Reply With QuoteIt's worth mentioning,you pay your money and you should get what you expect,and as you say the seikos perfect at a fraction of the price
Hi there, before I start in not knocking the Breitling as they are by far my favourite Watch!
But... whilst looking through my loupe the other day I noticed quite a few imperfections, I know you shouldn't get over critical while looking through a loupe but when you start to notice things when your not looking through one it makes you wonder!
So... just inspected my £170 Seiko Divers Watch through the loupe and it's practically flawless!
The first thing I noticed with the Breitling was a white mark running along part of the edge of the chapter ring, hard to see by eye, then there's some debris, dust of some kind on top of the 18k white gold logo (maybe glue?) but the latest thing I noticed was the red paint missing at the end of the chronograph hand, that is quite visible especially when the sun catches it, here is the best picture I can take, not the best sorry
Am I being over critical? would you just live with it and maybe mention it to Breitling when it goes in for its maintenance service in about 15 months time?
Matt
It's worth mentioning,you pay your money and you should get what you expect,and as you say the seikos perfect at a fraction of the price
Tried to capture a picture of the chapter ring but it's hard with my limited photo skills and equipment, not the best on my iPhone and I'm gonna loose further quality when I post this via tapatalk, but here goes!
As you can see the white mark starts around 120 on the tachometer, even just noticed a couple of specs of something on the edge of the date window while looking at the last pic I postednot as bad as the specs on the logo though, but for some reason they are hard to focus on as the camera keeps focusing on the bezel
If you can see it when you glance at the time, it would annoy me. If not, it wouldn't.
The thing is, if you are a Breitling fan, perhaps it is best not to fuss too much. Once you start noticing these things, it achieves very little other than spoiling your pleasure in the watch.
As for the Seiko, that company is the true master of modern mass production.
That's it. They're made for the fans, not the critics.Originally Posted by paskinner
Thanks for the replies, and apart from noticing the paint loss on the hand because the sun caught it, nothing else is noticeable by just looking at the Watch, maybe I've been over critical, would still be interesting to hear if anyone else has noticed defects on Watches they've paid a few grand for, this is my first of what I would call an expensive Watch so I'm quite inexperienced with owning them!
With Seiko, good thing is you don't need a loupe to notice the imperfections:-)
I had a chronomat and chrono avenger and both were great quality never looked at them with a loup though
Strangely enough, my Seiko has less imperfections
Breitling is known for its faults and poor finishing, of course :)
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Must only be the cheap Seikos that are flawless: http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...ighlight=mm300
When it comes down to it my response would be the same as in that thread. Unacceptable on an expensive watch. But I don't think it's typical of Breitling, I have had quite a few and never had a QC issue.
I think you should return it and demand a full refund.
In this price range, I'd want and expect perfection.
Thanks for all your views on this, I love the Watch and the brand, I know Breitling are not the most popular brand with most people but I just love the designs, but I think I will be mentioning this when it gets its first maintenance service!
Do you think Breitling will put the faults right?
I try and avoid using a loupe... A rather 'premium' watch I had came back from service with a fibre of some sort under one of the screws in the dial, a guy at work who had a geological hand lens was looking at it.
Doesn't matter how hard you look with the naked eye, it's invisible. But with the loupe... Grrrr.
I generally find that there is a tolerance to which they will carry out repair work and it can be subjective. I am not sure that they will if fault can only be seen under loupe.
I know what you mean, I was in two minds to use the loupe, so good point made!
I think there are quite a few examples of inperfections on expensive watches on this forum and others. Check back over this sub forum and you'll see cases where sometimes faults have been introduced during service and taking more than one go to get fixed.
With your Brietling I would wait until it is due it's next service and mention exactly your dissatisfaction points. With luck they will be rectified to your requirements.
Personally i have found the highest quality from this brand and I've owned a few. Here is my latest:
Any excuse to post this pic
Not a perfect finish, but you would never know with the naked eye.
i am a Lucky guy not having a loupe-)
That looks about as smooth as the finish on the hands of my £2,750 Sinn.Any excuse to post this pic
Not a perfect finish, but you would never know with the naked eye.
If you're expecting perfection under an microscope at this level then you're mad. Try it at £50,000.
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
patek maybe?
Andrew, so without me trying to turn this into the dreaded Rolex vs Breitling threadcould a Rolex Submariner easily have the same defects as my Breitling?
I see what you mean, but at least there's no paint actually missing!Any excuse to post this pic
Not a perfect finish, but you would never know with the naked eye.
There have been threads over the years here from people who bought 10x loupes and found flaws in the Big Two and even JLC (a linen dial with loose applied markers comes to mind). Look hard enough and you'll find anything, although I think Rolex is amongst the most consistent, which is no small feat given they made 780,000 watches last year.Andrew, so without me trying to turn this into the dreaded Rolex vs Breitling thread
It's more likely to be dust and lint that gets spotted when people start putting 10x loupes on their Submariners etc. FWIW I've had four Breitlings and none had any visible dial flaws. Under a regular (4x?) loupe one of them had a flaw-free dial, and I saw no need to seek fault with the others.
Here is a 20x picture of a printed Omega dial,a thread from this forum. This dial is crisp and perfect when looked at unaided, but at this level of magnification, the lettering is blurred and runs over in places, polished hands have little nicks in them, and hand paint ends messily. (cf the Breitling second hand.) But at 10x you may not spot these things, and to the naked eye it's flawless:
http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.ph...ap-macro/page2
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
Depends on the model, with a GS you can magnify as much as you like............:)
Daddel.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
I think we were talking about 170GBP Seiko divers as per OP:-)
But that was flawless as well? :)
Only kidding, I'm no Breitling fan by any means, but I've owed two over the years and Always was impressed by the fit and finish of their products.
As stated before, no need to over-magnify a dial, what's the use?
Daddel.
Got a new watch, divers watch it is, had to drown the bastard to get it!
I agree and see where your coming from Daddel, the reason, maybe be really put the several thousand ££££ to the test!
my idea-)
The pilot bracelet on my cronomat was far superior to the rolex and omega offerings of the time
Glashutte Original include a loupe in the box, albeit a basic one, which shows they stand by their work. Do Lange & PP include one with their watches ? was wondering this a while back so interested to know if they do... Thanks in advance :)
Let's hope not!
http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=424459
They didn't with the GO I purchased ... think the loupe is only supplied with a few models now, if any.
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