The Breitling Watch Source Forums

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1953-Vintage-Gents-Early-Breitling-Navitimer-pilots-wristwatch-BEADED-Bezel-806-/251424898334?pt=UK_Jewelery_Watches_Watches_MensWatches_GL&hash=item3a8a177d1e

How about a 1953 serial number, 93 count beaded bezel, and Venus 178.

fine, Paul - quite a few of these around, one of the misnumbered cases that make people (including Breitling) claim the '53 launch - typical very late 50s piece. like all the others I've seen until now w/ non-AOPA wings.

sad condition, though.

Seems like maybe the serial number error might be reason enough to make it collectible. Rare mismarks on other items generally increase their value. Might have to think on that a bit.

somehow that is true with all other collectables but not w/ Breitling

maybe we (and I dont just mean us here but the collector base as a whole) done too good of a job identifying these as 'not 53ies so therefor they're not collectable' and instead should have emphasized the uniqueness of these ?

I am still of the opinion that Breitling ordered cases from an EM (external manufacturer) by a set number , lets say 1000 pcs.
The EM then made them, case numbered them , and send them to Breitling to be assembled by Breitling into finished product as they were ordered by the distributors

As cases were made and numbered in batches (1000 pcs at the time ?) there's a finite number of 'misstamped' 806's , which should make them more valuable than the correctly numbered pieces . If the order number is low enough they should be valued higher than, lets say as an extreme example, the V72's ?

anyway , verifiable errors by other watch Mfg's are more valuable , why aren't these ?

possibilities :
1) Breitling is not collectable
2) Breitling is collectable but not a big enough collector base ?
3) Breitling is collectable , the collector base is big enough, but we (dont just mean us here but the collector base as a whole) have not made a big (enough) deal out of it ?
4) we just suck at hyping the brand and in particular the vintage significance and differences (misstamps, bezel count, AOPA vs. double plane vs. AOPA wing without AOPA)
5) or just maybe we have not done our own due diligence and document & publish our combined knowledge enough

if we (thats a 'we here on BS') keep knowledge to ourselves , collecting the rare pieces with that knowledge , but we're not telling the 'general public' why these are rare , are we expecting then that the 'general public' finds that out for themselves if we (the experts) dont educate them ?

Look at Rolex , Heuer & Omega , those are the 3 closest brands I can think of, and the vast amount of documentation that is out there and compare that with what we have (The Book, Richter and a few loose articles on the web on WUS , here , Kurt's site etc) we have not done a very good job advertising 'our' brand and make it collectable.

ok, this started out as a short reply to Paul and it got a lot longer but you get where I am going

Over the last years Kurt did a fantastic job at identifying the V72's as the 1st true Navitimers and advertising that (thanks Kurt !) So Kurt ? , when are you going to do the same for the other models ?

</rant & bedtime>

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Absolutely. Seller on ebay should market it as "Ultra Rare factory Serial Number Anomoly." "Very Limited Examples Available Anywhere." Well you get the point. I bought my first 765CP for $250 ten years ago now look at them It's only reasonable to expect the rarest examples will one day bring a similar return. The watches made in the gap between the last serial number of 1946 and the first serial number of 1947 could become a future trend. The rarest examples will eventually return a just reward to those with enough forethought to invest (take a chance perhaps) early.

shhhh dont spread the word!

I don't want prices to go up

well, below is a "1953" piece that might be a slightly better example.
yes, this would be unaffordable if it would be another brand.

the main problem is how clueless and inactive the "modern" Breitling is in the collector's market, look at their massive involvement and the amount of support we are getting here !

food for thought about how important that involvement is, both for the vintage market and the "value perception" of modern pieces in this WSJ article; it's from 2007, but as least as true today: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 3176051433

Well, they'd rather do this www.breitlingsource.com/phpBB2/viewtopi ... &p=363228&

than pay for excellent examples (ask Kurt)



You have a point, but would you want a Breitling rep here , maybe you can write a nice e-mail in Austrian with a link to the WSJ article below inviting them to participate here and I'll send you the contact info I have , who knows it might help

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Let's not kid ourselves, they are here - they just choose not to contribute in any positive way (they have acted in some negative ways in the past).

sold to Bill Shaine; it will reappear as ""Ultra Rare factory Serial Number Anomoly." "Very Limited Examples Available Anywhere." "
or similar

Here's what I have done so far http://kurt-b.com/the-non-existing-1953 ... navitimers


Kurt B http://www.kurt-b.com

thats a great piece of info Kurt

The serial numbers you have listed strengthens my hypothesis and belief that Breitling had batches of cases made and pre-serialized by the EM (external manufacturer) before they were shipped to Breitling .
The watches were then build with these cases as orders came in and shipped out .

the serial number list in order (with some added from my own records)
824725
824733
824865
824984
825067
825094
825277
825365
825451
825684


I think if we keep an eye on them we can roughly estimate how many incorrectly serialized 806's there are (my guestimate is 1000 pcs as I believe cases were ordered in batches of 1000 pcs for well established models or models that were expected to sell at least 1000 pcs)

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard

Nice summary Kurt

824725
824733
824865
824947
824984
825067
825094
825277
825365
825451
825684

updated +1

thanks Fred !
(I am glad yours wasn't the odd one out that would blow my hypothesis out of the water !

_________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Breitling and Boats. The rest I wasted" - mostly Elmore Leonard