The Breitling Watch Source Forums

whats your opinion ?

http://www.carsandwatches.com/breitling ... ronograph/

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"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

"Extremely rare Breitling Pilot Chronograph as used by the Luftwaffe. Most of these rare watches were unsigned in the early years (1934) and only a few were signed. Since this one is in minty condition and bears an original Breitling signature I assume it’s a civilian version which is even more rare. The original black dial is stunning with large radium numerals. The rotating bezel has two radium markers on the inside. The large steel case measures 40mm excl. the nice pilot’s crown. Movement is an early Valjoux 72 and is unsigned (as it should be). More info can be found in the Military Timepieces book by Knirim. Awesome piece!"

from the website

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

puzzled & unsure, serial would make it late 1944, it should have a ref. no. by then & it would VERY late for a single pusher; there are no records whatsoever the Luftwaffe used Breitling chronographs as far as I know, dislike the logo, seems off, but massive similarities w/ ref. 767.
on the fence, leaning towards (excellent) fake


full res: http://i.imgur.com/NgblCAf.jpg

Case doesn't have a scratch on it. Hand lume not the same as dial lume. Logo colour doesn't match gone of anything else on the dial. Crown tone doesn't mstch case. Would movement from that age be gold finished? Lean to nifty fake as well.

I went through a period where I collected these early pilot watches. This one has some problems. Of course it's not a Valjoux 72, which is a 3 register watch, and most probably a Valjoux 23 which is the later version of the Valjoux 71 & 22. I'm not aware of any Valjoux 22 or 23's that worked with a single pusher so that's rather odd. The movement is much too late for a 1930's pilot watch. Looks like the bezel, which should turn, is also missing the pointer. Since these were pilot watches the dials are often very badly faded because of light exposure and the Breitling script on this looks way too fresh. The serial number in an anomaly and wrong for the period. The backs on these pieces usually are in horrible condition because of generally using a one piece strap which captured moisture and deteriorated the back of the watch. This looks like it was made yesterday (which it probably was). Just another franken in my opinion.

VZ, the predecessor of the R23 was a 1-pusher caliber originally, Paul.
still with you on condition and the other inconsistencies.

I should have looked in my movement book initially. The bridge design is wrong for a VZ, 23, 72, as they are the later style The one in the watch pictured above is the earlier style bridge used in the 22 & 71. I have a match in the book for a Valjoux GHT. So, it could possibly be from the same period indicated by the serial number.