Question to fellow Tudor BB Chrono owners about stiff winding

[Brian Page]

I have acquired a new to me BB chrono which I love and so far has been extremely accurate. I'm sure fellow owners know of the Breitling collaboration with the movement. Question is this - put the watch down for a few days and it stopped of course, but winding it was really stiff, almost as if it had a full wind on it which of course it didn't. Gave it a normal 40 winds and it's running perfectly. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this stiff wind with this particular Tudor.

[Ragna]

Got a couple of speedmasters.. automatics.
Both outrageously stiff to wind.

All working perfectly though.

So i guess i have the same question

Lol

[Wooster]

What is the “Breitling collaboration” with the movement? Sounds interesting?

[Jona]

I think the movement is basically the Breitling chrono movement. And yes mine does wind stiffly but the watch functions fine.

[kieselguhr]

Originally Posted by Wooster

What is the “Breitling collaboration” with the movement? Sounds interesting?

The Tudor in house chronograph movement MT5813, is a Breitling movement (B01) that is manufactured by Breitling to Tudors specifications.

In exchange, Breitling acquires a reliable 3 hand date movement from Tudor the MT5612

[watchwatcher]

Originally Posted by Brian Page

I have acquired a new to me BB chrono which I love and so far has been extremely accurate. I'm sure fellow owners know of the Breitling collaboration with the movement. Question is this - put the watch down for a few days and it stopped of course, but winding it was really stiff, almost as if it had a full wind on it which of course it didn't. Gave it a normal 40 winds and it's running perfectly. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this stiff wind with this particular Tudor.

Yes. I bought the TT version this summer and have found that to be the case. Very rough, stiff winding watch. However, also agree with your accuracy comment. It has been one of my more reliable performers. Go figure.

[Brian Page]

Thanks for the feedback

[JP(Canada)]

My Breitling B01s have all been a bit on the stiff side when winding manually. It would stand to reason the new Tudor chronos are similar then, since they use the same base movement.

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by kieselguhr

The Tudor in house chronograph movement MT5813, is a Breitling movement (B01) that is manufactured by Breitling to Tudors specifications.

In exchange, Breitling acquires a reliable 3 hand date movement from Tudor the MT5612

Thank you for the reply. I have a Tudor Heritage Chrono (Chrono Blue Ref:M70330B-0004). Does this watch have the Breitling movement?

[kieselguhr]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Thank you for the reply. I have a Tudor Heritage Chrono (Chrono Blue Ref:M70330B-0004). Does this watch have the Breitling movement?

No it does not. The Tudor heritage chrono (THC) utilizes the ETA 2892. I imagine that they may incorporate the in house chronograph movements into the THC in the future if the reference doesn’t get discontinued instead.

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by kieselguhr

No it does not. The Tudor heritage chrono (THC) utilizes the ETA 2892. I imagine that they may incorporate the in house chronograph movements into the THC in the future if the reference doesn’t get discontinued instead.

Thanks.

[dlack]

Originally Posted by Brian Page

I have acquired a new to me BB chrono which I love and so far has been extremely accurate. I'm sure fellow owners know of the Breitling collaboration with the movement. Question is this - put the watch down for a few days and it stopped of course, but winding it was really stiff, almost as if it had a full wind on it which of course it didn't. Gave it a normal 40 winds and it's running perfectly. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this stiff wind with this particular Tudor.

Manually winding the crown on my Navitimer with Breitling's in-house B01 movement (essentially the same movement as your BB) feels quite stiff, especially as the main spring reaches half to two-thirds of its reserve, compared to other movements including that in my modern Rolex Sub. Winding the B01 is not an effortless, tensionless affair by any means. However, I don't find the winding gritty, just stiff. The movement had been completely overhauled by Breitling only a few years ago (in 2018), and there are no timekeeping or other issues to speak of...it's kept on a winder when unworn, and it maintains accurate timekeeping within COSC standards. Based on others' comments in this thread and elsewhere, I'd have to conclude that the stiff winding is a characteristic of the B01 movement, not a flaw. It has has been suggested elsewhere that this may relate to the 70-hour power reserve. The power reserve on my easier-to-wind Submariner (Cal. 3135) is 48 hours power, but then again, it IS a Rolex movement!

[defamarcelino22]

Been looking for someone who has the same issue. Yes my Tudor Black Bay Chrono also has a rather stiff winding

[Greenwood_]

I have some recent experiment with the Tudor BB chrono.

My first one started losing massive amounts of time (minutes per day) within 48hrs of collecting from the AD. It had an extremely stiff winding action compared to my speedy, sub, Tudor GMT, and various seikos.

The BB chrono was replaced with a brand new piece, and I was surprised when it also had a very stiff action. Figured it was just a characteristic of the B01 movement.

[bp1000]

I dont find mine stiff at all. Its rough as hell, feels really odd to wind it, almost gritty compared to something from Rolex, jlc or patek. In the case of JLC its like its not even winding its so smooth.

Some of my omegas, even of different movement calibres are a pain to wind.

[PekWatchGuy]

B01 has lot of wind resistance my opinion. Perhaps high gearing? I managed to get full wind with only 20 winds?! Manual says 40? Tested with 10 winds without wearing get full day power.

[Stevec14]

Originally Posted by bp1000

I dont find mine stiff at all. Its rough as hell, feels really odd to wind it, almost gritty compared to something from Rolex, jlc or patek. In the case of JLC its like its not even winding its so smooth.

Some of my omegas, even of different movement calibres are a pain to wind.

This - mine sounds like a bag of nails when winding but not overly stiff.

On another note, mine has had to go in for warranty service. When the chrono is engaged the watch would just stop (a pain when timing my bbq!).

[bp1000]

Originally Posted by Stevec14

This - mine sounds like a bag of nails when winding but not overly stiff.

On another note, mine has had to go in for warranty service. When the chrono is engaged the watch would just stop (a pain when timing my bbq!).

I had an issue with my Chronograph function too, different to yours, it felt like the reset function had completely disengaged from the movement, it wouldn't reset, eventually did after a few tries and restarting / stopping.

Haven't been able to repeat it since.

[Coronette]

So glad I found this thread or I might have gone back to the AD with it. It certainly has a stiff gritty feeling wind!

[amphr1]

It reminds me of kids toy cars where you push it forward and it spins a metal disk and it would then keep going. It feels like the beginning of that whenever I wind the watch.

[danwang0520]

I have always noticed that on mine Breitling Navitimer B01 is stiff to wind….compared with my other watches


Current collection: 1) Rolex Submariner(116610LV), 2) Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch Professional(311.30.42.30.01.006), 3) Rolex GMT-Master II(126710BLNR), 4) Breitling B01 Navitimer 43(AB0138211B1A1)

[samova]

i had mine for 4 hours.It stopped working and yes, winding the watch was hard.It hurt my fingers it was so hard to wind.Took the watch back since it stopped working after 3-4 hours of owning it.
I have tried 3 others at AD and all were hard to wind.

[Vanyo]

I found this topic by Google search having the same issue with stiff manual winding of my BB Chrono. To conclude, I see no longer reason to bring the watch to Rolex service.