The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I bought a new Galactic 41 from a Breitling Boutique in June of this year so I know it's not a fake. When I woke up at 7:00 this morning and looked at the watch, something very strange was going on.

The watch said that it was 5:30, but it was stuck between dates like it was around midnight. When I try to reset it, I can move the hour and minute hands back, but only the minute hand will move forward. When I try to advance the time, the minute hand moves but the hour hand stays right where it is around the 5 and will not go any further.

When I am not trying to reset it, the second hand moves around the dial, but the hour and minute hands do not move at all. It seems like something inside the watch may have broken, but I have not dropped it or bumped it up against anything that could cause a part to break.

Any ideas on what could be causing this and whether anything can be done about it short of shipping it to BUSA under the warranty?

It needs to go to BUSA. 99% of these issues are caused by a damaged date wheel and 99% of damaged date wheels are caused by using the quick set date in the danger zone. That said, the Breitling 49 movement in your watch doesn't have a danger zone so it's not caused by that, but it is still likely binding of the running train caused by the date wheel.

Thanks for the prompt response. I was afraid it would be something like that.

Any idea what could have caused it since the movement in my watch doesn't have a danger zone?

It could be any number of factors - something is preventing the date wheel from engaging and / or disengaging from the running train. Pure guesswork as to what.

Ok. Thanks again.

I'll take it to my local AD to send to BUSA tomorrow.

Anybody know what their typical turnaround time is for something like this?

Can't say what yours will take but for what it's worth my Avenger has been at BUSA for a chronograph repair and it took them 3 business days from receipt to estimate and then 17 calendar days for the actual repair. They just shipped it to me yesterday actually so I haven't received it back yet. The tracking indicates ups second day air. The original repair estimate had it being returned on Dec 6th so it looks like their estimate is a little pessimistic. I can't speak to any delay from your AD as I shipped mine directly to BUSA myself.

Good luck with your repair.

I took the watch to my local AD to send to BUSA today. They said it may take 7-8 weeks to get it back, but we'll see. I will post an update when I get the watch back.

This is my first high end watch, and I must say that I am pretty disappointed with it so far. I have had it less than 6 months, and I have already had to have it demagnetized and now it is broken and at BUSA for a couple of months.

Even when it is working, it doesn't keep time that great. I realize that being slow or fast a few seconds a day is par for the course with a watch like this, but that is kind of difficult for me to accept considering how much of a pain in the rear end this five thousand dollar watch has been so far.

Yeah, I know the craftsmanship is wonderful (supposedly, although I am starting to doubt even that) and pride of ownership can be worth a great deal, but I am not very proud of owning this watch at the moment. I hope that changes when I get it back, but right now this $80 G-Shock on my arm that gets the time synced by satellite every night is my favorite watch. I know it's not much to look at, but the SOB works and tells time, which is what a watch is supposed to do in the first place, isn't it?