Horological Meandering

Marcus Hanke
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Back then, everything was better ...

NOT. At least when studying the development of Schneider-Breitling after 1982, we have to state that quality appeared not to be of major concern for the company. Well, on the other hand, it was not a flourishing company, and the first step to improve its economic performance was to create a myth about Breitling as THE pilot watch. And the PR was highly successful at this. Demand increased, production numbers had to be increased to meet demand, and the build quality suffered. In the 1190s it was known that only basic ETA movements were used, since everything with the brandname "Breitling" on it could be sold without difficulty.

However, quality problems started to compromise the brand perception, and a quality offensive was started, leading to the decision to subject all movements, including the quartz movements to the (expensive) COSC chronometer test procedures in 1999. Since then, I am firmly convinced that the product quality of Breitling watches is on a par with the price level of the watches. This includes the finish and performance of the ETA movements used.

That manufacture movements are not always better than traditional ETAs or other third-party-movements, is demonstrated by Breitling's own B01 chronograph movement, that has shown a few flaws (automatic winding mechanism, for example), and is currently undergoing a technical upgrade.

Personally, I found the Breitling watches I owned to be on a similar level with Omega, also price-wise. Some details might be better, others inferior. So I think it is not correct to generalise Breitling as over-priced or to be of poor quality. They are not better, nor worse than other products in the same price class, and if one likes their design, then they are certainly not a bad choice.

Marcus