Chronomat 44 going back to Breitling for SEVENTH time!

bozman52 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:51 am

Yep, it's me again and you read that correctly . . . it has broken yet again. Just when I thought BUK had actually fixed my never ending chronograph issue, my watch has now broken for the seventh time (see the previous thread here: http://www.breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/v ... =1&t=60812). I received it back from BUK a month ago with a brand new movement (the third of its life) and it seemed to be working fine.

I put my watch on the other day and noticed that the sweeping chronograph 1/4 second hand was not zeroed at 12 o'clock. I proceeded to initiate and resent the chrono several times, but the hand always reset to 1/2 second beyond dead zero.

I called BUK today and got the same BS "we're so sorry, please send it back" story that I always do. I'm at my wits end here. I'll email Girardin again to let him know, but I'm sure he'll blow me off like last time.

I've really come to hate this brand.

-Craig

dlNYC · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2016 10:48 am

Wow, IMO, at this point, they should just give you a whole new watch.

n.w.a1978 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:49 am

Insist on new watch take them to small claims court if they don't

bozman52 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:00 pm

By the movement being completely replaced twice, that effectively is a new watch. The rest is just metal. I wouldn't mind having a Chronomat 44 GMT, though. However, my wife bought me the watch. It was my first "real" watch. I also wore it for my wedding. It has a lot of sentimental value, so I don't really want them to replace the watch. If Breitling would give me $7500 back, then I may consider doing the trade, but BUK has already said that's off the table.

I could take them to court, but that's such a hassle I don't want to spend energy on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

dlNYC · **Posted:** Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:05 pm

I read through your other post, and don't think the CEO necessarily should respond directly to you, but at the least he should have sent one of his senior managing executives to respond to you. In addition to finally fixing the watch right for free (or replacing it), they should extend to you another free full service when the time is due as a goodwill gesture.

Driver8 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:24 am

Wow, Breitling's inability to fix this is really shocking. At this point they really should be rolling out the red carpet in terms of a) fixing it, even if it means one of their top watchmakers rebuilding it by hand and then performing specific QC on it, and b) some kind of goodwill gesture as dlNYC suggests.

Seven trips back to source even eclipses my IWC Big Pilot debacle! That said, after 3 trips back to IWC at least they had the decency to get an Exec to actually call me from head-office in Switzerland to tell me it would definitely be fixed this time (it wasn't, incidentally), and also send me a SwissKubiK watchwinder worth $600. If the repairs had actually fixed the watch then my faith would've been restored by the fact that they clearly gave the impression of caring about QS.

sco · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 10:51 am

Really sorry to hear this.. I hope that it somehow gets sorted out correctly this time for you. I know not all BO1 movements have issues, but yours is really putting me off the brand...

n.w.a1978 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:04 am

bozman52 wrote:

By the movement being completely replaced twice, that effectively is a new watch. The rest is just metal. I wouldn't mind having a Chronomat 44 GMT, though. However, my wife bought me the watch. It was my first "real" watch. I also wore it for my wedding. It has a lot of sentimental value, so I don't really want them to replace the watch. If Breitling would give me $7500 back, then I may consider doing the trade, but BUK has already said that's off the table.

I could take them to court, but that's such a hassle I don't want to spend energy on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really would not be any hassle at all. Small claims court is so simple. Just open case with them, send them a recorded letter, I can almost promise you breitling will not reply in 5 working days, that's the max time they are allowed to reply in. Then it's a court date which will be held in the court you open claim in. Breitling will almost certainly not show up then the judge will automatically award you the case as they would not be represented.

mjb · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:15 am

n.w.a1978 wrote:

bozman52 wrote:

By the movement being completely replaced twice, that effectively is a new watch. The rest is just metal. I wouldn't mind having a Chronomat 44 GMT, though. However, my wife bought me the watch. It was my first "real" watch. I also wore it for my wedding. It has a lot of sentimental value, so I don't really want them to replace the watch. If Breitling would give me $7500 back, then I may consider doing the trade, but BUK has already said that's off the table.

I could take them to court, but that's such a hassle I don't want to spend energy on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really would not be any hassle at all. Small claims court is so simple. Just open case with them, send them a recorded letter, I can almost promise you breitling will not reply in 5 working days, that's the max time they are allowed to reply in. Then it's a court date which will be held in the court you open claim in. Breitling will almost certainly not show up then the judge will automatically award you the case as they would not be represented.

I don't know the UK justice system, and I don't know if "n.w.a." lives in the UK or USA, but my limited knowledge of our (USA) small claims is that $7500 does not qualify as "small".

TomP · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:35 am

(Bozman [whose watch it is] lives in UK, where the limit is £10,000.)

bozman52 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 11:58 am

Driver8 wrote:

Wow, Breitling's inability to fix this is really shocking. At this point they really should be rolling out the red carpet in terms of a) fixing it, even if it means one of their top watchmakers rebuilding it by hand and then performing specific QC on it, and b) some kind of goodwill gesture as dlNYC suggests.

Seven trips back to source even eclipses my IWC Big Pilot debacle! That said, after 3 trips back to IWC at least they had the decency to get an Exec to actually call me from head-office in Switzerland to tell me it would definitely be fixed this time (it wasn't, incidentally), and also send me a SwissKubiK watchwinder worth $600. If the repairs had actually fixed the watch then my faith would've been restored by the fact that they clearly gave the impression of caring about QS.

I keep waiting for the red carpet, but all I get are apologies. I'm just not sure when this ends. I asked the customer service manager what the ultimate escalation was, and she said I just have to keep sending it back when it breaks. I told her that by now I should have an invite to fly with the Breitling Jet Team and to have dinner with John Travolta. She laughed. I was being serious.

I knew you had issues with IWC, but I'm glad to hear they at least attempted to make things right with an exec call and a watch winder. Breitling hasn't done ANYTHING. When it went back to BUK last month, it was for the 5-year service, which I got for "free." However, as the watch has never worked properly since new, and they had to replace the movement to fix that issue, the service aspect is really moot.

bozman52 · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 12:02 pm

TomP wrote:

(Bozman [whose watch it is] lives in UK, where the limit is £10,000.)

Thanks nwa1978 and TomP for this info. I have two questions about this small claims court process that members may or may not be able to answer. First, as the watch was purchased in the US, but I now live in the UK, which country's court system do I have to go through. Obviously, the UK would be preferred because I'm here now.

Second, if Breitling does lose the case for not showing, how do I actually get any money out of them? I feel like they can just ignore me and this will drag on forever with me not getting anything? Do I get a full refund for the purchase price? Do I have to give the watch back?

Chronomat01LE · **Posted:** Tue Aug 23, 2016 6:02 pm

It's a shock to know that this is happening, and I am even thinking if they had replaced the movement for you in the first place, even though they claimed they had.

Hunterfate · **Posted:** Wed Aug 24, 2016 1:37 am

Truly a horror story. I hope it will work out well now. Maybe this time the movement is OK but second hand was not seated well and slipped.

I understand your view of the Breitling is shaken but I see you have a Navitimer 01. Is that one working Ok ?

dlNYC · **Posted:** Wed Aug 24, 2016 3:44 am

Chronomat01LE wrote:

It's a shock to know that this is happening, and I am even thinking if they had replaced the movement for you in the first place, even though they claimed they had.

That's what I was thinking too...they never even replaced the movement in the first place. How could the same problem happen on two different movements?

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