New Breitling Owner...And A Panic Question

[Ben]

Greetings,

I'm a relatively new Breitling owner and brand new to this forum.

First, the story I guess. I'd wanted a fine watch for a long time, but was never really in the position to afford one. Some lucrative freelance work presented itself earlier this year and suddenly I had cash in hand!

I had drooled over Breitlings, as I really prefer chronographs and use the stopwatch feature quite a bit, but I just like their overall "style." I saw the limited edition ChronoMatic while peerusing their their web site. It just wowed me, but I figured that a limited edition watch would out of my price range.

I thought I had made up my mind that I would get a Navitimer - until - I actually saw the ChronoMatic in the store. I knew that it was the one. Just something about the winding stem on the left side! And- it turned out that it wasn't really out of my price range. That was a couple of months ago and I've thoroughly enjoyed wearing and using it ever since.

That brings me to my panic question. I did not wear it for a day or two and when I picked it up this morning it had run down and stopped. I followed the instructions and wound it about 40 times. I pulled out the stem to the second position and reset the date. Then I pulled the stem out all the way to set the time. The winding was not smooth in either direction. The minute hand seemed to jump instead of moving smoothly. I did get the time reset and it has kept excellent time all day, but did I inadvertantly do something to the watch? Should I take it to the dealer and have them look at it? I had sort of a mild panic attack and hope that someone here can help.

Thanks and I look forward to reading any replies as well as future threads. I can post a photo but am not sure how to do it here. -Ben

[BruceS]

Hi Ben,
I'm not sure what you could've done to it. Sounds like you did everything correctly. So...when you tried to move the hands to set the time it didn't feel smooth and the hand jumped?

Why don't you try setting the time again and see what happens. Just move it back an hour or something then set it to the current time. See if the problem repeats. If it does, take it back and show the dealer.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

[Ben]

Greetings,

As a follow-up. I took the ChronoMatic back to the dealer yesterday and the watchmaker told me that there was indeed something wrong with the mechanism in the stem.

Unfortunately, he also told me that the ChronoMtic movement was one that Breitling had not authorized them to work on, so it has to go back to Breitling for repair. He said they do excellent work but are very slow - something like 6 to 8 weeks. I guess I have no choice, but it has to be done - though I'm not too thrilled that a 3-month old watch even needs to be repaired. Any one had any similar experiences?

I've included a couple of photos if anyone is interested. It really is a stunning watch. I guess I'll just have to wear my Nettuno 3 until it comes back.

mywebpages.comcast.net/woodcameras/ChronoMatic2.jpg

[BruceS]

Hi Ben,
Sorry to hear that! Unfortunately this kind of thing happens. I had a less than one month old Omega die on me. It happens to all brands, but it sure doesn't make you feel good about your purchase. I remember how I felt!

Your watch really is beautiful. When you get it back, it'll be better than new!