The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Ok, so I found this one very interesting. Looks like a stainless steel Top Time but it appears to say 'Plaque 15' or something between the lugs on one side. My gold plated 2008 says 'Plaque 20'. Is this some sort of white gold plating or am I missing something obvious? Seems stainless wouldn't have Plaque on it. Chrome plated? looks authentic otherwise.

Interesting... Had a ref. 2007 and it looked identical to this one except mine was stainless steel and the case had the sunburst finish on the case.

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

Plaque 15 means 15 year guaranteed gold plating / rolled gold, but it would have a steel base to it so it's possible that it has just completely worn off? Plaque literally translates to plate so no direct indication of gold, althoug hthat would seem to be the obvious deduction for this piece.

I borrowed this pick from someone a while back but it just lists white metal.

That does imply some kind of plating - nickel, chrome??

They might actually all be that way but I've not had one in my hands before to tell. I think maybe Watchfred might have one and maybe can enlighten us.

yes, WatchFred has some tonneau TopTimes.

They are all plated base metal, either gold or chrome, as the catalog says, "Weißmetall" literally translates to "white metal",
but stands for chrome plated, as opposed to "Edelstahl" - stainless steel. There are no "Edelstahl" or solid gold versions of
the Tonneaus and they easily show brassing on the lugs.

The Tonneaus were first shown at Basel 1966, yours is one of the early pieces w/ the V188, though 1967 is quite late for the WOG marking -
it is the first 2006 I have seen marked like this.

@Roff: I thought "Plaque xx" stood for the thickness of the plating in microns, 10, 15 or 20 ?

here is another Trautmann catalog page, late 60s:

Thanks for clearing that up Fred, learn something new everyday. Just one little note, if you look closely you can see it's a Valjoux 7730 movement. Looks almost identical to the Venus 188. Also here's a pic of my gold plated one which dates to 1966 (serial number on the inside of the back cover).

thx, Paul - and now I have seen a second WOGed piece. None of mine has it, though some are of similar age.

Never saw a real watch w/ that Top Tome logo too, probably mockups or preproduction that did not make it
to the market, surprised TheSage has none of them on offer ?

You're right Fred - my bad. The year guarantee is for American pocket watch cases, European markings are exclusively micron measures - I was having a bad evening apparently.

I've only seen a handful of these in the last ten years. This stylized AOPA logo apparently was only used on this model and some Wakmann models from this same time period. Don't know the circumstances of it's production but the logo, under a loupe, is done in silver paint as is the rest of the dial and matches it in aging. It's definitely original to the dial. The rest of the watch is 100% authentic so I haven't any reason to believe it's anything less than original. We know that Breitling did other AOPA watches besides the Navitimer and AOPA did other watches that weren't Breitling's so who knows th exact circumstances. Still a pretty neat piece.

did not refer to the AOPA, Paul, know it is legit, an AOPA 2006 sold out of the US last week,
but managed to control my urge. Reference was actually about your comment in the other
thread about the tow-line TopTime logo in the Trautmann catalog , sorry for the confusion.
very neat piece !