# The crown came off in my hand, dammit!



## Fordham-NY (Aug 16, 2008)

So I was a little truant in setting the date on my Superocean Professional A17345, circa 2002, which was completely overhauled by Breitling in October. It was on my winder more than my wrist for a bit.

First I noticed the crown was not winding the mainspring, as whenever I set the date I like to wind the mainspring fully. I screwed the crown down, pulled it out to position 2, and repeated this like twice.o|

Then the whole freaking crown and stem came out. WTF, like it's not like I had been abusing this thing or something, I just bought a Rolex and have been wearing that new purchase frequently. The Breitling was on the winder. How the F could this happen? How could something like just break? It's not like when I went to set the date this morning I ripped the crown out as hard as I could. o|

I know this isn't a major malfunction with the watch, it's a little worse because it wasn't just the crown, but also the stem.:rodekaart

I wake up and try to set the date, and now I've got to A) 3 hour round trip to the service center in Manhattan and don't have the time, B) drop $25 to mail it to BUSA in CT, because their warranty IS gonna pay for this, I did absolutely nothing wrong. :-|


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## jojo (Feb 10, 2006)

No problem its rather easy fix the AD may help you
Its not à watch poblem specific to breitling
This can happen


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## CaptRimmer (Dec 30, 2008)

I feel for you but as Jonas says, it happens. I had a Glycine for three weeks from brand new and the crown snapped off the stem. I was just adjusting the time in the normal way.
Frustrating as heck but it does happen.
Hope it gets fixed up asap.
Cheers,
Andy


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## EJC (Feb 13, 2006)

If it was serviced in Oct at least you're covered by warranty


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## Fordham-NY (Aug 16, 2008)

Thanks for the reassurances guys, but I'm still not a happy camper. There's not a scratch on my 5000 foot dive watch designed to be worn in saturation diving environments and decompression chambers: and the crown came off in my hand. Still, it happens and can happen to anyone, but now I get to take a 3 hour round trip to the boutique. Annoyed at not expecting it, and I'm busy today. 

The jury is out on what they'll say, there's a watchmaker on site so I'm hoping they'll admit it's a free, warrantied repair by mid afternoon. Because as long as they fix it for free, it's water under the bridge; it happens. But I don't want the run around and have someone tell me I dropped the watch or abused it. 

Stand by to stand by on more word...


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## EJC (Feb 13, 2006)

Call BUSA. They'll pull up the service record.
ASK THEM TO CIVER THE SHIPPING CHARGE!
they should send you a shipping label


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## Split Second (Apr 18, 2007)

jojo said:


> No problem its rather easy fix the AD may help you
> Its not à watch poblem specific to breitling
> This can happen


Happened to my Superocean, too. Repaired under warranty, and no issues since then. I don't think it's a complicated repair.

Good luck, mike.


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## Fordham-NY (Aug 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies, and the issue proved to be even easier, or should I say more convenient to fix than I thought. I thought I'd have to ship it to CT, take it to the NYC boutique, wait for them to look at it, then pay to ship it back or pick it up, etc. They never offered to send me a shipping label.

But I went to the boutique, and Johnathan the watchmaker just put the stem back into position, without even opening the watch. I couldn't do it, and it just came right out, so I thought the mechanism which holds the crown in place might be broken. He still opened the watch up, made sure it was back in proper position, gave it some lubricant, pressure tested it and even gave me the timing adjustment I'd been meaning to get.

The reason it just fell out: I must've woken up on the woken up on the wrong side of the bed. There's no reason other than it happens I guess. 

But the staff were great, the watchmaker gave me a shipping box to bring it back in, we chatted about watch movements and they gave me an espresso. I don't want to say that the crown falling out of the watch turned out to be a positive experience, but the Breitling service made it like that. That watchmaker on site was a godsend. Saved me like 25-30$+ shipping and having it out for repair for probably a few weeks. 

I lost a little productivity today, but I brought it with me on the 4 train.

Crisis narrowly averted! Great service at Breitling!


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## Guarionex (Nov 1, 2009)

I lost a little productivity today, but I brought it with me on the 4 train.

Nice to know that they have a service center at store. Also if I have any issues should I just take it to the store? P.s. I just got off the four train and there was a guy talking to himself from 59th till woodlawn.

Sent from my Garminfone using Forum Runner


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## CaptRimmer (Dec 30, 2008)

Nice result. 
All watch makers have issues of one sort or another as do all companies. It's the way they handle them that separates the wheat from the chaff.
Cheers,
Capt


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## Fordham-NY (Aug 16, 2008)

Guarionex said:


> I lost a little productivity today, but I brought it with me on the 4 train.
> 
> Nice to know that they have a service center at store. Also if I have any issues should I just take it to the store? P.s. I just got off the four train and there was a guy talking to himself from 59th till woodlawn.
> 
> Sent from my Garminfone using Forum Runner


They have a watchmaker, but he wasn't there the first time I stopped by (few months ago, just to look). I'd call the store to double check if there's one on site exactly when you go in. If I have anymore issues I'd definitely go there, the watchmaker can take a look at it, do some minor work and see if it needs to be sent to BUSA. They can open cases, lube some parts, fix my crown, I'm not sure how far into fixing a watch they can go. They do btw have a pressure test machine on site. I believe they'll ship it to BUSA for free, if it needs that. And if the repair is warrantied they said that return shipping would be free. The staff is also great.

There's a guy in a green robe, with a beard and he's always yelling about ***** christ. The last time I saw him, he was yelling about *****, cartoon characters and the movies. This was at the Fordham road stop on the D though.


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## Fordham-NY (Aug 16, 2008)

CaptRimmer said:


> Nice result.
> All watch makers have issues of one sort or another as do all companies. It's the way they handle them that separates the wheat from the chaff.
> Cheers,
> Capt


ABSOLUTELY: that's why it had a 1 year warranty on the service, and they fixed the stuff that happened. A+


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