The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Good day all, hope that you are all well and feeling suitably festive for this time of year.

I really do use this website to its upmost potential in terms of soaking up knowledge about Breitling as a brand and about watches/watchmaking in general, but there is one sub forum that up until yesterday i had not ventured in to. That was the vintage section, and it started me thinking, so much so that i thought i would share the below points with you and hopefully start a worthwhile discussion.

Now there are undoubtedly some beautiful watches in there, that of course i had never seen before, some in better condition than others as one would expect. My opinion is that the vast majority of designs have certainly stood the test of time very very well indeed. I feel that Breitlings current portfolio may not be quite as successful in doing this, for example - whilst i love the super avenger at the moment and have considered purchasing one for some time now, i cant help but think that it wont look as good in 40 years time as say a Breitling top time, or original transocean does now (hence the re-issue i suppose).

Also coming to the forefront of my mind was how most of the watches LOOK old, not just in terms of design but in terms of the dial condition, the crystal, the case etc etc. Even when looking at pictures of an example that has had a full refurb, it still has that old quality about it. Now i am aware that they look old because they ARE old, but the point i'm trying to make here is will the watches we buy today fare any better in the long run, in 40 / 50 years will the dials LOOK as old, will the crystal LOOk as old as the current vintage models do now. I wonder if changes in manufacturing and advances in materials have meant that we wont get that "warm ,lived in" look with our new watches in the future.

Apologies for my ramblings, in summary i suppose i'm asking, which watches d'you think will be future classics, maybe set for a limited reissue in 2055, and how do you think your latest purchase will fare in the long term, versus the current selection of vintage watches we have.

Cheers all

Jim

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Breitling navitimer super constellation LE
Omega Ploprof 1200m
Bremont supermarine
Rolex milgauss GV
Olivant and Botsford 40mm Gold edition

Remember that wristwatches are barely 100 years old, so 50 years is an eternity in their history.

Modern materials will help with the aging process - sapphire crytsal is about as good as it can get (second hardest material after diamond), although I guess that advances can be made in terms of AR resilience.

Cases will always get dinged and while these can be polished out, the watch will obviosuly change over time.

In terms of aging of the dial, SL, etc, that will be slowed down with improved seals, but it will occur over time. These can be restored, but some people prefer the vintage look to the 'brand new' look. We also don't know whether SL will still be available in 50 years or whether there will be some new lume product that is widely used.

In terms of looks, watches tended to be fairly conservative, at least until the late 60s / 70s so while they may now look slightly dated, they still have a 'classic' quality to them. The 70s changed that dramatically, and so those watches are now specialised appeal - brown and orange dials for example. I think that you are right, some of the extreme designs today will not hold their appeal over the decades, but things like the SA are not extreme by today's standards so they won't seem extreme in 50 years time - they'll be consistent with the era. That may be very different from styles then, but there will still be some market for them.

In terms of which ones will hold up best, well ignoring Breitling the gold dress watch is the timeless classic, but for Breitling I don't think that it will dramatically change - Navitimer, just like it is today.

Spot on with the last paragraph Roff.

Agreed.

I certainly hope the Navitimer will be around in one guise or another for the next 50 years. The steelfish is definatley where I'd put my money on for a reissue in the future.
Steelfish heritage in 2040!

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Breitling navitimer super constellation LE
Omega Ploprof 1200m
Bremont supermarine
Rolex milgauss GV
Olivant and Botsford 40mm Gold edition

i agree. its interesting that the SF is also one of Breitling's simplest, least blingy pieces. Simplicity usually stands the test of time.