The Breitling Watch Source Forums

curious up/down Breitling, dial Fab. Suisse, round pushers, serial number from 1940?

Watch looks real to me. Early pre-Reference.

I am skeptical about this one. Would be helpful to have better picture of the dial. This would have to be an early Ref. 174. The only genuine 174's I have come across do not have quotation marks (") around the text on the back (for example: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9878). I have seen other swiss watches of the same period with cases similarly marked to Breitlings, and I think this may be one of them. Also, I think its odd the dial has both "Fab. Suisse" and "Swiss Made" on it.

agree with David, correct pre-ref, double-marked dial for US and France

Thanks for the evaluation and information.

Herbert

I am not saying it is "unquestionably fake", but rather I am skeptical. And I still am. Here are five different examples of Breitling ref. 174's. The stamped writing on the case back is consistent in all five. I am unable to locate another example (beyond the OP's) of a Breitling ref 174 with quotation marks (") around the writing, or the writing in that specific font or order. Does not mean they don't exist, but I have never seen any and I am unable to locate any by searching. Further, all examples of 174's I have seen have the screw-down case backs. The OP's photo shows a very different case back (looks like a compression-fit case back). Given the overall quality of the photos (and no photos of the movement or inside of the case back), I would stay away. Below are links to each of my example 174's, except for the first example which is mine:

https://vintagecaliber.com/products/194 ... ph-ref-174
https://watch2wind.myshopify.com/produc ... ph-ref-174
http://www.lorologiese.com/us/brands/br ... s-170.html
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=9878

the other is a pre-ref, cases were often different from production batch to production batch.

Any other examples?

tons. most (especially waterproof) 1940s chronographs have multiple caseback variations.

Similar case back.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Breitling-Military-Ref-174/273168036018?hash=item3f9a1570b2:g:vioAAOSwzFVa2MRc

What is the prize for that watch?

Similar case back from my Clinton project watch.

I will humbly accept that OP's watch is likely genuine. But that said, my original point was: the only genuine 174's I have come across do not have quotation marks (") around the text on the back.

That remains true for all examples shown above (aside from OP's, of course). All of the Breitling's above do not have quotation marks, while the non-Breitling does.

I don't see how the OPs watch could be a ref 174 because the case design isn't indicative of a 174. I don't particularly like the dial either but wouldn't call it a redo without a better look. Here's a 174 I've got in my junk drawer. All of the 174's I've seen have the same case.

As far as I know, there were only two Venus 170 models made with round pushers: ref. 174 and ref. 175 (if there were others, I am just not aware). Since this is clearly not a ref 175 (which has a rotating bezel), I figured it would have to be an early ref. 174 (if its Breitling at all). In other words, it was only by process of elimination that I said it is an early ref 174.

Vintage, can you post a photo of the case back of your 174 above?