The Breitling Watch Source Forums

S.S. Breitling 765 Chrono Venus 178

Just got sold on Ebay for $5855.00 with multiple bidders fighting over it.

It was indicated that this was Rare but is there a reason why this particular watch is so special and expensive? One of the pushers is missing, bezel defective and it was sold with just the head only.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-S-S-Breitling- ... 27bc2efac6

quite good reason. it seems to be, like seller says, a very very rare, nice, 1950s 765 AVI.
great looking dial, quite minor repairs.

it went too high for me, but I would have loved to own it, like many other members, I am sure. if you look at prices paid for nice 810s during the last weeks, I am actually not so sure anymore this was really too high, should have known better.

if you want to read about these:
http://forums.watchuseek.com/f39/breitl ... y-112.html

Yeah, price is about right - they still seem to be climbing because there just aren't many around.

There's a few questions for me about this one.

First is the date - the serial number puts it at 1960. Since the first of these appeared much earlier, from memory around 1953, I find it hard to believe that these continued into production this late - my hunch is that the three counter AVI took over around 1954/55.

Second - the movement doesn't seem to have incabloc shock protection. Which I would expect to find in a Breitling that's this late.
The earlier ones I have seen have incabloc, so why would a later one not have it?

In it's favor is the fact that it's a close serial number to the one that sold at Antiquorum.

http://catalog.antiquorum.com/catalog.h ... tionid=223

Also there is a German catalogue in The Book which is dated to the early 1960's (p156), which shows both AVI models for sale!

So is this part of a batch that was made at the end of the Sixties (if so why no Incabloc), as opposed to ones that were made earlier and then were still being offered for sale several years after production. Has anyone seen any of these models with serial numbers dating them inbetween, say 1956 or 1957?

So to answer my own questions I've had a chance to do a little searching and came across this one.

http://www.antiquewatch-carese.com/coll ... 437-927251

Which appears also to be dated around 1960. This has clearer pictures and shows the movement to have another form
of shock protection - possibly the Breitling designed version.

I think the ebay one also has this type of protection, which in the blurry pictures can look like it hasn't got any. In my mind that
clears up any doubts and would mean that this was a batch made around 1960.

The question then remains were these in continous production from 1953 onwards and would have crossed over with the regular three dial AVI and would be a case of Breitling marketing different watches under the same ref, or is this a special batch made in 1960.

Could this have been a special order that Breitling made up to someone's request and then sold off the surplus? Interestingly the one on the Japanese site doesn't have an import mark for the US, which might tally with it being offered in a German catalogue?

You are right:

It is the same as with the Navitimer 806 from 1953. Breitling has in the serial number stamped a "9" instead of an "8". Correctly it should be an "8" .
All of these Co-Pilots with rice beaded bezel and "Breitling-shock" shock protection are from 1953, just the same as these first Navitimers 806 from 1953, not from the 1960th.