The Breitling Watch Source Forums

....of a case numbered the same as a Breitling. We'll probably see it again with a redone dial.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-CRAWLER-CHRONOGRAPH-VENUS-TRICOMPAS-REF-734-BREITLING-/281080877429?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item4171b9d175

This one is interesting, since it is mostly identical to a Breitling ref. 734 made at the end of WWII. Let me toss out this hypothesis in the absence of materials from the companies in that era.

In late 1944 to early 1945, the market for Swiss watches returned in a big way, seeing that there were several million Allied soldiers stationed in Europe. Assuming that Breitling bought movements, cases, dials, and hands from a collection of Swiss suppliers, what prevented companies from quickly assembling fairly identical pieces to rush to market. I'm tossing out the idea that there was a certain set of initial chaos in the market before some order was restored in 1945-1946. Who has some notes on this war-time market? Is this why we have a note not to trust serials before mid-1944? Who told us not to trust serials before mid-1944 and why?

I confuse easily.

absolutely identical - including the older "U-type" bridge on the V175 I saw on three 734 of the same period.

"Crawler" is not a registered brand in Switzerland, neither in the corporate registry nor according to the Mikrolisk trademark database - so quite clearly not the company that produced this piece.