The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I have no idea, this is such an oddball. It has to be wrong, but it's sooo odd, it couldn't be could it?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Vintage-1968-Russ ... 3f04eda32b

It can't be, no, it just can't be.......

But don't ask me to find something wrong with it.

I saw that one as well , but doesnt the dial sit on top of the sliderule ring in the pic ?
dial very badly fitted and the dial seem to cover part of the 35 and 15 on the sliderule
I would have had no problem accepting this as genuine if it had the proper Breitling dial .. now I wouldnt want to have it or bid on it

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

Here's a pic of it in the 1969 catalogue?

here's the sellers description:

"This is a beautiful example of a RARE Pre-owned Vintage Breitling Co-Pilot ref 7651 Chrono-matic Self-winding Water-resistant Wrist Watch. According to a number of Breitling representatives working out of Breitling’s main headquarters in Grenchen, Switzerland, this particular watch, based on its Serial Number 1252319, was manufactured in late 1968, making it a precursor to the Model 1806. This makes this particular watch a proto-type, of which there are only 3-4 known to exist today! What’s more, Breitling re-badged the face plate П ОЛ Е Т and awarded these proto-types to a select few Russian Air Force Top Ace Pilots before releasing Breitling's commercial version to the general public in mid-1969."

This watch isn't a prototype though, as it appears in the catalogue. While Breitling did put other logos on the dial, most famously the AOPA logo, where they have put another makers mark (e.g LIP, Wakmann) I've only ever seen it double marked with Breitling on the dial.
Also the catalogue shows Chronomatic as one word no hyphen.

I don't know enough about Poljot to know whether they were using this type of logo in 1968? The Russian watches I've seen from this period have the model name on the dial (e.g Strela) and not Poljot.

http://forum.atgvintagewatches.com/show ... php?t=2164

Wow... that's fascinating... very interesting... 4500 bucks is a bit of a gamble though...

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

Is there something I should know?

_________________
"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

We can expect sellers to come up with pretty outlandish claims, and this one is peculiar.

The First Moscow Watch Factory started using "Poljot" on its dials right after the Gagarin flight in 1961 so it seems unlikely that Breitling would use it on an early run Chronomatic. And the claim that this might have been a Soviet Air Force presentation watch is "Crazy Ivan" on the face of it. Even if it were, I think "Breitling" would appear on the dial, too (who can do Cyrillic "Breitling?").

The catalog copy also refers to this model as especially useful for yachting, so a "pilot" reference is a bit of a mis-match if it came from Breitling.

It seems implausible that a more modern faker would make this alteration, create a goofy story, and try for a big-time sale. We have no way of knowing, but I suspect it was a custom job for a customer a long time ago.

Well it is a Co-"Pilot" (15 min sub register) version of the Chronomatic Bill. These did come with the Yachting scales on the inner or outer bezels depending on which version of the Co-pilot it is. The 765CP, 7650, etc.

Agreed. I'm just saying that if Breitling was likely to choose a model to put "Poljot" on the dial, I would guess it would probably be the more traditional version. That may be goofy reasoning, but I think we're stumped as to how it got there.

Haha, no I just meant that it doesn't look 'wrong' - aside from the obvious name difference it looks like a right watch. As Bill suggests it may well have been a custom commission - if it had Breitling on the dial instead of cyrillic characters none of us would bat an eyelid about it.

Oh okay... I was thinking "hmm is this like a holy grail of 60's c-matics" type of thing and I wanted in on it...

_________________
"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

I wonder if this has anything to do with the later Aviation watches by Ollech and Wajs

http://www.chronotime.ch/9601/17143.html

I assume that they bought up dials with no branding on them and added their own name. It's possible that something similar has been done here?

Enitrely possible - the dials used by O&W were of course identical to the Breitling ones (because they were the Breitling ones) so they could well have been the source. I still tend to think that it was a small run / one off though, otherwise more would have surfaced.

This one just popped up. It's interesting because it's the first one I've seen without Breitling on the dial at all.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... fe=sidebar

One was discussed a while ago here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17167&hilit=swedish

Just to add I'm not buyng the Poljot dial, maybe if it had a retailer's name on it rather than a manufacturer.
Still this one does make you think.

I thought the XXX-36 signified that there is a 7736 mvmnt inside , why does this one have 810-36 but a V178 Mvmnt ?

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