Breitling Heritage 46 repair and service chronograph

I always jump at the chance to service a beautiful watch, when word came through that this Breitling Heritage 46 had stopped running I immediately said I would do it without assessing it. The fact it was in America was besides the point, that’s what postal services are for. *interesting point – if something is clearly marked for repair for both ways of its journey there is no import duty as it’s only visiting.

When it arrived I wound it and it started to beat, as I moved it, she stopped. I had a suspicion straight away what the issue may be, and taking the back off proved me correct, broken mounting screw with bits jamming the operation.

I spoke to the owner, and we agreed that a service and full inspection would be best to make sure nothing had been damaged by debris, to be honest, why not?

Stripdown

Start with a tip with Chronographs – mark each hand and keep them separate, it can save time later and it’s generally good practice.

Another tip – removing broken screws –

Alum powder – hot water solution – and zap the part with ultrasonic, after a few hours to a day the screw part will be gone

After cleaning – rebuild

There is something nice about the rebuild, I enjoy it and take my time, inspect the parts, how they run, and most importantly how they interact.

By this point I have already done regulation number 1 to check everything is running well and the amplitude is good. Second and third regulation can occur once the watch is back together.

The final job was to run the watch for a couple of days on the winder and check the time keeping.

At the end, all happy and sent home.