The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, I feel I that since I'm starting to frequent this board and leverage your expertise - I owe you an introduction.
So, my name is Sunny and I'm (*flamesuit on*) from Israel. For my whole life I've been a car addict, with petrol running through my veins. I've restored classic cars, I tuned racing cars and had my fair share of luxury cars.
I always liked nice things, but could never understand the watch bug. But, as the car bug, and any other, it's there and you can never know when it will get you.
My girlfriend is Swedish and we are in the proccess of moving to Sweden, so the car thing is on hold and purchases are now limited to a "if you can carry it" basis.
On our latest visit I spent some time with her father who is a watch collector over some Scotch. He has some pretty nice variety of Rolexs, Panerai, and more. The day after I started getting the itch for my own...

Basically I was set on a Panerai 505 as starters, but that 45mm monstrosity looked enormous on my thin arm.
I came across a Breitling Chronomat, F-14 Tomcat tribute, B13050.1 based in 40mm which was the starter for my Breitling passion.

So, after this long prologue, now I am after a vintage breitling.
After some research, I must say that the later 769 with buttons on black dial in 18ct is exactly to my taste. To my understanding, that would be a pretty hard catch, won't it? What are my chances in finding one? Assume its the least likely since I could even barely find a picture.
I also like the white dial, which is my second favourite.

Other than that, the 808 came to my attention. As I understand, its not as highly sought after as the first 769, but the fact that its not as old might play in handy, as it seems there's more nice examples of it in pretty good condition out there for a better price. If to put it automotive metaphor, its that car that you want but is just between a true classic, to an old high maintenance car that might become something in the future.
For example, this one
http://www.chrono24.com/en/breitling/ge ... /index.htm
What do you think of this specifoc one?

Other than that, I guess my question is what do you think of 769 vs. 808 in collectability, chances of sourcing a decent example, etc.?
Attaching the picture of a button\black dial 769, and my chronomat.

Oh, and.. sorry for the long post and thank you in advance!

First of all happy new year and welcome to BS !

Both the 808 and 769 are quite collectable , although a bit small in my opinion

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

Hi Dracha, thank you!
I must say that after trying on the 45mm Panerai 505, I tried on quite a few others, and I feel that 40mm is the perfect size for my wrist. However, I can still go a little bigger or smaller.
I'm actually thinking of the 42mm Panerai Radiomir GMT alarm for daily use and the tomcat and an additional 769/808 just because it really pleases my eye for an occasional use.
I've been told there's a dealer in Tel-Aviv that has a 769 for sale, ill go check it out and try it on next week. But, I'm not sure I'll buy it, rather than have it in mind as an option if I exhausted my search for the black one which I prefer.
Am I correct to think that the black dials are harder to come by?
Also, are there any other sources you could recommend searching on other than chrono24 and eBay?

Edit: any insight on the 808 from chrono24 would be appreciated

808 on c24 is a correct transitional piece, arrow dial, but still a rice bead bezel. nice, pricing at the upper end of reasonable.

shana tova, no need to be afraid of flamers here, scrictly no politics

good idea to slip on a 769 to try, bad idea to buy anything without having it verified here.

I think the 769 is plenty big enough as a dress watch, if you go through Gallery and the vintage section you'll see some examples how nicely it wears.

The black index dial is the only gen. 2 dial in black I have seen, iirc this is from the Altro article on WUS? black 769 in good condition are quite rare, here's a gen. 1 dial that shows how nicely these wear - and I have a 6.6" wrist.

Wow, Fred, that is an amazing piece!
You are correct, the picture I uploaded was from the article posted on WUS.
Now you got me thinking of the first generating again. At first it looked a bit messy, but that one right there looks amazing.
What do you think of this one? Dial could be better, and the hands are different from yours..? I asked the seller for more pictures, including movement. Will updated once I get it.
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... 33&alt=web

Thank you all for the quick replies and wishes

hands seem to be replacements, though close to the original, but dial is in sad condition. no.

rare too, but there is a black 808 with a dial quite similar to that 769 you like so much:

LOL, Fred you have spectacular examples!

and Shana Tova to all.