Dear readers,
This needs to get off my chest. I have already experienced a few things in Thailand, but this takes the cake. As a small collector of watches, one of my Breitlings was due for a service. On to the local Breitling dealer in Pattaya. There I was told that it had to be sent to Bangkok, but that given the value of the watch, this could not be done by post, but that I had to go to Bangkok in person ...... Okay, then that's it..
Well yesterday was the big day when I entered the Breitling dealer in Bangkok. I was very surprised when I was told that the service had to be carried out in Singapore and that given the value of the watch, it could not be sent by post.
Hey…..? But how? An employee of Pendulum Ltd., would take a plane to Singapore, stay there for one or more nights and come back with my repaired Breitling Emergency. Costs start at 10.000 Baht for shipping and another 10.000 Baht for service. Please note. The first service is free, as stated in the warranty conditions, but they had not yet heard of that at Pendulum.
Do we Farangs really look that stupid or am I imagining this?
Yours faithfully,
Fred
What does this story have to do with stupidity? Is the message that farangs are stupid enough to buy expensive watches that apparently also need maintenance every so often? (My Seiko watch has been running for 30 years without maintenance). Do we look so stupid that we don't understand that the postal services here are obviously unreliable? Is it stupid to think that Thais can maintain a Breitling (which I think they can do just fine)?
In short, it escapes me what this posting is about or what the connection is between the Breitling and the alleged stupidity.
This story is about me being spoken to by a lady with a Smile from ear to ear and a content that just didn't want to get through to my brain.
A Breitling Emergency MUST be tested on the RESCUE system every two years.
It is the only brand in the world that has this and saves lives. (youtube!!!)
This can easily be done by Breitling Thailand, so don't come up with a story that someone has to fly to Singapore at my expense. Come on
I may be a foreigner but not CRAZY.
Since Pendulum Ltd. is listed on Breitling's international website as a Service Center and the first service is indeed free, I assume that you have been smart enough to immediately deposit your unavoidable complaint with Breitling SA in Grenchen, Switzerland, where they will undoubtedly be able to find a suitable solution provided.
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http://www.breitling.com/en/contact/
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I intend to. Thank you for your expert advice. It's too crazy for words of course.
I'm going to take this up with Switzerland. A BREITLING Emergency is not a Seiko as the previous reader suggested (see Google).
And then,
I can assume that you have "asserted yourself" for a while, right?
Tell….
Those ,, turns,, for those expensive clocks is just raking in money. I myself have an expensive Rolex and acquaintances who work at Rolex. I was advised never to have it cleaned, costs 1500 euros in Holland. I have had it on for more than 20 years now and it runs on second good.
It is very on the pricey side. Brought my Rolex to Gassan at Schiphol last year for service after 35 years of loyal service.
Polishing the glass because there were some scratches, also got the case and strap back as new and of course had the inner movement cleaned, re-adjusted because it was lagging about 3 minutes a month and oiled again. Costs € 675 and a year warranty on the movement
With regards
Cor Verkerk
The prices are fixed. 600 euros for a major service. I have had my Rolex for exactly 20 years now and it has only been polished a few times by a local repairer in Torremolinos Spain. Costs 60 euros and was then like new again.
Maybe even a drop of oil went in, but I'm not sure.
Fred if you have a real Breitling you can pay those costs right???? And you're lucky they didn't say it was a counterfeit. Because then you're really in the boat.
All the best and good luck with it.
Hahaha, I'm not concerned with the 20.000 Baht, but the way in which. With a grin from here to Tokyo I am told that this should be done in Singapore as if they are retarded here in Thailand.
That's what it's about. I feel at home in Thailand just as at home as those 27 years in Spain where my first Breitling Emergency was bought, which was serviced after a year (I was approached by Breitling, of course). Unfortunately, this was stolen from my boat, so I bought a new one (as a solo sailor, such a clock is indispensable (see youtube).
Now the new one has to get new batteries for the clockwork, but more importantly for the Emergency system.
All in all a bottleneck by trying to charge these kinds of costs.
I want to thank reader two and will translate the text of my message into German or English for Geneva to know.
I also own two Breitlings. and have it serviced once every 6 years and then I will make sure that I am in the Netherlands and bring the watches to the jeweler where I once bought them.
Good service, they are back in my possession fairly quickly. In Thailand I once had a tax-free copy, purchased at the airport, serviced at a Tag Heuer service point and I never saw that copy again... Lost in the mail, yes yes... After a lot of hassle, a (cheaper) )received a replacement copy from them. So never again in any Asian country.
Dear Fred, you may have had a bad luck. I have a very positive experience. I live in Hua Hin and I own a Tissot watch that needed a battery replacement. In the Netherlands, the watch is sent to the central representative in the Netherlands, it takes a long time to arrive and the battery costs approx. 100 euros including shipping costs. I googled and found an official Swatch dealer in Bangkok who service at least 10 different Swiss watch brands including Omega, Longines, Tissot and many others. I had to be in Bangkok last week. Visited Swatch and within 15 minutes the battery was replaced for only 600 THB. Speaking of service…………
I also bought a Breitling watch (in the Netherlands – circa 2007).
I was also advised to have a service performed every few years (at the time about Eur 670). Never did 🙂
Okay,
But an Emergency MUST be checked every two years because of the RESCUE system it contains.
A normal battery could be replaced in Pattaya Festival Shopping Center ( 600 Baht ) but the battery of the Emegency system is deeper in it and the repairman did not dare to do that, which is why I went to Bangkok. Not knowing that I would come back with a rude awakening.
In pattaya they peddle breitling watches 700bth work fine
the street vendor said with a serious face that I had a lifetime warranty
In Belgium and have a new battery inserted at Mister Minit for € 10 as you can see.
No one notices the difference
Yes, but if you are a solo sailor like me and you fall overboard, your Breitling is not watertight, but more importantly………a helicopter will come to my rescue shortly. Guaranteed all over the world. (Or you must be out of range of plane, boat, ect)
This watch is highly sought after by loners like me. (only sailing, only skiing, only walking ect)
Have good experience at a shovel in central pattaya. Bath 3,000 which is a fortune for them and they normally earn in 1 or 2 weeks. But well done and have now donated it to 1 of my sons in the Netherlands as an advance on his inheritance, he is happy and I am happy with my Pebble, you have to go with the times
there is quite a difference between a Quartz watch with a button cell battery, a kinetic, which is essentially a dynamo in a Quartz watch, a purely mechanical winding watch and finally a mechanical automatic. In terms of purchase and certainly in terms of sensitivity and maintenance, this increases. And it is not surprising that there is a different price tag attached to it. If Gassan restores a mechanical Rolex for 675 to Mint condition, it really isn't expensive. 50 euros for just replacing a button cell battery in any clock is just a ripp-off even with waterproofing.
Incidentally, mechanical watches can not withstand shocks very well, so tennis, golf, hammer and nail, jackhammer ... Aren't they so happy with that, you do smarter with a cheap Quartz clock ... In other words, I keep a Quartz for the holidays sports and odd jobs after and a mechanical machine before the net…
My Thai fake Quartz danish design didn't survive its button cell battery change after 10 years, so got another one for 700bht….
Since I retired I no longer wear a watch. What time it is is unimportant because nothing runs on time here anyway, and if I have to be somewhere I am always on time according to Thai standards…. 😉
Bought a fairly expensive Seiko in Manila 20 years ago. Waterproof to 100m. Once every 2 years replace the battery in Pattaya for 100THB including cleaning, the costs are at a trusted stable Pattaya Klang. Let me do it at the Fiesta Mall it costs 300THB. Same difference with the tires.
Tip for owners of expensive timepieces with sapphire glass that is scratched dull. Get a tube of cream at the drugstore, where the plate of old stoves were polished at the time... I used wenol polish.... A drop on a cloth and glass cleaning.... Shines like new.... 20 years ago I was in Greece where I got the tip in a gold shop. They did this for me and couldn't believe my eyes….
haha Fred give those people a trip too. A grouch who pays attention to such a thing.
If I regularly, let's say, read less positive reports about Thai people, I wonder how you even dare to walk with a Breitling haha.
By the way, a little Dutchman who has been in the scouting or in the service, reads the time from the Sun and Moon.
Gee what exciting adventures you experience in Thailand sometimes doesn't seem like such a routine as in NL haha
grsjef
To be honest, I don't dare to use it on the street, but I didn't buy it for that either.
Rut in Thailand ??? NO WAY. I'm having a great time here in Asia, I don't get bored for a day. Especially with all those Dutch people around me. Isn't it fun?????
Fred if you had used the internet for a while then you shouldn't worry so much about Thailand.
breitling emergency maintenance asia. Was the only thing you had to search on google and then you had
know that your Breitling has to be serviced in Singapore and not in Thailand.
If you don't like that, complain to Breitling.
Dear Roy,
This is totally new to me. If I had known this I wouldn't have had to go to all that trouble. Now I was happy not only for that in BKK.
I have notified Breitling NL of this and am waiting for a message from them.
Thank you for your serious response.
Breitling traditionally has very poor after-sales service. I'll never buy one again.
My daughter's Breitling also had to be serviced by the Breitling.
Cost ? ENOUGH !
Afterwards, moisture got in. On to a dealer in Badhoevedorp.
It turned out that the watch was NEVER offered to Breitling NL, but that REUTER in Kalverstraat had put a new battery in it and had not properly sealed it, but had collected the full service amount.
PROFIT 800 %
Well, we both have an EBEL watch, but I really don't have it repaired in Thailand. The battery lasts 5 years for me. At the beginning of the year, dt had to be replaced, but I waited anyway until I flew to Belgium in June. And have the service done at a reliable address in Antwerp. I really don't trust this here.