The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi all,

Newb here so let me know if I'm in the wrong place or something. Bought a box of watches at an auction and I'm trying to find out some info about one of them.

It's a stopwatch with Montbrillant W My on the inside of the case. After an evening's Googling I see that Breitling used to be called Montbrillant Watch Manufactory. Does anyone know when this stopped being the case?

I'd like to find when the stopwatch dates from and thought this might be a good starting point. I also found something on another forum purporting to be a Breitling sales brochure from 1892 that seemed to have a very similar stopwatch with what looks like the same movement. Does anyone know how long they kept movements in manufacture?

It's been really interesting reading the forums, I feel I know 1000% more about watches than I did yesterday.

Thanks,

Phil

Not really a change of name. The company was officially named G. Leon Breitling S.A Montbrillant Watch Manufactory, Montbrillant was used on most all of the stop watches / pocket watches and on many wristwatches through much of the 1930s.

Movements evolved over time, but from a look standpoint there wasn't dramatic change so a reference in an 1890s catalogue doesn't necessarily mean that it's an 1890s watch. Post some pictures up and we can give you some more detailed info.

Let's see if I can post pictures properly. Here's the front and the movement. The Montbrillant W My logo is replicated on the inside of the back case. Case could do with a clean but I haven't had a look to see what the best way is. I assume it's some type of steel.

I'll need to check my reference books and will do that over the weekend. It looks original, just can't date it without books.

I'm going from memory since I am at the office and don't have reference material available. It has a cylinder escapement which puts it late 1800's to early 1900's latest. Almost all the watch manufacturers switched over to lever escapements by the early 1900's. I would bet it is original.

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Yeah I couldn't find anything specific for this piece, but I agree that it's likely 1890s

Thanks for the replies and thanks for looking. Greatly appreciated. The condition of the movement's so good I thought it'd be around the 50s sometime, but then I don't know anything about watches.

Cheers,

Phil