The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Glad the watch issue is being sorted. No offence, but that doesn't seem fair to me, and not sustainable for the retailer. I've had the same issue, but unless they're faulty, can't see how it's the retailer's responsibility.

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Regards

Steve

Well, a scary ride with one of these girls would definitely do it.
A nice and friendly dinner (on my account of course ) would probably do it too

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"It is just a matter of time!"

Glad the watch issue is being sorted. No offence, but that doesn't seem fair to me, and not sustainable for the retailer. I've had the same issue, but unless they're faulty, can't see how it's the retailer's responsibility.[/quote]

That's exactly my point. I'm using Nordstrom as an extreme example of customer service. It's not Nordstrom's responsibility, but the company has decided that customer satisfaction is more important than anything else. It isn't fair to the retailer, which is why I never intentionally take advantage of Nordstrom's policy, but I shop there with confidence knowing that they'll never let me down the way Breitling has.

Someone mentioned that Nordstrom's profits were down right now, but one can't judge their strategy just based on this. I haven't done the analysis, but I'd be willing to bet that if someone compared Nordstrom's profitability and stock price over 25 years to its peers, that it would come out on top.


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

So what cool swag did they send ya?

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18k Rolex Datejust / Breitling Crosswind Special / Patek SS Nautilus / Bvlgari Diagono Chrono / Bvlgari Scuba / Omega Speedmaster Professional / 60s Omega Constellation

My swag package arrived a couple days ago. There was a considerable amount of stuff in it, but mostly the usual items that people get. However, I got it all at once! Probably the only thing I'm missing now is the bomber jacket, although I'd never actually wear it, so it's not something I really want.

By far the most useful thing in the package was the free croc strap for my Navi. That's £450 for me to run out and buy myself. Now the Navi is looking fresh once again, just like she was in 2010 when I got her!

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

Good to hear you got the cool stuff and a new strap! Hope your watch comes back working right this time.

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18k Rolex Datejust / Breitling Crosswind Special / Patek SS Nautilus / Bvlgari Diagono Chrono / Bvlgari Scuba / Omega Speedmaster Professional / 60s Omega Constellation

Here's the punchline: my watch had another issue and has now gone back for the EIGHTH time.

I've gone a bit quiet on this thread, as the saga still continues and I wanted to get to a place of resolution before I continued to post things. As a brief recap, my Chronomat 44 came back to be after the 6th service trip and soon developed an issue whereby the sweeping chrono hand would not reset to zero. Thus, it went back for a seventh trip to get this remedied.

It came back to me after about a month, which is a but longer than I expected, and I immediately noticed the sweeping chrono hand still didn't look quite right. It appeared to be off center still, but not nearly as badly as it was when I sent it in. I've attached a picture, which very clearly shows the hand is off by 1/4 second. However, when looking at it with my eyeballs, it was much harder to notice, but it just looked "off."

I notified the Managing Director of BUK and got a call back from the After Sales Service Director. He wanted to personally meet me and see the watch for himself. I said that was probably overkill and could ship it back again, but he was absolutely adamant that he would personally come collect the watch from me. Tunbridge Wells to Cambridge is about a 2-hour drive, so it's not exactly a trivial journey for him. At any rate, we set up a time to meet at my office, he inspected the watch, and agreed with me that it was not aligned as well as it should be. We had a good 30-minute chat and he took it back with him to Tunbridge Wells.

I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but this was now the eighth time my watch would be going back to a Breitling service center for a chrono related issue. In about 1.5 weeks, I had my watch back and I can say that the chrono hand is now dead on zero by my eyes.

The attention I received from BUK for trips 7 and 8 was very good and I have to give both the MD and After Sales Service Director credit for their work towards reinstating my faith in the brand. I'm certainly far from as infatuated as I once was with Breitling, but I do feel that they want to do well by the customer- the MD called me personally several times while he was on vacation and the service director drove to personally meet me, so I can't overlook these things.

Nonetheless, my gut tells me that something is going on in the manufacturing/quality department of BUK. When I had all these issues initially with BUSA, I could sort of chalk it up to the movement being new and Breitling's first in-house. At this point, my continual chrono issues with BUK can't be coincidence, and as I literally baby my watches, something has to be breaking down internally at BUK. In any case, I'm hoping this will be the last time I have to write about my watch problems, but I'm certainly not going to hold my breath.

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

Lol. Tell em if you have to send it back a 10th time, you really expect a flight with the jet team! Glad they took care of it for you...for now. Waiting for the next follow up in the near future. Haha..

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18k Rolex Datejust / Breitling Crosswind Special / Patek SS Nautilus / Bvlgari Diagono Chrono / Bvlgari Scuba / Omega Speedmaster Professional / 60s Omega Constellation

I Think it is safe to say that any Breitling B01 watch has to be approached with caution.


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It sure has affected my decision. I have been looking long and hard at a Chronomat GMT (47mm) and was making plans to purchase one from Govberg. If I bought one and had these kind of issues (not saying I'm going to), that's a lot of time, inconvenience, postage to ship the watch to BUSA (or travel the 40+ miles round trip to may local dealer) to get nothing more than "we're sorry" and some swag?

Yeah, I know, mechanical watches can malfunction. Things happen. But EIGHT TIMES to finally get it fixed? After the second or third time, they should have just replaced the watch.

I currently have a B50 Night Mission and love the watch, but I'm wanting something a little more "dressy" and had chosen to go the Chronomat GMT route. Now I'm having second thoughts and may just end up getting a Titanium B50 with a blue dial. Since the watch is quartz, there will be less chance of something mechanical going wrong.

Decisions, decisions...

To be fair, I think my case is pretty exceptional. However, there are clearly some QC issues at Breitling, but one can find this with other brands as well. Driver had some pretty bad issues with an IWC Big Pilot in the past.

After the 4th trip back to BUSA in 2011, they did want to replace the entire watch for me. I couldn't accept this, though, as my wife gave me it and had it engraved. They replaced the movement instead, which effectively is like replacing the entire watch. The rest is just metal, which nothing can go wrong with. Since that time, it's had two additional complete movement replacements, so 3 in total.

For all my troubles throughout this ordeal, I received a massive swag delivery, a free service (£600 value) and a free croc strap for my Navi (£450 value). Still, I would have rather just had a watch that functioned properly in the first place!

In all honesty, if you like the Chronomat 44 GMT (which I actually wish I owned instead), then you should just get it. I highly doubt you will experience the same issues I have, but if you do, I can attest that Breitling will at least try to fix the problem. Every time I call them and say my watch is broken again, both BUSA and BUK always step up and attempt to fix it. I know, not exactly confidence inspiring . . .


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

Not the 44mm, I want the 47mm. I have an 8.5" wrist so the 47mm would be much better for me than the 44.

I know what you mean. And you're right. Chances are I won't have any problem. And it is nice to know they did offer to replace the watch. I had forgotten your watch was personalized. And replacing the movement IS a new watch. What is disconcerting is their seeming lack of quality control. I would have thought that after the first movement replacement (and especially after the second replacement) they would have held on the the watch for a week or so and stressed it to make sure there weren't anymore issues. But what do I know.

Hopefully, yours will never see BUK again, except for service.

Sorry, that's just one of the most ridiculous comments I've heard!


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Mines been perfect since day one

I feel like this is an extreme isolated incident, I've owned a few B01, and so have many others without having an issue, the issues that come up on forum topics, are a veery small percentage of actual owners who have never had a problem. Sorry to hear you have had such troubles but I believe that you have a lemon.. they should have just replaced the watch long ago, instead of waving a few feeebies in front of your face to distract the problem of not being able to wear the inspired you purchased without issue.


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