formula, and this is shipped back to BUSA. The only update I got from BUSA was when they were told by Switzerland when the watch would be shipped back to them. When it arrived, I drove to Wilton (BUSA here in the US) and picked it up.

I guess there really is not much to say while it's in Switzerland. It's there being repaired and will be shipped back when it's done, seems to be the normal procedure (and don't bother me your senseless questions!). You won't even be told what the issue was. I got mine back with a work order simply said " movement overhaul." They have a PR mess on their hands and the best approach, it seems, is to remain silent and just fix and return. I've only heard of one instance were a B50 buyer was given a new B50, and that's because it was sent back and forth to Switzerland four times!!

Despite that, it remains my most favorite Breitling.

That isn't an exact quote. The exact quote would be "I've never heard of that happening before." He was aware of the recall last year but we didn't discuss it, honestly. We were trying to get out of the watch entirely by that point.

To Vlupiano: Glad to hear that it is still working ok! How long has it been? (I don't recall you saying the dates it came back in any earlier post!)

To Cat: I didn't mean to misquote the boutique manager if I did! Was just trying to determine if he was admitting that he knew about other issues!

I've had the watch back about four weeks. So far, the only thing I haven't done is charge it, which I am afraid to do because the first and last time I did it, it stopped running altogether, overheated, and was hot to the touch, AND the crown fell off. Right now, it has about 79% charge and I will wait until it gets down to around 10% before I try to charge. Will report what happens.

Well, mine only had the crown fall off, so maybe I should consider myself lucky! When I confirmed with Breitling USA that my watch was going to be shipped from Switzerland, they also told me that I "might" be getting a new charging cable! With mine, I charged it every few days (I routed the cable up onto my dresser so it was convenient). Maybe instead of putting on the wood, I should put it on a hot plate tile! Seriously, I charged mine every 3 or 4 days, because the "tilt to light" function seems to be one of the primary users of the power. I did intentionally not charge it for an 8 day vacation, and found that it lost about 4% per day, which would mean I would be able to go for about 25 days before it lost all power. BUT (big "but") the manual says that as the battery starts to deplete, functions start to shut down, but gives no % value for when this happens! The first indication of a low battery, is that the second hand jumps in 4 second increments, if I read it correctly. So you may want to watch for that to determine when to recharge, rather than going down to 10%.

From date shipped to date returned about five weeks. When I picked it up they gave na a new cable. Which makes me wonder, sine they gave you a new one, if that's one of the issues with recharging? Why would they issue new cables unless the cable has an issue? I wonder how many they have replaced?

I was thinking the exact same thing about the cable! IF they shipped the watch out from Switzerland on Friday, I assume it would get to the U.S. middle of next week. Breitling told me that they use two day UPS to ship to me, which would mean I would get it around April 1 (How appropriate!). That would make it one month.

I must confess, in those circ/s I'd be wanting to charge it as soon as possible to see what happened! But I understand the trepidation...

I suppose I would too! That way I could get it right back to the factory! LOL

To paraphrase the movie Poltergiest, "Its b-a-a-a-ck"! Received the watch today, and reset all the functions to what I wanted. Repair invoice indicates the crown AND movement were replaced. No new power cable as Breitling USA seemed to think I would get. Now if the crown doesn't fall off, I may be in good shape!

This is interesting: I heard a few people getting new power cords back, as I did. My Repair Invoice simply says "Overhaul Movement"--nothing about replacing my crown which fell off before shipping out, or replacing the power cord. I'm wondering what the pattern is here? As always, I'm sure we will never hear the full story. Good luck with yours. My crown remains attached!! And the watch is working. Fingers crossed.