vintage wrote:
I suspect it is. You can guess the orgin based upon the day/date wheels and the back and bridge engraving looks like the normal fakes.
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Maybe a rebadged Clebar?
Although, I am not 100% convinced about that bridge signature "rule" because we have seen the straight signature on other, ostensibly genuine Venus 200 bridges of the same general period...
...albeit this one is lacking in the jewel count nomenclature and the shape is different.
It's also a distinct possibility that these 805s are strictly hodgepoge but official contract watches outsourced by Breitling with even less input than usual, as no two 805s ever seem to be alike, even accounting for the more obvious fakes. And so maybe one could find Clebars that look exactly like Breiltings with the exception of the added bridge, dial & back verbiage, as they would have been assembled by the same manufacturer before being delivered to Breitling for branding and sale (not that different from their other models, it must be said). Also, rather than indicating inauthenticity, the fact that the dial writing is in Spanish as well as the day/month wheels could indicate original market specific production.
On the other hand, the fact that it is a two-register Venus 200 rather than a 3-register Val. 88 is rather less persuasive in making it an "805" unless Breitling really was using that ref # as a catch-all for any given non-"Datora" signed calendar-chrono complication.
Certainly not worth 10k regardless but my mind remains open to other possibilities than just "Fake!", even while staying skeptical.
Best,
T.
).