The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hope all you folks are well after the COVID years. My Navitimer has been in a holding pattern for the past four years as I tried in vain to have it "professionally" restored.

To summarize:

The Heist folks did not want to hear what I wanted done. I was told they would decide what the watch needed and how to restore it.

Could not even talk to anyone at Khalif.

Tracy in Canada suggested I ship the watch with zero value. The upshot was that I could not insure it. So I contacted Canadian Customs for clarification. CA law requires "repair and return" items be sent through one of their agents (must be they are desperate for their VAT on sales) which is a CF of paperwork and costs $$$. Sending the watch insured, CA Customs would consider it a sale at the insured value and charge the receiver VAT. My association with a department head at US Customs precludes me from breaking US or CA laws and the thought never entered my mind. I offered to ship it to him from CA during a visit. Nope, call in six months. After a bunch of trying not to service my watch I said screw it.

So, disgusted with the holier than thou new generation of watchmakers I took the watch apart (not the movement, it looked good and ran fine) cleaned it up, restored the case as it had some rust under the case back which did leave some pitting (luckily never reached the movement), straightened and put the hands back on, cleaned the slide rule and inside of the crystal, re-assembled with new old stock period lizard strap, and wound it up. May not be the perfect specimen but a good working watch. Still thinking of the best way to polish the crystal exterior.

I know WatchFred keeps a list of serial numbers. My watch is No. 844925 (1955).

well done; lovely piece!

Curious to know what you asked the Heist's to do that they balked at? I've always found them easy to deal with.

When I contacted Heist, I explained to the gatekeeper that answered the phone that there were certain aspects of the watch that were not to be restored such as the dial, etc . I was informed that they would inspect the watch and determine how to restore it. They were not interested in my input regarding my watch. And of course there was no chance of speaking with the watchmaker. Strictly verboten.

Being old school and getting older, I still prefer doing business the old way where you speak to the person you plan to spend thousands with. I still do with my clients. But what do I know. The folks I could not do business with are still in business so maybe it’s me.

I since found Mike Creasey at Time-MD via a thread on this forum. Like my now deceased friend Weldon, Mike also graduated from the Bowman school. What a great knowledgeable person to speak with. He took a “break” and we had a nice chat for a while. 40 years in business and you just got a strong comfort factor from speaking with him. Now that’s who I would send my watch to for restoration.