yes, those '1000's '

has Valjoux ever been contacted , explained to them that we're trying to figure out how many navitimers were build with the V72 movement , and asked them how many they actually delivered to Breitling in 52, 53, 54 and 55 ? , this should not (no longer) be confidential info as the Breitling company they delivered to doesnt exist anymore and the info is now 60 years old ?

that should give an exact number of Navi's build with the V72 and also how many were build in which year (with the V72)

Ive sent an e-mail to ETA.ch asking for historical data / information about the V72 and the number of movements they sold to Breitling in the years between 1952 - 1955 , "split out by year please"

who knows they may actually read my e-mail and respond

Great idea but am assuming that won't be accurate because Breitling might have ordered extra movements comared to the watches produced for servicing/replacement purposes? Will help in knowing the max number possible though.

Not necessarily. Think about a car - your mechanic doesn't order extra engines so that they have service parts, they order the specific parts that they need. Servicing will require a lot more mainsprings and balance completes than they will main plates.

......order spare movements rather than parts to cater to any eventuality:)

You can cope with any eventuality without movements - you just buy spare parts for every part - still classified separately to a movement.

I think everyone at one time or another has seen this ad ?
And I read on the board that in approx. 2010 someone asked what type of Navitimer was on it
Maybe that question has already been answered but it got me thinking and playing with photoshop

this is what I found :

1) the pushers are a-symmetrical (different distance from the crown)
2) you can barely see the AOPA logo but to me it definitely looks like the V72 specific AOPA logo with sharp pointed wings

So can we conclude that in this ad it pictures a V72 AOPA Navitimer ?

I believe so

I dont know what it add's to the info we already have , but a hypothesis might be

"completely designed and engineered to AOPA specs" , the typical Navitimer sliderule layout (different from the Chronomat sliderule layout) + V72 Movements was a AOPA requirement ?

is there a Breitling that used this particular sliderule layout before the Navitimer was designed ?

Later Breitling built on the success of the design but came up with a slightly cheaper Navitimer , gave it reference number 806 and made it with a venus 178 movement ?

food for thought