The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Greetings! I am looking at a circa 1986 Breitling Navitimer Ref.#81600. Love the watch; however, it has a gold bezel, and I am STRICTLY a "steel guy". How difficult will it be to source the correct bezel for this reference in steel? I found a steel bezel FS on eBay Germany, but I'm not sure it will fit:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310818644465&item=310818644465&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance for your consideration!

Highly doubt that it will fit and it will be virtually impossible to find one. Additionally, it may cause problems with Breitling because the watch will have been modified in their eyes. You'll be much better off waiting until a watch that better fits your preferences comes along.

Welcome to BreitlingSource.

"...virtually impossible to find one..."? No offense, and I certainly respect the breadth of your knowledge, but I'm having trouble believing this. #1 - I have to believe that the bezel used on Breitling Ref#81600 and 81610 must certainly be a "leftover" bezel from other (earlier) reference(s). #2 - Removing/replacing a bezel on a Navitimer appears to categorically NOT be rocket surgery; I'm guessing that with the proper part, virtually ANY watchmaker could do this in a snap, no pun intended. In the world of "modded watches", I'd call this "barely a mod"; maybe a tick or two above a strap/bracelet change...

I'd be obliged if someone w/either of these references would pull a couple measurements for me. In doing a search here on this Forum, I saw one individual in Austria that showed his Ref.#81610 pretty much "apart"; again, thanks for your consideration!

Breitling don't sell parts so the sources of bezels are:

1) Parts watches
2) Fakes
3) Very occasional legitimate parts that 'leak out' from the AD network

Good luck with your search.

Well, I pulled the trigger on the eBay bezel I referenced in my initial post. Worst case, I'm out $30 shipping total; basically, my bar tab on an average night...

So we'll see; look for a followup post to this in the coming weeks...

Well, for anyone who cares, here's an update: I got the aforementioned bezel in from Germany this past Saturday; eyeballing it w/a loupe, it LQQKED right - furthermore, it was clearly NOS. I found an L.A. watchmaker who had worked at Breitling for many years; took it up there today. SUCCESS! Fit like a champ; looks great, works great. He installed a new gasket too, and regulated it - I'm a happy camper!