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Old 21 March 2017, 01:00 AM   #43
MrNemo
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Real Name: Shane
Location: Lake Oswego, OR
Posts: 169
The vast majority of Breitlings floating around use an ETA 2824 or a Valjoux 7750 unless you are buying brand new. Those movements are mostly bulletproof, although I did drop a Super Avenger (with a B13 which is just a 7750) off a second floor balcony and it caused the chronograph seconds hand to misalign when resetting to zero (but still kept excellent time) so avoid dropping them from 20 feet in the air onto concrete, if possible. Breitling in-house service is Rolex-level expensive (the service on my 90s Chronomat was $800), so I'd recommend taking them to any decent local watchmaker for issues and you'll be fine.

As for new ones, I have no experience with the B1. But I'm not sure I'd ever buy a new Breitling again because the depreciation is pretty fierce, even if your watch is mint.

@Jack T
If you are looking at a new Colt, be aware that historically, they depreciate more than any other model because they used to use a quartz ETA 251.262 which is the same movement used in cheap Tag Heuers for the last 20 years. The new Colts, however, have an in-house quartz (whatever that is) so maybe they won't depreciate as badly. All I'm saying is the quartz option has pulled the value of the automatic Colts down, so if I were after a Colt, I'd buy a mint used piece with box/papers from a reputable dealer. One good thing is, I don't think I've seen counterfeit Colts floating around, so you can at least put that worry aside.
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