Alerted by a fellow on good ‘ol Facebook, I was browsing the Breitling website and noticed a larger and more prominent Internet Fraud warning than ever before. It states that 99% of all Breitlings found on the internet are replicas! What!? Really? Maybe…

I’ve bought about 8 Breitlings online and not one of them was fake… except the one that I purchased for the sake of examining. But that’s not to say that I did not see many fake Breitlings with the open heart “tourbillon” movements all over eBay. I think that with a little care and effort you can purchase your Breitling quite safely online without worry that it is fake. I’ve yet to hold a Breitling in my hand that can convince me that it is real, when it is not.

I’ll be posting that replica Chrono Avenger dissection soon!

Breitling SA is trying to discourage users from purchasing watches online in general so that grey markets don’t flourish. That is understandable as it keeps money in their pockets. Presumably they lose a lot of money from these grey market distributors. Even Costco is a grey market seller for Omega and Baume and Mercier! At any rate, there are many respectable sellers out there selling used second hand Breitlings purchased from Authorized Dealers, and great online stores selling authentic new watches such as Jomashop that you really can buy safely if you wish. The forums at timezone also have great honest people selling watches as well.

Keep it safe!