The Breitling Watch Source Forums

My dad absolutely LOVES watches. He is a tightwad and will not buy a nice watch though even though he could afford probably whatever he would want.


He has a love for older, simple looking watches. I have been seeing some older Breitling 17J watches on eBay going for around $450.00.

I realize a watch is only worth how much your willing to pay for it, but would this be a reasonable price for an older watch like this? I have seen 4-5 older watches in the $350.00 - $750.00 range and I think it would be fun to buy 3-4 older watches, send them to someone who can really make these watches look good, and give them to him for his 68th birthday in June.

Here is the link to one of the watches in question, (although I am kinda unsure about dealing with someone from China for some strange reason);

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Swiss-B ... 2c5f68e6b7

and here is another link to a watch I am considering getting for him.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-REF-174-BR ... 23196f730b

I think this would be the best thing he could ever get as a birthday gift.....between 3-5 older, nice watches.

Any help you guys can give me is most appreciated.....im about to pull the trigger on 5 older Breitlings on eBay within the next few hrs and I am just waiting to see what you guys have to say.

Thanks,
Shawn

Do not buy a Chinese piece

They are all faked. Same for virtually all South American pieces.

The pricing is reasonable for real three hand watches, maybe a little low, but not much. The problem is finding the real ones amongst the trash. Chronographs (stopwatches) will be more.

The other one doesn't look too bad at first glance, but not giving it a thorough check in order to post before it ends.

OK, now that I have had a little more time to look, I'm fairly OK with the second one. The 174 should have round pushers, despite what the best known reference book says, but the movement concerns me slightly - it's very early (1946) for the WOG export code on the bridge. See what others have to say.

Thanks Roffensian, this helped me out!