The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi everybody,

A good friend of mine has his AVI 765 co-pilot black dial under a full restoration here in Europe.
Here's the watch :



He desperately needs to get reference pictures as a restoration guideline as he's encountering some difficulties in the restoration process.
Would anybody have in its pictures library as many pictures as possible showing any detail of this particular model plus period brochures/catalogs ?
Details about the original factory hands (size and shape) and dial (style of drawing) would be really helpful in this specific situation.

Many thanks for any support you would be able to provide.

Cheers,

Laurent

In an Airport right now and don't have anything to hand, but there have been several discussions here on the 765 - might be worth looking through those to see what there are in terms of pictures. Even if they have been pulled off the web the posters will likely still have them for you.

Can you be more specific? Do you know the age of the watch?



The hands you show in the watch in the pictures is correct. Very rare. To my knowledge they only appear on this
and possibly the earlier minute counter AVI. The white dials have different hands. It has a Venus 178 movement so should take hands the same size.

The minute counter is 15 minutes, not thirty and has a different wheel to gear it to this configuration.

The other unique thing to note is the bezel has two or three screws drilled into the sides, as the bezel rotates
the screws seem to be spring loaded and fix the bezel in a pre-set position. I think there was a chronomat that had this,
but again it is unique to this version of the watch.

Good luck - show us the watch when it's done.

Pics here:

http://www.antiquewatch-carese.com/coll ... 912-626347

http://www.superlativetime.com/gallery/ ... tling.html

Thank you for your answers gentlemen and my apology for late answer,
Yaffle,
many thanks for extensive details provided, all very helpful actually.
Will get back to my friend tomorrow for follow up on this.
No doubt photos will be shared, maybe I will show you the intermediate result which is harsh to see

In the meantime, I'm glad to share with you a partial view of my Co-Pilot 7650 "yachting dial" still at my watchmaker, refinishing of the case just completed

before


after


we're still unable to source a correct crystal replacement in terms of height, even Craig at Chronodeco was unsure.
Would someone has a tip ?
regards,

Laurent