The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Was at La Swiss today, at Pacific Centre Mall in downtown Vancouver. There was an unusual looking model in the display case, titanium with black face, Breitling 13 movement, and black Diver Pro strap. I asked the sales lady about it, and she said it was an older Limited Edition "Snowbirds" model. When she got it out of the case, it turned out to indeed be a Limited Edition of 50. This particular one is 09/50. It is a titanium case, black dial with the red snowbirds logo at 3 o'clock, right beside the date display. The dial is black with plain white numerals, similar to the SA, the watch is just not as big. They are asking $4000. for this baby, I asked where they got it. Apparently, some dealer who had gone out of business was the story. The case had quite a few scratches on it. The Diver Pro strap was in good condition, also with a titanium clasp, so it must have been made especially for this edition. Other than that info that was obviously on the watch, they didn't have a clue about it's origin.
The only info I can find at all about a Snowbirds LE, is a Navitimer Snowbirds LE a few years back, I think, with a Limited Edition of 1000. Of course, they were trying to push me into buying the thing, claiming it is a good price etc. etc. and it will sell fast, and I should buy it now to add to my collection..... Well, it is a nice piece, but before I even think about it I have to find out more info, and I can't afford 4 grand now anyway.
If any of you have heard of this LE Breitling, I would be curious to know. A limitation of 50 is a small edition indeed. Here is a link to an eBay ad, for the 1000 LE Navitimer (which of course has nothing to do with the model in question, but the only info I can find):
http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Mint-Ltd-Edn-B ... dZViewItem
Cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

never heard of it nor seen it before.

_________________


Time is precious, keep it with elegance!
-Alien13-

from what I understand, Breitling will do a run of as little as 50 custom dials to special order. perhaps this is one of those.....bit like the recent Vulcan series.

_________________
John

Current:- Navi World, Coral SO, Panerai 219, Sea Dweller, Suunto Core etc

CORAL CLUB FOUNDING FATHER

Interesting find Carl. Good luck with it!


Hmmmnn... What do you think Doc? You think we can get at least 50 members to do a special order like this for "breitlingsource.com". It would be kinda cool to get it to coincide with next year as the 125th anniversary of Breitling. I know I would buy one. What do you guys think?

Rey

_________________

Topic has come up before, I'm not sure we could find 50 definites, especially as it would be so niche that it would probably lower the value of the base watch unless Breitling could be talked into putting a display back or similar on it.

I'd commit to one if it was sufficiently interesting

_________________
John

Current:- Navi World, Coral SO, Panerai 219, Sea Dweller, Suunto Core etc

CORAL CLUB FOUNDING FATHER

That's kind of what I was thinking. That would be done through a dealer, I guess, perhaps the entire run did not get sold, although I would imagine the customer would have to prepay for a special run like that. Wonder how an AD would get their hands on it.
Thanks guys for all of the responses.
Cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

Apart from finding 50 willing members (which is the easy part) the real challenge is to get them agree on one model though we are joined in the love of blings we are so diverse in our tastes

_________________


Time is precious, keep it with elegance!
-Alien13-

We had a few of them in them around 1993-95. There is a picture in the Chronolog 2 (not 02! which was about 1997/1998)

BG
Thomas

Good Morning: I have been told by several AD folks that Breitling will produce a special edition for a guaranteed purchase of 50 units or more. Seems likely as I have viewed several at Ad-s with pieces listed as special or limited 1/50. Most recent was Little Switzerland. Perhaps someone with more info could confirm ? Enjoy the day!!

Not directly relevant to this find, but there was once a Navitimer Snowbirds produced - same concept I believe, special order of however many pieces.

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your replies. I started to think about this rather "odd" Limited Edition piece that I saw yesterday. There was indeed a LE Snowbirds produced of 1000, a Navitimer. However, from the replies I see, it looks like this one I saw was part of a private LE of 50, likely done by Breitling for a private group, such as the ones being discussed here.
In that case, it would never show up as a LE Breitling that would actually have been sold by Breitling to the general public, rather to members of that group only, and I would imagine it would have to be prepaid by all 50 before production went ahead. Although, the only part of the production that would change is the logo on the dial. Would that not mean that all of the 50 produced belong to the group in question, and not to a Breitling AD to sell to the general public?
The more I think about it, the more "fishy" it becomes. I did notice quite a few scratches on the model I saw, although I couldn't really tell from the Diver Pro strap if it had been worn much, if at all.
Perhaps I should have asked to see the papers and the box that goes with the model. If it's still there when I next go in, perhaps I'll ask.
Cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

Maybe the AD that went bankrupt was the one that had put the special order in to Breitling?

Rey

_________________

I hadn't thought of that. But I would think that all of the watches for a special order like that would have to be prepaid.
By the way, is that a BMW M3 that I see in the picture? I had that model, in silver, for a couple of years, and never had so much fun driving a car. I remember the sound of the beautiful 4-cylinder really revving along at high speed. The car was also extremely capable driving around the city. I remember very well driving down the Columbia River canyon in Oregon, and just having a ball! I had the privilege of owning a Porsche Carrera also, but the M3 is still be one enjoyed driving the most! On my way to work in the morining, about 5am, on the highway, I can remember how I felt the spoiler actually pushing the car down as I accelerated.
I still feel that there isn't a car that can compete with it!
Cheers,
Carl

_________________
'63 Omega Seamaster, 2014 Omega Speedmaster MarkII

"Those who possess a sense of entitlement are seldom satisfied"

They would have to be prepaid, but the AD may have added one in or organized the "special order/group buy" and had one for himself to hold onto .

Yes it is an M3 ! Link to a couple more pics in my intro.

http://www.breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/v ... php?t=2849

Link to a forum dedicated to E30 M3s + a couple more pics. !

http://www.s14.net/forums/showpost.php? ... tcount=382

Sorry to get Off Topic on your thread Carl.

Rey

_________________

The Breitling AD in Newark (or somewhere like that) organises Battle of Britain Flight and Vulcan XH558 limited editions so maybe a Canadian AD did the same for the Snowbirds?