The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi, just wondering where one could get vintage Breitling authentication paperwork to add to the provenance of vintage Breitlings, especially those that come without paperwork? For example, with Rolexes, one would send it to a Rolex Service center (RSC) and request a quote or perform a full service with clear instruction on whats to be done (note this can be risky at some RSC's since Rolex loves changing original parts and they don't return the originals) and the watch comes back with service paperwork that adds to provenance, it's also an indication that nothing on the watch is fake because Rolex confisticates fake watches/parts.
Offcourse in most cases, there are very good Rolex repairers who are extremely renowned (one example is Bob Ridley in Texas for Rolexes who's known on all the Rolex forums) who does exceptional work and most people trust if adding paperwork is not an issue or provenance already exists but to add provenance, sending to an RSC is the accepted route though a bit risky. Offcourse we have Craig here of Chronodeco who does exceptional work on vintage Breitlings whom many of us trust with our vintage watches. But my query is more provenance related.

Someone on another forum mentioned he had sent his watch to Breitling and they send him a official letter stating the watch details and saying they can't service it, offcourse that letter acts as some provenance too. An official authentication letter is good to have.

Any cues?

Breitling is a waste of time in most countries as they don't service vintage pieces. I suppose the authentication that would carry the most weight from any sort of pseudo-official sense is Mark Heist at Horological Services in the US.

Thanks Roff, does Mark do only authentication work or is it necessary with him to perform a full service too if need a authentication certificate?

No idea, ask him!

Thanks Roff, will check. Offcourse there is no better way of authenticating a watch than on the breitlingsource forum because of the nature of the vintage world, but a bit of paperwork always helps:).

I dont know how much weight the forum and its members carry outside the forum ?
There are of course individuals everywhere that will accept, or vehemently deny, whatever is said about any watch that is discussed here. Sending watches to Breitling anywhere and getting it back from them 'restored' really has no value at all as over the years I have seen many butchered watches and even fake watches that were accompanied with paperwork from Breitling when the piece was obviously a fake

If you search the forum there are some examples of that

Recently I saw a 806 on a german or swiss forum where breitling themselves 'recreated' an all black dial that looked nothing like an original , but since Breitling performed the work do we need to accept it as 'original' ? I think not

I will look for the pictures and forum link to show what I mean

1 thing I have noticed in the last few years is that with the increasing interest in Breitling vintage pieces the market is engulfed with fakes/frankens/fantasy watches and finding the right pieces to compare with is getting more and more a problem

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