The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hey guys, long time no posting. I've just had many other priorities as of late, mostly work, wife and daughter (who is nearly 4). As I'm sure some of the old timers will recall, I've had nothing but issues with my Chronomat 44, which was one of the first off the production line, purchased in July 2009.

For context to those who may not recall, all of my issues have been related to the chronograph. Specifically, the sweeping 1/4 second hand would skip at certain places on the dial and/or the minute counter would jump ahead to the first minute upon chronograph initiation. The watch was sent back to BUSA 4 times over the first 2 years of ownership for these issues. The final trip back in July 2011, they replaced the entire movement, but the chronograph was still malfunctioning. As BUSA was clearly inept at fixing it, I decided to not send it back and just enjoy the watch until it was due for service in 5 years.

Fast forwarding to April 2016, it was nearly due for service. However, at this point I've moved from the US to the UK, so it went off to BUK. Note that the winding mechanism started to malfunction as well, as I heard a "pop" one day while winding it. This was the catalyst for sending it in for service, albeit a few months before the 5-year mark. Before sending it to BUK, I called the After Sales Service Manager, Nicky Reynolds, and let her know the whole situation with the watch. She was confident that the chronograph issue would be sorted during the routine service and that I would not be charged anything extra, but she was unwilling to promise this is any absolute terms, which was highly irritating. As a small consolation, she did offer me a two-year warranty post-service, which is a year longer than they usually offer.

After 3 months of waiting, over the weekend, I picked up my freshly serviced watch from my local AD (Mappin & Webb). I decided to test the chronograph just for kicks, and guess what, the minute subdial immediately jumped to the first minute, just like old times. How in the world this made it through the BUK QC process is beyond me. Needless to say, I told the AD to send it right back to BUK. This will now be the SIXTH time that it will be going back to some Breitling entity for the same problem.

What I'm most upset about is not the fact that the watch keeps breaking, but that Breitling only ever offers me a lip service apology. At bare minimum they should have been offering up some cool swag for the issues I endured from 2009-2011. However, at this stage, they'd better be giving me the service for free, or a new croc strap for my Navi 01. Since I'm fairly certain that BUK is not going to do any of these things, I'd very much like to get in touch with some high level Breitling SA execs and let them know what's going on.

Does anyone happen to have the email address of Jean-Paul Girardin, or someone else near his level? I've done a search on Google, as well as this forum, and come up empty handed.

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

i used Google search engine and saw handful of citations showing his email address within seconds. I simply typed his name and 'email'. Jean-Paul.Girardin@breitling.com

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raymond-
47*32'N 122*18'E

Thanks waltermitty. You must be using some super version of Google because I still can't find anything even after typing what you said.

Can anyone confirm that the Breitling CEO's email is actually this simple? Seems like it would be something a bit less obvious.


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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

I have communicated with other employees of Breitling and it is that simple! Good Luck!!

ahh, what you said makes sense, bozeman. Google must comply with the differing laws regarding distribution of information in the countries they have an entity in. biggest example is China which is fraught with restrictions. Europe has different laws regarding information copyright compared to the USA, etc etc.

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raymond-
47*32'N 122*18'E

Wow, that really sucks. Sorry to hear about this. My Airborne went in after a few months since the winding mechanism needed to be replaced and I'm hoping that's the only time I need to use the warranty.

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Justin
Please contact me via PM for the contact details for Govberg Jewelers
Govberg is an AD for over 50 fine Swiss and German watch brands.
Visit them on the web at http://www.govbergwatches.com or call 800-528-8463

Alright, message has been sent to Jean-Paul. I'll keep you posted with what I get in return.


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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

A week has gone by and both the CEO and Director of After Sales Service in Switzerland both got messages from me. They delegated me to the service manager of BUK. He called and effectively told me as much. I also have a couple emails from entry level customer service people at BUK who tell me the same thing- that my emails were received and passed along to BUK to be dealt with.

In my opinion, this is pathetic. I'm on the exec team of my company, which is comparatively small to Breitling, but I understand that people are busy. However, a two sentence response from Girardin would be a nice gesture, especially given what I've endured this far. I'm clearly borderline irate at this stage, so if Girardin had any business sense at all, he'd do something to put the fire out. I'm extremely disappointed.

Back to the watch, BUK has said that they're going to replace the movement . . . again. This will be the second full replacement movement that watch has had. Even if this fixes the issue, the bigger problem is that all I've ever had are verbal apologies. No one has ever said, "Wow, we really messed this up, Mr. Valuable Customer who owns two B01 powered watches. How can we make this right for you so you don't tell everyone how much we suck?" At this point, it wouldn't even matter. The brand is effectively dead to me and I don't even want to wear either of my watches anymore.

I actually have a real life example as to how this has impacted Breitling's bottom line. I recently got a friend of mine into Swiss watches. He looked to me for guidance as to what pieces he should be looking at. I could have directed him to Breitling, but I intentionally didn't because of all the BS I've had to put up with, even before this latest dog and pony show. He now is the proud owner of two IWCs. Could have easily been two Breitlings if I'd been treated right in the first place.


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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Really sorry you've had so many issues, Bozman. Breitling and BUK have always been decent to me, but then I've fortunately never had the issues you've had. In contrast, IWC were total garbage with me when I was trying to get them to fix my Big Pilot. They failed on numerous occasions and as a result they're pretty much dead to me now (despite the fact that I still like the look of a couple of their watches).

All companies need to be mindful of customer service and (especially in these times of the internet and social media) the damage that poor customer service can do as a result of bad word of mouth, but IMO manufacturers of completely luxury goods should be even more mindful. A watch, and especially a mechanical watch, is a completely unnecessary item these days, and people who buy them quite rightly expect the best of service that should come with buying a totally 100% luxury good. After all, that's what we're paying for. The arrogance and almost sense of entitlement that some companies display beggars belief at times.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Hi Driver, thanks for the condolences. I recall your IWC fiasco with the Big Pilot. Actually, that's one of the reasons that I won't really consider IWC. Hopefully this is some consolation to you. I shared your story with my friend who now has two of them, but he had already fallen in love with the look of IWC, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he won't have any issues.

To be fair, Breitling is doing a fine job of just routine customer service. They call me when my watch arrives, apologise profusely, etc., but they've always lacked that little bit extra that I expect when things go extremely sideways, like in my situation. The letter I sent to Girardin was very thoughtful and factual, and was more from the standpoint of "I think things are not right at Breitling, from a B01 movement QC standpoint and a larger customer service standpoint, and I just wanted to make sure you knew about it."

I fully expected to get a very short response from him, but for him to just dismiss me outright and pass me off to an entry level customer service person is disgraceful. My case is clearly exceptional, and my letter clearly demonstrated that I was not just some typical upset customer who is whining. I put a lot of effort into it, as I think it's a pretty serious thing to write to the CEO of a company like Breitling. Clearly, Girardin shares a different viewpoint than me on how to handle customers with unorthodox circumstances (which I would say that sending a watch back 6 times would qualify as).

I really hate to go into full on Breitling "damage mode," but I'm so frustrated that I just may. I did send a snarky tweet yesterday and called them out on this, but I'm sure nothing will come from it. Ultimately, the brand has been damaged for me, likely permanently. This is the brand that brought me into the Swiss watch world, so it's a very difficult pill for me to swallow, but I no longer have that passionate "feeling" when I look at my Breitlings. They've become just another fixture to tell the time, and that should not sit well with Girardin.

I recently watched an episode of the new Top Gear (which is awful now, but I can't help myself) where they went to the Rolls Royce factory to show the customer ordering and pickup process. It was extravagant to say the least. I obviously don't know what RR would do in my situation if I brought my (hypothetical) car back 6 times to fix the same problem, but given the car collection process, I have to imagine that I'd at least get a free hat or something! Putting my RR example into perspective, any given RR is about 10 times as expensive as a "normal" car. A Ford Focus may run you $25k, a RR Ghost is about $250k. However, a Breitling (at least mine, which are about $7k+ each) is about 100 TIMES the price of a "normal" watch (Fossil, Casio, etc.). When I thought about my situation in these terms, it was actually even more depressing. If Girardin ever calls me, I'll share this analogy with him. Maybe this will help it sink in that Breitling needs to do better . . . or maybe he'll just release another black steel LE and keep his head in the sand!

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

Sadly not surprised. Breitling's arrogance is stunning even by the standards of watch companies. It is a real shame they don't have external shareholders to hold them to account, they have completely lost touch with the people who keep them in business. We know they monitor this site (or at least did when it was more active) but the only contact that has ever occurred has been lawyer letters about use of logos and such. Sad to see the fall into irrelevance of a great name.

Hi Roff, well said, as usual. I have noticed that the traffic on the site has diminished from what it was when I first joined. I wonder if there is some correlation between this lower traffic and Breitling's current state. It seems as if all the hardcore watch people are dismissing Breitling more and more as the company falls into irrelevance (as you rightly put it), and that the company is now being buoyed by more fickle, less demanding customers who buy into the marketing of it all.

I did address this a bit in my letter to Girardin. To quote myself:

"When someone asks me what watch I’m wearing, I no longer talk about the brand with the pride I once did. I don’t tell them that this brand was the first to develop the independent chronograph pusher, or that it was the first to develop the self-winding chronograph movement (don’t ask Zenith, though), or that it is quite literally the only remaining mainstream independent watchmaker on the planet and does not answer to the likes of LVMH or Richemont. Now, I just say, “Yeah, it’s a Breitling,” ending any potential conversation before it ever begins."

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

BUK itself has always had a pretty good service reputation but I think one is seeing more unhappiness about their QC on watch fora.

I recently had my Aerospace returned after a complete overhaul. The ana and digital readouts were set to different times, the bezel no longer centres properly, and it now has the (common) floating minute hands issue, which it didn't have before.

TomP, that's bad news on your Aerospace. Did you send it back to them to fix, or did you just tolerate the problems?


To everyone else still interested, I just received another fantastic generic email from Breitling SA. I write to the CEO with passionate feedback on a very broken QC process and failed customer service program and just get this nonsense back. Note that I've anonymised names in the copy/paste below:

Dear Mr XXXXXXX,

We thank you for your feed-back and regret that our communication doesn’t meet your expectations. Breitling UK will be keeping in touch regarding your watch and we hope you will appreciate the work of our expert watchmakers and the condition of your watch once it will be back on your wrist.

Best regards,

XXXX XXXXXX
Customer Relation Manager

BREITLING SA
P.O. Box 1132
Schlachthausstrasse 2
2540 GRENCHEN
Switzerland

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Chronomat 01- Sierra Silver/Steel
Navitimer 01- Limited Edition #1337/2000

I had a good service experience recently. They covered a new dial and service under warranty.

Many patek fans have similar complaints about PP now.