The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Maybe the sentiments that I am going to express here are just a case of me getting old, so if it is just ignore this as the musings of an old git. However, based on PMs received recently I don't think that I am alone in my thinking, so here goes......

It seems to me that in the last few months BreitlingSource has started to get a bit stale in terms of adding value. I know that participation will ebb and flow over time, but for the last little while the focus of many threads seems to have been nothing more than 'here's a watch' followed by lots of complimentary comments. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I can't help thinking that this community could (perhaps should) do more to advance Breitling knowledge / awareness, and perhaps watch knowledge / awareness in general.

A few years ago I wrote a few more detailed articles on different watchmaking related topics, but stopped when I got some not particularly complimentary comments, and bluntly it takes up a lot of time that I don't always have so I'm not going to do it if people don't want them.

The best Breitling and general watch competitions got very little support this time around and so clearly there isn't a lot of enthusiasm for that sort of thing, so let's throw it out to members. What sort of thing do you want to see here - let's keep it to the discussion boards as I don't have any control over the rest of the site, but what is the consensus for the type of topics, events, etc?

Is the current activity just perfect? Can we make it better, and if so how? Should I just go back into my corner and grow old telling people to read the sales rules?

Share your thoughts please so that we can all make this better!

I've participated in quite a lot of fora in my life and been a admin on one of them (a pretty busy one also) for several years.
Besides taking care of forum technical issues, I had to moderate, create FAQ's, put articles on the website. etc.
This was a forum about classic mopeds, so there were a lot of subjects to discuss about, like restoration and originality, overhauling, technical issues, electrical isues etc.
Watches and watchmaking is a complete different league, its almost impossible to repair or restore a watch yourself without having followed a proper education for it.
So the subjects which can be discussed are much more limited as the classic moped forum in my example.
Simply said there are less subjects to talk about and as far as I can see, you guys have covered all the subjects I am aware about.
Regarding watch compliments; when you show something on a forum you've recently bought, the replies are usually complimentary and/or comments about the condition its in.
I don't think it is something people should get frustrated about as such reactions are quite logical for me, I would do the same in real life.



In the short time I am around here, I have the opinion you are doing a tremendous job.
Your moderations are just a small part of the contributions you do on this forum and I am sure a lot of people appreciate them.

I guess members will use the forum for their particular needs and interests. In this way it will find its own level, responding to topical issues as they arise. I love the forum and value the work and expertise of the 'senior members'. I can't really suggest any improvements for the boards. I know where to come if I need help and advice on any matter relating to Breitling. Keep up the good work and thanks to all the mods for making the forum what it is today.

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

Roff, you're (hopefully) getting old and with age comes wisdom and different opinions , viewpoints and interests

First of all I think you (and also other mods) are doing a tremendous job , mostly by being completely invisible as a moderator and please take this as a compliment not critique. You and the other mods are as much participants in the forum as the members are and this is the main reason why I still stick around.

If I look at myself , interest comes and goes almost literally as the seasons come and go, end of spring till early autumn I am spending times elsewhere ( mainly on the water ) and won't or rather, choose to , not spend as much time on horology but enjoy the warmer weather

With regards to enthusiasm about 'activities' or 'articles' , I have a somewhat different view , As you know I have written a few about some vintage pieces , dating 806's , 765AVI, one pusher camadian airforce etc and I get my satisfaction from the encouragement and remarks by a few people here ( yourself, Fred, Paul, Kurt, Bill and a few more) but after the initial publishing and remarks the articles and posts seem to 'die off' as time progresses as they almost disappear in the normal day to day conversations and discussions

Maybe an article section would help to keep those dissertations and articles more readily available and help to initiate new discussions ?

Anyway , even though i am a passionate collector I do take time 'off' sometimes and i also find that 'side areas' (new models , diff brands, watchmaking etc) ddoes not always interest me

Ok, end of rant and not much help , but please dont change the forum too much


Edit p.s.
Google adwords, sell to chriesties/antikorum , get breitling to participate officially , get noticed and mentioned by some of the better bloggers ? No idea , but people that are looking for real , unbiased and thoughout opinions about Breitling will hopefully find this board eventually

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Hi everyone

I agree Roff the post are a little stale at the moment and we could do with something that we can get involved in and discuss in more detail. It seems their is sometimes more knowledge taken from this site than people give back. I know that Dracha and many others do some amazing posts about vintage and other watches and they are always interesting, but sometimes their is more and more that people ask if a watch is real or fake or other issues that we cover a lot this is not always the case and this is just my opinion though. and the site is still amazing and you all do an amazing job. As much as I would love to post more about watchmaking Im still training and don't always have time.

And as you also said sometimes people don't always like the post and then start to comment with nasty comments. I would love to see more articles and in detail posts about watches or other things around watches. I understand what you are saying Roff I just don't have a good solution or any good ideas.

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Rolex GMT 2
Breitling for Bentley GT Racing
Ball World Time Diver
Rolex precision oysterdate
Breitling chronometre bi metal
Omega seamaster professional chronometer
Ball fireman
Rolex datejust diamond bezel
Rolex Explorer 39mm
Omega James bond 50th

Joe, I think you're always going to have most people taking more knowledge than they give back, simply because there are so few with the level of expertise to educate others.

Roff, I have no idea. I'm just pleased you called yourself "old."

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SHARKMAN

I agree that things are a little "different" these days compared to how they used to be 7 years ago - and that's not just me being a crusty old git and looking at things through rose-tinted glasses(!) - things ARE a little different now but ultimately forums are built on, and by, the membership. Essentially people can post pretty much anything they want (within reason obviously), so unfortunately all the competitions and events under the sun will only ever be participated in by those who actually want to.

Ultimately, I think the direction of the forum goes in whatever direction the membership wants....... or is it that I just can't think of anything specifically that we can do at the moment? We've run a few watch projects - the last of which I tried to get off the ground and met with limited uptake : we've run "Best of" competitions - again, the last of which met with limited uptake....... so perhaps everyone really is getting what they want from the forum. And if so, then that's great!

That said, I like the concept of having an "ideas" thread like this, so if people want to see something happening (and don't want to start it up themselves), then post it up here.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Hmmm. Old men giving advice to to other old men so we do not think we are old.
Like the others I tend to agree that it does feel "different" here now than when I "left" a few years ago. There seems to be less playful banter, less opinionated back and forth. Less reason to get up in the morning and check "the Source" with my morning coffee to see what the Europeans quipped back with while I was still sleeping.
There also seems to be a little less education to those who really desire it (ME!!!!)

I do not know who the D-bags were that were less than complimentary about your instructional dissertations, but I loved them and learned more about watchmaking, complications and horology in those dissertations than in almost every other source combined. Those who were less than complimentary should go back to their Louis Vuitton fora. (inside joke for a very few, sorry)
I would love to see more education with pics, diagrams etc... Not necessarily from you Roff, you do plenty, too much really. But there are a number of really knowledgeable members with a tremendous amount to contribute to the overall knowledge base. Perhaps a subsection of the forum page strictly containing educational materials (judged by the mods and admin). I realize these things may exist in other parts of the site, but condensing it on the forum may draw more reads. I know I, for one, tend to click straight to the forum and never stop anywhere else on the site. Many of the fake spotters could do detailed fake spotting "lectures" in the education section, re-posting your professorial dissertations there would also be great. Dracha and WatchFred could do some pieces on evolution from vintage or whatever tickles them... I could do a quick piece on wise-assed insults...
There was a time back when we did a couple special edition Steinart watches. If we could talk Breitling into it. I know this was tried before, but it never hurts to ask again... I have deposit money...
These are just some ideas from another old guy.
I still enjoy BreitlingSource immensely, but agree it could be more than it currently is.

_________________
Chronomat, Steel/Gold, MOP Dial, 2-tone band (2008)
Super Avenger Black Baton Dial (2009)
Bentley B04 GMT Silver Dial (2013)
Avenger Blacksteel Baton Dial (2014)

I agree with Dracha. An sticky article section would be cool. A sticky "watch review" would be cool too. I've read a few good reviews here, but they get lost after a while. Ie. Sharkman's Navi 01 review.

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Regards,

Peter

BREITLING for Bentley Motors T & Mark VI, Aerospace
ROLEX Submariner Ceramic116610LN
OMEGA Plantet Ocean 8500 42mm Orange arabics
OCEAN7 LM-3

A Breitling Source Forum edition would be really cool, I'd throw in on that one as well! Great idea. I've been on the everything is running smoothly camp, my daily read. I love the pics everyone is posting, also the very informative vintage section and I think it's great anyone can come here for help authenticating. No complaints from me, also the mods that run the forum are doing a great job, keep up the good work gentlemen!

Well, thats irony for you! Just when I thought this forum was getting more interesting.

In the short time I have been here I have read quite a few comments from newbies saying they joined this forum because of the level of discussion and the expertise available, not found elsewhere. I am paraphrasing, but that seems to be the general gist of it. I think that alone rates this place a success, although it goes without saying that everything can be improved. Better minds than mine have already made some suggestions here and no doubt more will follow.

My point though is this; if you have a tremendous resource like this forum and members feel it is getting a little stale and not adding value, then you have to ask yourself why.

To attract members and keep them absorbed with commentary and expert advice, and then to invite them to add something confidently to the conversation is a benchmark of any good forum. No point having a forum otherwise. We all grow by making contributions and we all go from relative innocents to battle scared oldies. In the main though, we members appear to stay around here for a long time. So, something is working right and we should not forget this.

Just my thought on the topic.

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Jim

"You have Control".

Could it be that a little of the staleness is due to Breitling being a little stale as a brand: not producing very many exciting watches over the last four years? I know that the vintage section (which doesn't rely on Breitling's new products) always hums along because there is 70 odd years of good stuff to keep us interested.

As to site innovations, there is a good culture here of freedom to suggest topics for discussion as well as centrally organised projects. This thread continues to encourage that culture of being member driven. Personally I'd love to see more articles. I'd love to see an invitation to Breitling SA to interact officially with the site. They could certainly gain good will by tossing some swag the site's way. More member gtgs would be cool. Stuff like site t-shirts etc would be great. But most of these things are best when they're member driven, not mod driven. I think this thread is a good reminder to us not to be consumers but contributors. To that end I'll rope DocJ in and we'll organise a sydney gtg!

an articles section seems to be an excellent idea, maybe divided into General/Breitling/Replica/Vintage ?

the WWAYWT thread is impressive - 9k+ posts, 240k reads, but the lack of a "like" function on the forum makes it a ..... "love fest" (c) Roff - and it has gotten a bit too long by now ? Members love to talk about their watches, so the "no filibuster" rule isn't always followed, we've fought against full quotes, but .....

so why not take that thread and change it into a "Watch of the Month" contest, allowing full quotes, comments, discussions - at the end of the month we nominate entries, vote for the winner - and the owner then features his watch in a BreitlingSource "Hall of Fame" ?

Forum traffic is down overall; this forum is - personal opinion only - among the very best, excellently moderated; but the competition of social media is huge, fb and IG offer features a forum just can't give you, that might be a way to increase member involvement !

How about a themed monthly/quarterly photo contest? I've seen other places that have something like "Blue" where anything involving blue is fair game. Then maybe the next month would be "action" and the following month "spring" or "Beach". Broad rules like it has to include a picture of a watch with your interpretation of the theme and has to be taken in the current contests time frame...ie...no pulling something out of your archive from a vacation three years ago. The idea being to actively push each other to do something right now and rejuvenate the forum activity.

Once the time limit has expired we all vote on the best (you can't vote on your own). The one getting the most votes is the winner and maybe that winner gets to pick next months theme.

Seems to push all the buttons of watches, photos and plenty of time to tell the others Nice, or great or well done. And for Fred I agree; a gentleman's agreement not to quote the OP's original picture.

Tweak the rules as you see fit, just a discussion starter. Maybe we offer up some nominal prize. I'm sure we all have a drawer full of straps, buckles, hats, etc. we don't use. If we can agree on terms and get the ball rolling I'll offer up my unworn Breitling hat I got with my SF to the first winner and pick up shipping.