The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I recently inherited a Breitling. It is of sentimental value and I am not looking to sell it or have it appraised. It is similar in appearance and function to a Breitling ref 783 Venus Cal 179 diameter 36mm from 1951. However, rather than saying "Swiss Made" or "Swiss" at the bottom, it says "France." I have spent a great deal of time on the internet and not found any Breitlings with "France" at the bottom. Perhaps this apparently vintage Breitling is a "fake?" If so, it's a good one, as it lay in a draw untouched for many years but is in perfect working order. Any ideas?

Thank you.

Mike

I am new to this forum. I posted the below message to the "Vintage" section of the forum. Forgive me if this is redundant.

I recently inherited a Breitling. It is of sentimental value and I am not looking to sell it or have it appraised. It is similar in appearance and function to a Breitling ref 783 Venus Cal 179 diameter 36mm from 1951. However, rather than saying "Swiss Made" or "Swiss" at the bottom, it says "France." I have spent a great deal of time on the internet and not found any Breitlings with "France" at the bottom. Perhaps this apparently vintage Breitling is a "fake?" If so, it's a good one, as it lay in a draw untouched for many years but is in perfect working order. Any ideas?

Thank you.

Mike

Mike no need to double post. Would be most helpful if you posted an image or two.

Duplicate threads merged, please don't double post.

Thank you Dave. Sorry about the double post everyone. I'm afraid I'm rather technologically challenged and have not been able to email photos to myself so I can upload photos to this forum. I was hoping someone knew whether or not a Breitling could ever have been made in France. Of course, I'm extremely curious about its history. I'll see what I can do to figure out how to upload a photo or two. Thanks again.

Mike

Not genuine unfortunately. Looks like a Lemania HS9 dial.

Truly a shame. Any idea as to it's history? Why would a fake be made with "France" at the bottom?

There will definitely be someone more knowledgable than me on the board come along, so I may need to retract my comment as I just saw this watch which has a Wakmann dial (Breitling dealer / importer in USA), also with France marked dial.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Wakma ... Sw8oFXyMyW

So, maybe some connection.....anything Breitling that has a jewel count on the dial I'd normally discount.

Thanks so much for your comments and for your courtesy in providing the site url. Something else of interest, While it may not be seen on the photo, at the top and slightly right, it says "1 mile." This, of course, must apply to the stop watch function (which works beautifully) and seems to indicate it was made for sale in the U.S. And, if it matters, the back simply says "Stainless Steel Back Antimagnetic"

OMG, as my kids would say. Forgive me for not going to the site before my reply. The face of my watch looks almost exactly like this. Instead of Wakmann at the top and 17 JEWELS under the name, mine has the Breitling logo and name at the top, GENEVE, under the name, and 17 JEWELS towards the bottom. FRANCE is the same and the numbers are all the same and shaped the same, and the colors are the same. This is becoming quite the mystery. Thanks again.

As this appears to be identical to my watch in every way save the Breitling name and logo and the placement of 17 JEWELS (The case and back of the case are also identical), I suppose the next step might be to have the case opened.

A picture of the back of the watch is as much telling as the front and will help identify it properly.

Thanks. I'll get that up asap