The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Roff, here's a new listing u may be interested in.

http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/BREITLING-CH ... 4355wt_922

Are those hands white? If so, did vintage Blackbirds come with white hands?

Not sure if genuineness is the question, or if there is a question, but it is real. The hands are correct as well. They were white. The one pictured has had some lume degradation and will need new hands at a minimum.

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SHARKMAN

I learn something every day. Was that Breitling's nod to the Speedmaster, perhaps?

Not sure if genuineness is the question, or if there is a question, but it is real. The hands are correct as well. They were white. The one pictured has had some lume degradation and will need new hands at a minimum.

Great observation Sharkman. The white hands on mine r solid lume. Is lume degrade normal? What could have caused it? What's the best preventive measure? Thanks!

I'm by no means an expert. Older Tritium lume degraded over time and became discolored and brittle. It is not uncommon to see the lume falling out in the middle of the hands. But this watch is post tritium.

I have two watches I bought pre-owned - one with degraded tritium lumed hands, the paint had fallen out, leaving a hollow hand like the one on this BB, and the SS hands showed tarnishing. The other was a luminova dial and it was evident something had caused the the lume to bleed into the SS hour ticks. In both cases this was evident from the seller's pics, and I bought assuming water damage and mindful that considerable movement work lay ahead. In both cases inspection of the movement proved it. I'm not suggesting there is a direct correlation, rather that is what happened with me.

With tritium, it just happens with age. Not sure that is the case with luminova.

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SHARKMAN

Lume just fell off the hand and possible date wheel issue.

Yep, that watch has had a hard life and I doubt that Breitling service has ever seen it.

Not sure why it was pointed out to me specifically???

You're the icon.

Well you went higher than I was prepared to


Roff, sorry if I misinterpreted your above comment which was in my earlier posting checking on whether I overpaid for a blue dial BB on eBay. I was under the impression u were looking for one this age. My apologies...

Big difference between a 1st generation Blackbird and an LE Bluebird.

Can u share more on the differences? Would be most interested to be enlightened. Thanks!

One's a limited edition and blue, the other isn't!

From a collector's view point, I understand. Other than that, isn't the dial replaceable? I know TAG can replace the dial from one colour to another at their service center. The set back, besides the cost, is that the original dial will be retained by the service center. How about the bezels, if the watches are of the same size, are they interchangeable?

Breitling will change regular dials for an exorbitant fee, but they won't put an LE dial on a non limited watch - that kind of defeats the object of it being an LE. Bezels can be interchangeable if the case geometry is identical.