I am acquiring a 1970 Navitimer Twin Jet from someone and wanted to know if you guys can give me a ball park value of the watch. I know vintage are a little tricky, and to complicate matters, this one has had a full 7 month restoration done in 2010. Dial, hands, crown, and pushers are all new. Everything was done at Breitling and so it’s all genuine and I do have the documentation for the restoration. It’s too late to undo the deal but for the future, an approximate value of the watch might help. I’ve looked everywhere and prices seem to be all over the place so I would greatly appreciate any input. Thanks!

It’s a tough call because of the restoration (or probably more correctly in this case, renovation). True vintage collectors would probably not touch this, because it’s missing two of the three decision elements of collecting, those being provenance and (to a lesser extent) authenticity. However, more casual collectors might buy it because it is now an easy trouble free watch with a genuine "vintage vibe". I know this is not going to help you one bit, but the answer to your question is that the value is whatever you can secure a transaction at. That is why the prices of vintage watches are "all over the place".

I followed the sale of a similar watch a year or so ago, and while the seller was obviously getting frustrated that nobody would buy, in the end he concluded a transaction at what no doubt was a mutually agreed negotiated price. I think that is what you would find if you went to sell this on the open market.