another piece that is undocumented in catalogs, Bill has raised some doubts whether these were "put together" after the demise of the original Breitling.
Asking prices on ebay and chrono24 are typically (and unrealistically) sky high, but they do pop up from time to time; even auctions went far above what I was comfortable paying. Then I picked up a NOS bezel for a 7650 Co-Pilot AVI, it fit, but not perfectly - some months later, during my vacation, a ref. 7656 without bezel was put on auction; now I know which watch my bezel was designed for
Case is almost identical to the ref. 1765 Unitime and the ref. 7650 Co-Pilot; same dimensions and finishing, miniscule differences in the bezel mount; dial is quite similar to the Gen. 2 ref. 810, but with much bigger subdials, dial is clearly Breitling original; the hands are exactly the same as on the 24h Top Time ref. 824 (810-24 are different); movement is a Valjoux R7736, markings correspond to the movements I know out of the 815s & 145x.
So after seeing all components "in the metal", no doubt at all for me that these were produced by Breitling in 1975 (all I've seen date to this year) as no more Venus 178s were apparently available to keep the Co-Pilot AVI alive.
Bill, happy as always to hear your doubts, dissent & comments - all others too, of course
Now the watch diet seriously begins (after the next shipment from Craig arrives).
