The Breitling Watch Source Forums

can someone help me?

1. what is the price of SA blacksteel limited 3000 at yur authorised dealer? any discount for this model?

2. It seems that the carbon nitride isnt that durable.. it is really that easily scratched?

3. How come some SA black dials for the normal release has black chronos and some have white chronos?

thanks
lawrence

3. older style with Arabic have white subs, newer with totalizers have black.

thanks man... i am game for the black dial then. i have been offered blacksteel at 3450 euros... but i need a everyday watch... so may get the black dial with ocean racer strap... the black chronos are 2009 models?

They are introduced cca 6 months ago.

US list for the SA Blacksteel is $5,500, not sure about Europe. DLC is pretty hard, but it is a coating and therefore can be damaged - in practical terms it's more likely that the steel itself becomes slightly misshapen with dings that causes the steel to show through.

I just picked one up. AD sold it to me for $5,700 USD. I asked for a better price but on the LE they would not do much. It is one of my FAVS now.

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Breitling cockpit diamond bezel
Breitling Emegency
Breitling Chronomat LE #125 of 2000
Breitling SA Black Steel #6 of 3000
BRM R-50-T
Rolex SS SUB
TAG Carrera
TAG Aqua Racer

super thanks guys... i really like the blacksteel version... need more reviews on the durability cos i think i need only one breitling in my watch range.. i was in such a dilemna that i was about to buy both versions hahaha cos i really like big watches. Most of colleagues wear breitling but i have not gotten one till i saw a ground engineer wore his SA black with ocean racer.

please keep your reviews and answers to my questions coming in. aprreciative lawrence

I picked up a SA black steel but I really don't want to wear it, one ding and it's done.

Any other watch can have the case cleaned up. If you send a Breitling in for service they disassemble, clean and polish each part. When you get it back it looks like new. Unless they are going to have a refinishing process for the black steel then I think your looking at replacing parts instead of refinishing them. Lets just hope they made lots of extra parts.

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This is a Rochefoucauld, the thinnest water-resistant watch in the world. Singularly unique, sculptured in design,hand-crafted in Switzerland.
In Philadelphia it's worth Fifty bucks.

Although it is a coating, it is considered a DLC (Diamond Like Coating), and although very tough it can still be scratched through to the metal fairly easily.
I purchased an Avenger Skyland Blacksteel last February. I love the watch, and wore it to work for months. However, as I work with machinery, I finally got a very small ding that goes right through to the metal. It is hardly bigger than a pinpoint, but in certain light you can see it if you look hard enough. It is on the very edge of the bezel. If I keep the watch, it really doesn't bother me, but from now on I will wear my Steelfish to work.
I checked with my AD about replacing the bezel, as it obviously cannot be polished out. They checked with Breitling. It would be appx $600.00CAD to replace.
So, the good news is that parts of a Blacksteel watch can be replaced. The bad news is the expense.
I truly believe that the Blacksteel is as durable as any watch with a coating could possibly be. However, that still means one needs to be careful and keep it away, as much as possible, from sharp objects that could damage it.
I am not sorry that I got the watch. It has given me a lot of pleasure, but I would never get a watch again that was coated. I got my Steelfish and my Blacksteel within about 6 weeks of each other. If I had it to do over again, I would just get a Blackbird.
Anyway, that is my experience. I hope this will help you in making your decision.
Cheers,
Carl

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'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

From what I have read on various websites, the process of creating the coating is contracted out. If a part needs to be replaced, it takes at least 6 to 8 weeks according to my AD. I know this firsthand, as I inquired about having the bezel on my Blacksteel replaced. I believe what Breitling would do, is send the stainless steel part that is required to the firm that does the coating, and ship it back to the AD once the process is completed. I don't think that they stock a lot of separate Blacksteel parts at Breitling.
Having said that, at some point I would be interested in getting a quote on how much they would charge to the the deplyant clasp on the Ocean Racer blackened. That would be impressive indeed.

Cheers,
Carl

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'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

Carl....

I am going to get the ocean racer blackened..

This company can do it..
http://internationalwatchworks.com/pvd.html

My local AD has the ocean racer in stock.

After thinking about the Blacksteel watch series I now realize that making a Blacksteel band would look great for about 1 day. Then it's going to be a mess and there is no fixing it. This is probably why Breitling did not do it. I don't understand why they did not use the ocean racer however.

I fully expect that the ocean racer will get messed up over time and need to be reworked.

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This is a Rochefoucauld, the thinnest water-resistant watch in the world. Singularly unique, sculptured in design,hand-crafted in Switzerland.
In Philadelphia it's worth Fifty bucks.

Unfortunately though guys (and as Txturbo says in his last line) you still have the same problem even when just getting the OR clasp "blackened". The clasp is in a location that is more prone to scratches than the case (i.e. under your wrist, so will come into contact with tables and desks, etc), and also there are moving parts that come into contact with each other on a regular basis - the push-buttons at the sides of the clasp for example. These areas will show wear very quickly, especially as most of the aftermarket "blackening" services you will find are PVD based and not DLC based. And even if you find a DLC customising place, DLC actually wears DLC, so you will still have wear issues that may look untidy over time.

Unfortunately there is no easy answer to it..... which is why I've stayed well and truly clear of Blacksteel, no matter how great they look.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

thanks carl and the rest.. i am in a fix now... hmm

the difference in the black dial and the blacksteel to me now is about US$1k difference...

Actually the DLC is a PVD process.

Thinking about it I will probably just use the stainless piece and not even try and blacken it. At least I can clean it up then.

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This is a Rochefoucauld, the thinnest water-resistant watch in the world. Singularly unique, sculptured in design,hand-crafted in Switzerland.
In Philadelphia it's worth Fifty bucks.

Yes that's technically true, but we tend to draw the distinction between "traditional" more cosmetic PVD that has the life-expectancy of an ice-cube in the Sahara, and DLC which is more functional in terms of increasing the life of machine parts.

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Driver8

Site Moderator