The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hey, fellas-

Last night, my co-pilot module display started flashing, a steady pulse about 1 per second. I fiddled with it, thinking I might have put it into the time adjust mode, or the chronometer maxed out, or something, but no luck. It still functions fine, just flashing. Normally, I'd whip out the manual, but I just started a 1 year Iraq deployment and don't have access to mine, halfway around the world.

Can somebody help me figure out what's happening? Are the batteries dying? I bought the watch new exactly only 1 year ago, so I'd be surprised if that's the case.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Don't have a co-pilot, but I think that is the battery EOL indicator.

The problem with quartz watches is that they are often left running in the AD so even 'new' watches can have run down batteries.

Grrrrr... yeah, that's what I feared. Thanks, Prof.

Think I'll have to write to Sousi then, to figure out how to take care of this one. American, bought the watch from a Canada AD, currently deployed to Iraq and don't have any of the paperwork with me.

Of course, since it's been a full year, my beautiful Airwolf has a bunch of superficial scratches on the band and casing. (quartz still looks brand new, though) Wouldn't mind if Breitling were to take care of a total watch clean-up for me as well, if I sent it in for a battery replacement, since it's still fully under warranty. I don't even know if the co-pilot battery CAN be replaced by anyone other than authorized service, but I'm not about to try if I'm over here.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Wildblue,
Are you with the National Guard unit that got to VBC not too long ago? Just wondering, I'm there myself and I thought that I heard one of the guys I work with saying that an Alaskan National Guard unit was replacing the Louisiana guys here.
About your watch, just bring it to the Ali Shop on Liberty, they have a bunch of Breitlings

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Oh, are you here too? nah, I'm just on a singular tasking, advising the Iraqi AOC on Camp Victory. Sometimes I wish I was in the Guard. What are you doing? Say hi sometime.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Yeah, I'm a contractor working on Liberty for a while, so I have to idea what an AOC is. We do some stuff that I probably shouldn't discuss on a forum, not any secret squirrel stuff, but you know how it is. I'm kinda surprised that anyone would bring a watch that costs a couple of grand over here, hell, I had my damn Oakley's stolen and that pissed me off, I'd go insane if someone stole my watch. Good luck over here.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

I thought about leaving it at home. For sure, I left my Chronomat at home, for both value and that I don't need multiple luxury watches here in the desert, if I'm not ever wearing civilian clothes. I did bring my G-shock along, for those times where I'm really doing dirty stuff.

Bottom line, though, I bought my Airwolf to USE, specifically in uniform, and especially when I'm flying, even though that's an industrial environment. I thought about it, and decided that I'm not going to change that, just because I'm living in Iraq for a year. Still going to use the Airwolf like it was intended.

(of course... now I may have to send the Airwolf in for co-pilot module battery replacement, so we'll see how long I'll have to go without it)

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Well, can you order a rubber strap for the Airwolf and just send in the co-pilot with the bracelet, then you would have an extra strap in the end.

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"Leave the gun, take the cannoli."

Follow-up here, on this old topic. Turns out the answer to the question, "How long does it take the battery to die in a co-pilot module, once the EOL indicator starts flashing?" is right at 9 months. (not bad, actually)

So I decided, since I was in Iraq and wearing my Airwolf every day, that I wasn't going to send in my watch right away to have the battery replaced. I waited until I returned from Iraq, and then sent in the watch right at the end of my warranty, hoping that with all the normal wear of being in Iraq, they'd also do a full cleaning and polish when I sent it in. So the co-pilot module had fully died and gone black by then. Sure enough, they did the works on the entire Airwolf when I sent it in. Came back beautiful, in the new travel box. (and yes, I see the new ones are square boxes... I prefer the previous long case a bit)

Watch, co-pilot, and bracelet all look and work beautifully. I am a happy man.

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Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Dang it! I'm going to give another bump to this old thread. I'm right at two years from when I had my co-pilot battery replaced, and it just started flashing again. Is the battery life for a co-pilot module really two years, so I'm going to have to send it in for battery replacement every other year? Although I don't expect the battery to last forever, this seems a bit more often than I would hope and expect.

_________________
Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

My Co-Pilot lasted about 2 years 5 months. The dealer handbook says 2-3 years whilst the watch is 3-4 years.

Suppose the battery is much smaller.

I elected to get both done at the same time - wish I hadn't as they have f'kd up my Aerospace now ...

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Have
2019 B55 Exospace on Titanium bracelet
2014 SuperAvenger II Military LE
Had
2013 Avenger Seawolf SS yellow Arabic dial
2010 Aerospace Avantage black dial & Co-pilot
2007 Aerospace Repetition Minutes
2003 Superocean
2001 Chronospace

Well, grrr... I called BUSA, and they closed down the company to take the week off. Have to wait.

_________________
Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Finally got to the post office, so it's off back to BUSA for battery replacement. I also asked them to fix the main watch function knob/button, which intermittently gets very sticky and hardly rotates. $48 to ship, between postage and insurance, plus whatever it'll cost for service. Bummer.

_________________
Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Oh, my GOSH! I knew Breitling service wasn't cheap. But I'm astounded. Here's what they say on my 2009 Airwolf:

230.50
Optional
Sapphire Crystal Flat Glarepro
$135.90

400.Z998
Required
Set of Hands Airwolf, Rhodium-Plated
$73.80

150.4019
Required
Crown Steel
$72.00

CS-A78363
Required
Complete Service
$380

Condition: Bracelet/Strap Scratched, Crystal Antiglare Scratched, Bezel/Screw Scratched, Case Scratched, Crown Dented, Movement Dry

Required Items: $525.80 + $40 Freight = $565.80 total + tax
ADDITIONAL optional items: $135.90 + tax

Now, my watch is only 4 years old. As mentioned in this thread, I sent it in exactly 2 years ago under warranty to have the co-pilot battery changed. They ended up doing a complete service at that time for free under warranty, and the watch looked like new. I don't abuse my watch at ALL, but it is my daily wearer. Now, here we are only 2 years later, and the co-pilot battery is dying again, which is why I sent it in. Even though the watch has daily wear, it was fine for me. I didn't want to get into expensive servicing that the watch didn't need, so I sent instructions only to change the co-pilot battery, change the main battery just to be safe, and fix the main watch function button/knob, which was intermittently sticky. We're not talking that my watch was 15 years old and needed a complete overhaul. I don't have a problem with maybe replacing the hands, although I don't see at all what was wrong with them. They didn't seem to glow insufficiently at night or anything. Similar about the Crown Steel. (not really sure exactly which piece of the watch this is) I don't remember a dent ANYWHERE on my watch. As I said--I just don't abuse it, and only remember surface scratches from normal daily use. But if there really was something THAT bad on the watch that I might have missed--okay, I can accept the Crown Steel too. I didn't see any scratch at all in the crystal, so there's no way I'm doing that. Even if I just go with the required items, I'm looking at $565.80 + $48 I paid to ship to Breitling = $613.80 for what I mostly just needed a co-pilot battery change.

But if I look at this, big picture, taking into consideration the watch is only 4 years old and was completely serviced 2 years ago, I come up with the bottom line:

If the co-pilot battery dies every 2 years, I'm going to have to send it in to be replaced. If, when I do, Breitling is going to REQUIRE me to do a complete service like this when it was just done 2 years ago, that means that the recurring cost for me to own my Breitling Airwolf is going to be over $600 every other year.

Holy crap... is that really realistic? I'm going to spend the amount of the Airwolf itself every 10 years just in routine maintenance! To equivocate that, I couldn't imagine spending $4,000 every single year to maintain my BMW, where I would spend the equivalent of a brand new BMW every 10 years just to maintain it.

_________________
Chris
Club Member #0070
2009 TT Chrono Evo w/Rose gold, blue face
2009 Airwolf w/black face, Co-Pilot module
2009 TT Lady Cockpit w/Mother-of-Pearl, Diamond face for the wife

Crown is not a standard item, so you would need to ask them why that needs replacing. Full service is likely because it has never had one and is approaching 5 years old, maybe more (you don't know how long it was sitting at the AD), next service will be the simple maintenance service. Crystal is optional so your choice. The costs look right to me.