Reply With QuoteI've said this many times but the servicing is why I would never own a Breitling. Imagine demanding a service on a watch for a bracelet issue.
Hi all,
I’ve recently sent my Breitling B55 to their service centre after the small button that you press on the clasp to release fell out and lost whilst wearing the watch.
Extremely disappointing for a quality watch which is just 4 years old and has been worn only a few times a month since new.
The watch warranty was their standard 2 years so I was expecting some kind of repair cost but nothing anything like I received....
Replacement buckle £616.67
Add in the compulsory Maintenance service £116.65
And in the shipping cost £15.00
Add in the VAT £149.66
The grand total...... £897.98 !!!! For a replacement buckle!
I called their service centre and asked them to review bearing in mind that the watch is just 4 years old, not worn regularly, cost £6500 and surely anyone would expect a quality watch buckle to last longer than 4 years. I have had £20 watch buckles last longer.
I received a call back to be informed that they have reviewed but their quote stands as the damaged buckle is due to wear and tear!
Well my understanding of wear and tear is damage that naturally occurs as a result of normal wear or ageing!
How can that be after 4 years? Does this mean that I need to set aside £225 a year to replace my watch buckle for every year I wear (occasionally) the watch?
I appreciate the repair comes with a service which may appear reasonable but it’s their damn smart watch with limited moving parts and I’m quite happy not having it serviced every two years as they recommend.
The service is not optional. It should be any owners choice whether or when they have their watched serviced and given they are changing a buckle I see no reason why they need to even go near the watch unless i choose the option for them to do so.
I have spoken to a couple of reputable watch repairs that I have used in the past and both reported that Breitling make it difficult for them to purchase their parts to enable them to carry out repairs. Both referred me to Breitling service centre.
It appears that Breitling have their watch owners over a royally screwed barrel unless anyone can advise and help otherwise?
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I've said this many times but the servicing is why I would never own a Breitling. Imagine demanding a service on a watch for a bracelet issue.
Make it your business to post and share on as much social media as possible. Create a YouTube video.
Twitter them and shame them as much as you can. We will all like and retweet.
If you cave in and do nothing they will just continue take the p1ss.
Watch brands are taking the piss thesedays. The manufacturers have managed to get away with restricting supply of parts thus forcing owners to deal with the brand service centre, who then charge silly money and insist on pointless servicing that isn’t necessary at that point. The independent repair trade is being killed off and attempts at legally challenges have come to nothing. Car manufacturers tried a similar stance some years back but this was deemed to be restriction of trade and they had to back down.
The only way it would change is if buyers stopped buying their over- priced products, I’m sure some folks don’t realise what they're buying into when spending a few grand on a watch thesedays.
Am I reading this right - they are asking you to pay for a service in return for replacing a buckle? Just ask for the watch back and buy the buckle separately.
But £600+ for a buckle? I assume this is the bracelet?
Originally Posted by 44Gunner
Did you buy the watch in the UK? Have you paid for the repair yet??
If so you should have cover under the Consumer Rights Act which details that a QUALITY item should be fit for purpose for “a reasonable time” which has been unofficially agreed to as a period of 6 years.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...uld-you-expect
Thanks for your advise.
I’ll post as much as possible.
The cost is for the buckle only!
The vat is charged after the shipping too, I’ve never seen that before, small beer in the scheme of things but it really irritates me, summing up how they treat their customers.
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Wouldn’t cost much more than £600 for a full new bracelet, wouldn’t it?
I’m a Breitling fan but this does take the mickey if it was literally just the buckle/clasp they replaced.
Nope not the strap, just the buckle/clasp
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Do you have a picture?
From what I understand, it’s just a button on a bracelet.
Certainly seems a bit steep.
I imagine I’m not the only one whose attitude to watches is something like: Look, we all know this stuff has tons of margin in it, but it’s a lovely thing and I’ll get my head ’round the capital outlay. Just play fair on the revenue costs, and stand by parts availability for about 30 years or so, okay? Great, I’ll take it.
Attachment 18515
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Not my actual watch obviously
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Agree, get a quote for a new bracelet.
Is this the same clasp? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-B...wAAOSw0X5fgx6B
I sold an Ocean Racer deployant here a few years ago for about £225. They came up from time to time back then.
OP are you sure it was just the deployant they replaced? Your wording hasn’t been entirely clear to me (not being critical, just trying to exactly understand what was replaced). It seems your watch was a ?leather strap with deployant?
EDIT
It’s an Exospace, so rubber with deployant. Which variant? I’m sure they’re available on eBay for less than £300 tops, even the PVD version?
Last edited by ach5; 22nd November 2020 at 22:13.
Yes you are correct Exospace B55 Night Mission, rubber strap. Are these available? Thanks
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Appalling, and it certainly puts me off Breitling. But I guess many people buy a watch without giving service and repair costs a thought.
In contrast, I’ve had very reasonable servicing and repair costs from Oris’ office service centre. It makes ownership a significantly more pleasant experience. And my experience of Longines’ service centre wasn’t bad either.
Has the work been carried out?
Or is that an estimate?
Sounds absolutely bananas. Surely if you’d just sent the strap, you’d have saved the cost of a ‘service’ that you don’t need? Tbh I’d have sourced a new clasp or strap the moment they said it wasn’t covered.
If it's like my experience when i sent mine for a battery change and declined the exorbitant work, the OP will get charged £40-odd to get the watch back as that's the cost of the inspection payable if the quote is not taken forward.
Might get the watch back in a travel case though :-)
I'd go to war with them over this personally.
Don't pay them. Name and shame publicly. Create a bunch of complaints. Inform any industry bodies that will listen. Challenge them via your original payment method (particularly if it was a credit card). Challenge the AD you bought it from. Contact any YouTubers / watch publications that'll listen. Follow through on RJM25R's suggestion above.
WAR!!!!
The work hasn’t been carried out. It’s the estimate and RobDad you’re right, in hindsight I could have just sent the strap, that would avoid being turned over on the compulsory service! Good point!
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I have and like a couple (SuperOcean, Aerospace) but won't buy any more for the same reason. The service costs on the quartz are indefensible and BUK's reputation seems to have sunk in the last few years.
I suggest you get the watch back and detach the strap and clasp from the watch then return and see what Breitling would quote. Ah, see that’s been mentioned.
I’d ask an AD how much a replacement buckle is - I’d trust someone like Andrew Michaels (AMJ).
Last edited by MartynJC (UK); 22nd November 2020 at 23:18.
Not even a quote?
Agree with asking AMJ to source the clasp
D
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over £600 for a buckle OMFG thats insane
Get details on the two Breitling owners' groups on FB. They may have some ideas to help. I believe one of them has contact with Kern so maybe he'll even see it and realise how ludicrous this is.
^^^^^^ This.
Name and shame to your heart’s content. Bloody disgusting behaviour imho.
About 15 years ago I was chatting with a guy who had a breitling of some sort, he said he just had the battery changed and it was £250
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I don't think that's unusual for an Emergency.
A bit cheaper for something like the B-1
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
A mate of mine paid full retail for a Breitling in the US which worked out about £4.5k, he has had problems with the bracelet too and ended up getting a leather strap, no offence OP but I couldn't bring myself to buy any modern Breitling at those asking prices especially with so many stories like yours, so many more choices out there.
That story is already effecting Breitling's reputation...after reading it, I'd no longer consider buying one, and I used to be a Breitling fan. Pretty shocking way to exploit your customers.
If anyone is wondering why Breitling are milking their owners during service then look no further
over £600 for a buckle OMFG thats insane
They are charging £740 for a clasp on a rubber strap.
I kind of think when the accountants etc, at certain watch manufacturers, are deciding on the price, the conversation must go something like this................ "What are manufacturing costs for this rubber strap and its straightforward SS clasp?"................. "That'll be £20"........... "Now, how big is the ' customer mug' factor that we should multiply that cost by?".............."Oh big, really big, we seem to have convinced the mu... err.... customers that rubber and SS with certain 'names' written on them are really different and magical things that cost us huge amounts of money to make, unlike rubber and SS from say Casio."............"Great!"
"That'll be £740 then sir (mug) but it obviously doesn't include the fantastically expensive bit of magical rubber we make the strap out of, do you want a quote for that?"
Mitch
That seems excessive. I am slowly reducing the number of mechanical watches I own because of the time, tedium and cost of getting them serviced, but at least I understand the skill it takes to strip, clean, oil and reassemble something complex.
A clasp though? Madness.
I am reminded of a similar "a screw fell out" experience I had, but with a 30-year old cheap(ish) quartz. This was the result in that case.
You may want to post this in Facebook group Breitling Owners Club.
Georges Kern is an active member there.
Do they really service watch for £116? That would be cheaper than any indie.
I was hugely tempted by one of these a couple of years ago. I think I’d be as annoyed as you at the cost of what appears to be something quite simple.
Its quartz, so a maintenance service will be a battery and seal at most.
Cheers..
Jase
To provide some context, in 2019 Vacheron quoted me £720 for a new clasp on an Overseas bracelet. Fortunately they didn’t bundle in a service.
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Naming and shaming on FB or the forums will have minimal effect as the costs are well known there and the people there are likely already owners, so all you'll do is depress them.
Breitling won't do the (relatively) cheap battery and seals maintenance service if you don't also have the full service to their schedule and won't countenance the approach of simply using the watch until the movement fails and then replacing it. Servicing doesn't guarantee the longevity of the movement, only the work done on that movement and, while it does make sense to clean and lubricate the mechanical bits if the cost is proportionate, if they are not, it doesn't. The electronics of the watch can fail totally and without warning, and a service will do nothing to prevent that.
I think I worked out that owning a chrono quartz breitling on a bracelet and replacing things at Breitling's schedule would cost me about £2k-£2.5k every 10 years. On the basis that I have only had one quartz mechanism fail in the 40 years or so that I've been wearing quartz watches (Grand Seiko!), the only cost effective option is to wear it until it fails, then bin it and buy another.
That is useful!
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Outrageous, anything else than fixing for free is unacceptable.
I know that this isn't a very helpful response, but this sort of BS seems to be par for the course with prestige watchmakers. Crazy prices, Insane service costs, £1000+ bracelets.... their business model seems based on the idea that there loads of people with more money than sense - and they are probably right! The only way to stop it is not to buy them.....but there are too many other fools with too much cash to make this a very effective strategy!
Can you please link to something that supports the 6 years being thought reasonable for a quality item? Apologies if I'm overlooking that you have already. I can see that the time limit for claims is 6 years but also that certainty on a refund beyond 6mths looks to be dependent on proving the fault existed on receipt.
Whilst I agree Breitling's estimate is ridiculous and I'd expect it to be fixed for free, or minimal cost, I wouldn't expect to be able to prove the clasp was faulty on purchase hence any formal claim would hinge on succeeding in pricing a clasp ought to reasonably last longer (we think it should but proving that in an isolated case would be challenging).
Last edited by deepreddave; 23rd November 2020 at 12:06.
I purchased a 20mm Ocean deployant from the Breitling boutique 2 or 3 years ago, was £270.
Might have gone up a bit since then, but just go to Breitling website and look at current price.
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I ran the titanium bracelet of my 5yr old Aerospace under the hot tap and two of the links sprung apart.
Sent it off to Breitling via the dealer, and it came back with a brand new bracelet (with diver's extension) - Free Of Charge. "It was obviously defective, Sir".
That was many years ago, and together with Rolex care - prompted me to opine: "Buy a watch from a respected Horologist, not a design studio - and they will look after you for years to come"
That has changed now - Breitling can charge like a wounded buffalo.
I'n now looking at my Breitling deployant rather differently now that it appears to be forming quite a significant part of my retirement pot!
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