The Breitling Watch Source Forums

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT

from a site with rather unrealistic prices .....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Breitling-Gigandet- ... 20b5df3b03
http://cgi.ebay.com/Breitling-Datora-Wa ... 1e5ac7d745

As far as I know these (very nice imho) watches - with different dial colo(u)r versions - were produced in the 60s by Charles Gigandet, sold in Europe under the Gigandet and Vulcain brands, in the US as Wakmanns.

I keep reading about these being "Breitlings" and sold under the Breitling brand, but have never seen one.

is this only one of the typical *lounge/*museum stories, could the vintage experts please clarify/comment ?
thanks, WatchFred

Well first off, timegate21 is one of the usernames that breitlingmuseum peddles his stuff under since he got banned from eBay so take everything that you see there with a very large pinch of salt - not just pricing but also the watches themselves.

Wakmann was the North American distributor for Breitling in the 50s and first half of the 60s. Without getting into all of the details US protectionist law prevented the importation of finished Swiss watches so Breitling shipped disassembled watches to Wakmann (which it ultimately owned) for assembly and sale.

Gigandet is also associated with Wakmann - originally Charles Gigandet owned Wakmann (pre Breitling) so perfectly normal to see the association there, but that doesn't mean that Breitling and Gigandet should exist on the same dial.

Thanks, did not know that Wakmann was owned by Gigandet, interesting.

So calling this watch "Breitling-Gigandet-Datora" or "Breitling-Wakmann-Datora" is wrong, Breitling never produced these watches, am I correct ?

Am treating anything I read from the Breitlingmuseum spinoffs and disguises with utmost caution, do not need King Hussein´s many watches (must have owned two dozen at least that all landed at the B-museum). Although I am getting PMs that seem to originate there, peddling catalog reprints at ridiculous prices.
WatchFred

If you are getting PMs from a breitlingmuseum style member I would like to know details - he has been banned many, many times under different aliases and is not allowed membership here.

Breitling Wakmann is fine, Breitling Gigandet is not.

similar watch, in this case a Valjoux 72 triple date chrono in a breitling case. real ?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... K:MEWAX:IT
wording in german at least "inspired" by Breitlingmuseum, but claims two jewellers (vintage expeters ?) confirmed it was genuine.

Ask yourself this......

Why would a vintage watch have a logo on the back that didn't exist until 1984?

Total fake... the caseback is an obvious giveaway...

_________________
"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

Roff, I did see the wrong logo, but the rest did not look so bad, although clearly redial etc. But I have seen people "optically tuning" their Range Rovers to look like Hummers and others putting Camaro style spoilers on a classic Jag XJ ......, so I decided to ask the experts if maybe a real Breitling was hiding here.

I definitely have to get "the book", maybe this will help me to stop asking senseless questions.

Still, I fail to understand the criminal energy behind such a project. I can see somebody going down to Canal Street, getting a "B for B" for US$ 5 and trying to sell it for US$ 1,500. Here you have to find a vintage Valjoux 72/72c/730 (probably a Gigandet?) that easily sell for around US$ 1,000 in good condition, invest in refinishing/faking a dial, getting an "almost real" set of hands, hours of work, listing fees etc. and hope it will sell for more than a similar "Angelus" I saw going for US$ 1,200 last week ???

This one went up to US$ 2,300 in the last seconds, so there is some profit, but the ROI is still rather questionable considering the risks.

Puzzled regards, WatchFred

No senseless questions exceptthe ones that you don't ask.

This was a bad attempt, but the logic behind most of these is that people don't have watches in many cases - they have parts of watches that can be assembled together to form a watch.

Dials are stamped from templates and movements are often impossible to tell apart when they are generic except for the bridge engraving and maybe an export / import code on the balance cock.