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Dr.drivability

9 second wannabee
Joined
Oct 1, 2005
Messages
721
Anybody know anything about Breitling watches? I Came by it years ago and was always curious if it was real.
 
Don't know much about them other than they're big $$$$$. My coworker bought one a few months ago and spent 10k on it. Granted it is a nice watch but not 10k nice.

Before that, he had a $500 counterfeit version of the same $10k Breitling watch that he just bought. I guess to the average person you couldn't tell it was a fake...but in the end its still a fake, and an expensive one at that.
 
Very nice watches but VERY expensive, at least some models. I have a knockoff that I got in Dubai. It's a model made for Bentley and you have to own a Bentley to own the watch LOL. It's like a 12K watch supposedly. Cant really tell mine is a knockoff, even has the correct engraving on the back. However, it randomly stops working haha, I guess that's what I get for buying a 50 knockoff.
 
Should have known Gary "Rockefellar" Wells would have known about them:biggrin:
Actually, Ty, I am very fond of Omega watches, and that is all that I will wear. And that's older Omega watches, as the newer ones, just like anything else, doesn't seem to have the same quality & integrity that the older ones did. All of mine are of about '85 vintage or so. And that's only 3.
 
Doc, I would Check the web, ebay, local pawn shops & jewlers. The last 2 mentioned can prolly tell you the most as they know what to look for physically.

If it works it is a PLUS

DO NOT TRADE IN TO a PAWN DEALER.. These folks are horrible as you will get offered 10 cents on the dollar maybe less.
 
Open it up and look.

If you see a cheesy plastic Chinese quartz movement you know what you have. :eek:

I'm not sure they made fakes of the automatics but probably have by now. :mad:

Pics. would help.

Or bring it to a dealer, there's usually one that sell Breitling in every upscale mall.
 
Doc, I would Check the web, ebay, local pawn shops & jewlers. The last 2 mentioned can prolly tell you the most as they know what to look for physically.

If it works it is a PLUS

DO NOT TRADE IN TO a PAWN DEALER.. These folks are horrible as you will get offered 10 cents on the dollar maybe less.
I took it to a local jewler and they couldn't tell if it was real. Probably didn't want to hurt my feelers!! I don't care, I like it whatever the case!! Supposedly this model was produced for the iraq gov't. Pprobably BS!!
 
Breitling does have a site, maybe that will help, and I would not rely on a jeweler / jewelry shop for a decision, but a authorized dealer, or at least a dealer, authorized or unauthorized that sells them.
 
Contact Breitling U.S. and inquire about a serial number check. They will tell you where to find it.

Breitling

I can't get to the local retailer section because of websense, but go there, find a local and call them.

If a local shop is not selling new AND used Breitling's then they are not a dealer and probably couldn't tell you squat about it.

You could also contact Breitling SA in Switzerland (they speak very good English) and inquire about a serial check.

If you do in fact have a Breitling, they are worth a fair deal. It's a mid - to upper end watch.
 
I know quite a lot about breitling watches. I'm a watch collector, and it's been my hobby for a little bit. Though, the serial number check is a nice way to tell, some VERY high quality copies have been coming thru my hands lately, and they are truly top notch, fake 'genuine' serial numbers and all. There's only 2 ways, you can truly tell if it's real.

1. Find a watch repairman, that has been in the business of HIGH END WATCHES, for more than 20 years. (no, your local watch repair man, most likely, has only touched a few genuine high end watches in his life. THOSE people are quartz battery, cheap watchband, and rubber gasket switchers. They replace those parts all day, and charge you 40 bucks and go. Those are not watch repair experts. You'll have to find one that's been operating in a very rich neighbourhood for quite some time. They'll say that have experience on high end watches, but they lie. trust me. I've asked QUITE a few basic questions, to these people, and they couldn't answer me.)
Then have him remove the movement, and look around. From his memory and hands on experience with many brietlings, he'll be able to spot any discrepancies.

2. Send it into brietling, and have them do it. Though they will charge you a bit to do it.

If you find out it's real, I'd get a service on its movment, and wear it. Though, again, try to find a local repair man, because if you have brietling do it, it will cost you several hundred dollars.
 
good info here

I know quite a lot about breitling watches. I'm a watch collector, and it's been my hobby for a little bit. Though, the serial number check is a nice way to tell, some VERY high quality copies have been coming thru my hands lately, and they are truly top notch, fake 'genuine' serial numbers and all. There's only 2 ways, you can truly tell if it's real.

1. Find a watch repairman, that has been in the business of HIGH END WATCHES, for more than 20 years. (no, your local watch repair man, most likely, has only touched a few genuine high end watches in his life. THOSE people are quartz battery, cheap watchband, and rubber gasket switchers. They replace those parts all day, and charge you 40 bucks and go. Those are not watch repair experts. You'll have to find one that's been operating in a very rich neighbourhood for quite some time. They'll say that have experience on high end watches, but they lie. trust me. I've asked QUITE a few basic questions, to these people, and they couldn't answer me.)
Then have him remove the movement, and look around. From his memory and hands on experience with many brietlings, he'll be able to spot any discrepancies.

2. Send it into brietling, and have them do it. Though they will charge you a bit to do it.

If you find out it's real, I'd get a service on its movment, and wear it. Though, again, try to find a local repair man, because if you have brietling do it, it will cost you several hundred dollars.

but again if you can find a local jewler to crack the case open take a pic of it and post it, i've had my hands on several and sold many in my exp in the pawnshop. the owner loved high end watches and i sold a fewed of his personal and some that the shop owned. easist way to tell is to crack the back open and look for plastic parts like around the movement so it doesn't move, and made in china or taiwan stamps would definately be a sign. another is the band, knock offs bands are pretty cheesy and not hard steel type material that lock like a 10K watch should lock. depending on the model you should be able to find someone who knows alittle about it. also on the knockoffs. if it's worn when you sweat the acid in your body jacks up the band if it's the metal band. other then that a high end retailer would be your best bet, watch your wording because if he thinks you got this from some place you shouldn't have and it turns out to be real he may call the cops on you. just a warning, i know i've done it a few times myself on people with laptops who didn't own them and other stuff like that. but if you can find a run of the mill jeweler and have him crack the back open for you and take the pic and post it, you can also look for yourself for the china and taiwan stamps. i've seen some good knock off rolex watches and the only way i could tell they were knockoffs was to pull the band off and match up the serial number and model to a specter ( or something name like that) monthly mailing list of high end watches we used to get and even though the numbers looked legit rolex didn't make that serial number that year. The knock off was so good it was even lazer enscribed and had a decent band on it. most knock offs are hard to tell unless you have exp and know them. most rolex's are easy to tell if they are the low end ones because they sweep like crap. breitlings and other higher end watches are harder to tell though because literature is hard to come by. also if you send breitling a knockoff my money says you won't get it back because counterfeiting is a HUGE no no. just my 02 and hope this helps.
 
All that is true... unless it's a REAL good copy... which like I said, noone will be able to tell, unless they're VERY experienced.
China has a factory there, (I don't know the name any longer) that is punching out extremely good copies of high end watches, and are correct in every way. Serial numbers, genuine sapphire crystals, SOLID band links, solid end links, screwed not pinned band links, genuine stainless construction, no 'made in xxx' stamps, laser or hand punched markings, not acid etched, screw down crowns, quality spring bars, screw down casebacks, proper lume, and the correct bpm automatic movements. The only way you could tell, was the actual finish of the gears inside the movment. They weren't finished to the degree the genuine articles were. This is stuff you'd have to feel with your hands, or see under a loupe.
Again, this stuff would have only been found, by a person who was used to looking at the originals for quite some time.... Though, these copies were still kind of expensive and they end up, just by accident, to be not soo bad watches lol. Still fake nonetheless.
I've seen two in my hands. A Rolex and an Omega personally. They were amazing.
Which now because of these copies, I will never own a Rolex. Or a real diamond either.
(I have a good buddy that was a famous jeweler for a long time, and he says that there were counterfeit diamonds out there, that noone could tell, not even him.)

Now, if I see someone with a 400,000 dollar watch on, or a 55,000 dollar diamond ring on, I simply won't believe it. So now, all that expensive jewelry is absolutely worthless lol.
 
fake diamonds

All that is true... unless it's a REAL good copy... which like I said, noone will be able to tell, unless they're VERY experienced.
China has a factory there, (I don't know the name any longer) that is punching out extremely good copies of high end watches, and are correct in every way. Serial numbers, genuine sapphire crystals, SOLID band links, solid end links, screwed not pinned band links, genuine stainless construction, no 'made in xxx' stamps, laser or hand punched markings, not acid etched, screw down crowns, quality spring bars, screw down casebacks, proper lume, and the correct bpm automatic movements. The only way you could tell, was the actual finish of the gears inside the movment. They weren't finished to the degree the genuine articles were. This is stuff you'd have to feel with your hands, or see under a loupe.
Again, this stuff would have only been found, by a person who was used to looking at the originals for quite some time.... Though, these copies were still kind of expensive and they end up, just by accident, to be not soo bad watches lol. Still fake nonetheless.
I've seen two in my hands. A Rolex and an Omega personally. They were amazing.
Which now because of these copies, I will never own a Rolex. Or a real diamond either.
(I have a good buddy that was a famous jeweler for a long time, and he says that there were counterfeit diamonds out there, that noone could tell, not even him.)

Now, if I see someone with a 400,000 dollar watch on, or a 55,000 dollar diamond ring on, I simply won't believe it. So now, all that expensive jewelry is absolutely worthless lol.

moisoniette is the name of that diamond your talking about, never heard about it until 20-20 or some news journalist did a special on it and i recorded it and took it into the store and showed the owner. his mouth fell out of his mouth. he never heard of them either until i mentioned it, i then had a company wide meeting and told everyone that until we figure this out i didn't want to loan on anything bigger then a 50 pt diamond without my consent or unless we had it in and knew the customer on a 1st name basis. turns out the company that made them also had rep's going to resale shops, pawn shops and other places that dealt in used diamonds and sold testers for their diamonds. funny how they cornered the market like that, swore their stones could fool any and all diamond testers and we tried and of course they did. after about 3 yrs we bought another diamond tester that was also a moisoniette tester built in. we had to buy 3 of those testers back then because no one had them but them.

within the 1st yr of having them we had 1 customer come in with outta state I.D. and a moisoniette. guess they had some luck with other stores who didn't catch onto this and thought they were going to hit a lick at our stores too. i took the license number off the car, photo copied the i.d. and explained to them the game is up in town because we had a local pawnshop connection to all locals who were ok with us. we called it a tree and we'd call 4 stores and they'd call 4 stores, and so on and so on and before you know it your game is up. i've heard of places getting hit hard with those or knock off watches but heck in that business you rarely see a flawless stone come in and someone who knows what it's worth willing to take 1k for it as that was our max. that in itself is a sign of either it's not yours, or something to that effect. i've called alot of people out in that business and had a well known rep to be hard but fair depending on the situation. try taking something from someone who is 1ft taller then you outweighed you by about 100 lbs and tell them your not giving it back. had one guy almost flip out until i explained to him that i called the cops told them someone irrate was in the store and he could either walk out free and clear ( we already had his id info ) or could wait for the cops or his 3rd choice was on my hip which was close, cocked and ready to use.he made the right decision and was picked up 2 days later.
 
I see.. interesting. I never knew the name of them, but my buddy, who is great with precious and semi precious stones, was absolutely baffled. So was everyone in his shop. No test they could do, could tell. Except I THINK the acid test... which we all know of course, destroys the product in the process.
 
The model is a A68062 NO1111. I was told that they were purchased by the Iraq army about 15 years ago. Probably BS!!!
 
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