The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Does anyone know how much, if at all Breitling is using the Sellita movement since ETA has made it harder to get there movements? A friend of mine thinks they are using them alot and just reworking them in house. I need facts men! Thanks!

_________________
YOU CAN'T HAVE A GREAT TIME WITHOUT A GREAT WATCH.........MAKE IT A BREITLING

I have never heard of a Sellita movement in a Breitling and would be amazed if it was true - which calibres is your friend claiming?

Check out these links :

http://www.watchtalkforums.info/forums/ ... php?t=4045

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:7Y ... clnk&gl=be

_________________
BREITLING EMERGENCY + UTC CORAL DIALS
BREITLING AEROSPACE TITANIUM PROF (SOLD)
ROLEX SUBMARINER BI-COLOR BLUE DIAL
LOUIS VUITTON TAMBOUR DIVERS
PANERAI LUMINOR

Well SWI would know!

I guess it ties in to the discussion a few months back about Breitling effecitvely manufacturing the full movmement as a ETA / Valjoux clone for the last few years. The SW200 in particular is a ETA clone movement to less strict tolerances, but if Breitling is only using things like plates and then producing the rest in house then I guess it doesn't make a practical difference.

I am surprised that they would have done it without acknowledging though - they still claim to be using modified ETA / Valjoux. That said, clearly they aren't going to be 100% in house by next year so need some kind of back up plan - I wonder whether any of these watches are actually end consumer yet.

So by reading this it still looks like Breitling only is using parts of Sellita movements and finishing the rest in house or are they getting them right from there and tuning them up a little and then dropping them into the watch case. I never had heard of them using them thats why I'm so surprised about this. Before I blast my friend back I want to know for sure how they use Sellita in their brand or not at all. Thanks for the help!

_________________
YOU CAN'T HAVE A GREAT TIME WITHOUT A GREAT WATCH.........MAKE IT A BREITLING

I'm with Roff that it's interesting that Breitling wouldn't acknowledge the fact that they are using Sellita (if indeed they are). Mind you, you won't find any references to ETA or Valjoux in the Chronolog or on the Breitling website either!

On that point it almost seems to me that a lot of prestige brands seem almost embarrassed to say they use ETA or the like. The only ones who tend to say up front that it's an ETA movement are the smaller brands for whom using an ETA is actually a brag instead of using some cheap Chinese movement. All the "big boys" who use ETA/Valjoux all seem to sweep it under the carpet by calling it a spurious calibre name/number of their own.

Sellita were an ETA subsidiary I believe, and so I would expect quality to be comparable, but as we all know, the watch world is a fickle place and lot can ride on having the right name. If people see Sellita as a "generic brand" ETA............. hmmmmm. Interesting times.

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

There are Sellita movements that are clones of ETA, so there is no reason why Breitling couldn't use them. If you think of the ebauche as really being a donor of parts to which Breitling then adds their own pieces, the Sellita can just as well contribute parts as they are essentially identical.

The perceived quality isn't as good, but who's to say that Sellita can't improve that - ETA have three grades of movement, so if Breitling and / or other manufacturers gave them big enough contracts then they can invest in the infrastructure needed .

Additionally, there are parts in the movement that will have absolutely no impact on the accuracy or reliability of the watch that can be provided by Sellita without problems. It's not an illogical choice, especially if Breitling has increased it's in house manufacturing capacity for parts beyond the B01 and other upcoming in house calibres.

Breitling don't use Sellita, why should they? They produce most parts inhouse anyway. If Breitling used the Sellita SW-200 then why wouldn't they mention 26 jewels in their spec-tables? The SW-200 has 26 jewels, the ETA 2824 has 25. The B17 has 25 jewels too. I am amused by such rumours again and again, they just show up from time to time.

V.

The "big boys" have reasons why they call an ETA 2824 a B17 (Breitling) or an ETA 2892 a 30110 (IWC). The B17 is the best "2824" available today, the 30110 is the best "2892" available today. Why? IWC have the 30110 produced by ETA according to their own demanding specs, uniquely, exclusively. There's no better "2892" available then the one from IWC. Breitling produce most parts of the B17 by themselves and meet the highest adjustment standards applied to any "2824" out there in the world. So, comparing a B17 with any SW-200 or ETA 2824 is beyond logic for me.

V.

I agree completely in theory, but if (and yes, it maybe a big if) the sources are Lior Ben-Shmuel, President of Swiss Watch International and Jim Skelton (sure ShopNBC doesn't have credibility among watch snobs, but the guy knows his stuff) then it can't simply be dismissed as a silly rumour.

Guys please I did'nt start this so anyone would get upset. I just heard this information so I went to my fellow Breitling guys for the truth. I just want to find out the facts on this matter, one way or the other. Thanks guys!

_________________
YOU CAN'T HAVE A GREAT TIME WITHOUT A GREAT WATCH.........MAKE IT A BREITLING

I'm not upset - sorry if it came across that way

I am not upset either - we're all still friends, connected by our love for Breitling watches . This is just a very interesting but probably controversial subject. Expect to get some "passionate" replies... You probably won't get facts but opinions. What I can guarantee is the fact, that Breitling - today - are able to produce any ETA movement of their range completely from scratch, so - my conclusion - why should they use Sellita that are not on the same quality level as the best variants of ETAs... The truth is mostly the most logical thought.

V.

There's no doubting that the B17 is one of the best quality 2824's out there, but it's still a 2824 by design ; just as a B13, no matter how good, is still a 7750 by design. And that's not meant in a derogatory way at all. It just is what it is.

The top quality ETA 2824 is chronometer rated. The B17 is also chronometer rated, and is built to exactly the same design as the ETA 2824. Sure they may replace certain parts (or they may not, as Breitling have never come out and said exactly what they do to the standard ebauché), but is it really improving on the original chronometer rated ETA? And even if it does improve upon it, it's still a 2824 design. Yes it may be one of the best of it's kind, but it's still a 2824 by it's very design. That's why I feel we can quite easily compare the two.

_________________
Driver8

Site Moderator

Agreed. We can easiliy compare the global design, but not the quality of finish and the performance (short-term accuracy as well as long-term stability).

V.