The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello everybody,

After several years of browsing and shopping, I finally purchased my first Breitling, a Superocean Chronograph Steelfish. I really dig this watch, and was very excited when it arrived last Thursday (I purchased the watch online from a dealer that I've used several times in the past).

Before setting and using the watch, I made sure to read all instructions that were included in the box, along with the online instructions on the Breitling site. Once the watch was properly wound and set according to the instruction manual, I began wearing it. Sometime later that day, I decided to try out the chronograph functionality, so I began the stopwatch. The seconds indicator worked fine, and the 30-minute totalizer advanced after the first minute. Everything seemed fine, so I stopped the timer and reset it.

When I had some more time that evening, I wanted to check and make sure the hour totalizer was working as well. Once again, the seconds indicator traveled around the dial with no issues, but this time the indicator on the 30-minute totalizer didn't advance after the first minute. After the second minute, it did advance (to the 1 minute mark) and then it began to sporadically advance over the course of the next 12-15 minutes until it finally landed at the 5 minute mark. From there, it began to advance at an even more sporadic pace, and I finally stopped before the indicator made it past the 10-minute mark. At this time, I noticed that the hour totalizer was working fine.

I continuted to wear the watch off and on for the next few days through the weekend, occassionally testing the 30-minute totalizer, with diminishing results (sometimes, the indicator would never move at all).

Yesterday, I decided to contact the dealer, who put me in contact with one of their in-house specialists to help troubleshoot the problem. After asking me a series of questions, he determined that I began using the chronometer before the watch was properly powered to full capacity. When I told him I followed the instructions to the letter, he informed me that Breitling just assumes that the purchaser will know that you need to properly power the watch before attempting to use any of the chronograph functionality, which is why they don't include that info in any of their instruction manuals. I said that sounds nuts, and he did agree to provide a shipping label so I could send the watch back so they could reset it (or something to that effect - paraphrasing here).

So, the question I have to the Breitling user community is twofold:

1) Is this a common, legitimate problem due to not properly powering the timepiece before I started using this function (and why wouldn't Breitling document this crucial piece of information in their instructions)?

2) Aside from sending the watch back, does anybody have suggestions about what I might be able to do to correct this problem (run the chronograph for a long time, let the watch power down, wind the watch more, etc.)?

I've owned several good watches (Omegas, Tutimas, Orises and Rolexes) with automatic movements, but none of them had chronograph functionality (aside from an old Seiko), so this is new territory for me. After searching this forum, I did see several topics that mentioned the watches can sometimes take several weeks of normal usage before they settle into their groove.

Thanks in advance for your replies - any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

First of all, congrats on your first purchase, Superocean is a great line. You can manually wind it with the crown, about 40-50 full rotations. You can't over wind it, so don't worry about that. Once it's fully wound, try the chrono function again. If your still having problems with it then it will need service work.


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I'm guessing the dealer isn't Breitling authorised (at least I hope that's the case) because he is full of s***. Power reserve is completely irrelevant to the function of the minute totalizer and the watch isn't going to get better without Breitling approved service. If it were me, I would be looking to return it as defective.

+1, if more counsel is required. Refund please.

Thanks for the feedback. I have the return paperwork from the dealer and will send it back today.