Breitling Ups The Warranty Ante

Breitling has extended the warranty on its watches with manufacture calibers to five years, from two. The message is an expression of confidence in its enhanced capacity for quality control now that the brand produces its own movements. Breitling made around 40,000 of its own manufacture calibers last year, including the caliber 01 chronograph, the caliber 04 with second time zone and the caliber 05 world timer.

These movements now represent half of Breitling’s production, and the move to a five-year warranty “represents an exceptional measure at this level of production,” the brand says in its announcement. The industry standard for mechanical watches is two years, but there are exceptions, particularly with in-house calibers; for example, Omega places a two-year warranty on its watches but extends that warranty to three years for watches containing its co-axial movement.

Breitling’s five-year commitment is commendable at a time when consumers are wondering what all the fuss is about “in-house” movements and what that means to them.

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