The only watches I have ever had problems with were Flybacks

Dec 15, 2005,05:17 AM
 

I have had two of them--a Monaco YS, and a Ti model. They were both purchsed new. The Monaco's minute register never advanced past the five minute mark. Thinking that I had a fluke bad experience, two years later I purchased a Ti flyback that had an even more ridiculous problem--the center seconds hand was not mounted on the center arbor with enough friction such that with every reset to zero the seconds hand rotated more and more to the left of 12 o'clock. At the end of the first day, to my dismay, the center seconds hand would reset to the 10 o'clock postion!

The FP 1185, while interesting in concept, is IMHO the least reliable chrono movement out there. One could argue that the problems I had were secondary to poor QC at BP (which I would not disagree with, BTW) but I think there are intrinsic problems to the movement as far as reliability and ruggedness. As evidence, the derivative Omega 33XX movements have had significant problems also. I had to chuckle when the first owner's reports emerged because not only did BP screw more customers indirectly, but this time it had caused shame to its older Swatch group sister.

One might think that this was too small a sampling size for me to draw such a conclusion. I argue that it was two separate watches produced at different times (I bought my second Flyback two years later) yet both had problems. That's not unlike the random sampling that a company must use to ensure good QC. I will never be a Flyback purchaser again and I may never purchase a BP again. Search the archives here and at other websites and you will see a disproportionate number of posts questioning BP's overall reliablility. No other brand forum exhibits this amount of uncertainty; I'm sure that I am not the only previous owner that can give you insight as to why that might be the case.

Again, this is my experience with the Flybacks and this post was not crafted to troll. You are buying an expensive watch and should be provided with all opinions. I will say that in fairness that I had an Aqualung on a rubber strap that did very well for me and I do miss it indeed.

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The Leman Flyback Chronograph- Reliability

 
 By: Thomas Ng : December 8th, 2005-07:19
Has anyone here had problems with the reliability of the Leman Flyback Chronograph? I was talking to a friend who has the same watch today, and he was telling me about how the flyback function would intermittently stop working, how the watch had to go bac... 

No issues

 
 By: Watchguysj : December 8th, 2005-09:21
...  

My friend bought it just around 10 years ago...

 
 By: MCG (Markus) : December 9th, 2005-08:08
...and did the first service just a few weeks ago. It is the only watch he wears daily! No issues what's so ever. He's more than content...

Thanks

 
 By: Thomas Ng : December 9th, 2005-01:13

The only watches I have ever had problems with were Flybacks

 
 By: Isaac : December 15th, 2005-05:17
I have had two of them--a Monaco YS, and a Ti model. They were both purchsed new. The Monaco's minute register never advanced past the five minute mark. Thinking that I had a fluke bad experience, two years later I purchased a Ti flyback that had an even ... 

1185

 
 By: Rich : December 15th, 2005-07:19
It is my understanding that the F.Piquet 1185 is used in the Royal Oak chrono and the VC chrono. This caliber was used as a foundation for the current Rolex chrono, which has been shown to be reliable. To me, reliabilty is the most important aspect of a m... 

Hi Richard, AFAIK there's no relationship between the Rolex cal. 4130

 
 By: Jack Forster : December 15th, 2005-08:20
and the Piguet 1185. They are very different movements in many respects and it's not possible to say that the Rolex 4130 is 'based on' the 1185 in any meaningful way. Of course, they're both chronographs, but they're significantly different movements. Jac... 

Another similarity ;o) >>

 
 By: MTF : December 15th, 2005-09:21
They are both round Regards, MTF

No. . .

 
 By: Jack Forster : December 16th, 2005-07:07

A statistically more relevant experience ...

 
 By: Marcus Hanke : December 16th, 2005-03:03
... might be that of the heaf watchmaker of Austria's Swatch Group Service Centre. In Vienna, all Austrian Blancpains with Piguet 118x, all Breguet Type XX with L?mania movement, and all Omega chrongoraphs, both, conventional and co-axial are serviced (an...