The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Greetings

I would like to first thank you all for creating this site, and providing a wealth of information. I hope in time I can be as useful as you all are to the forum.

I have just received my first Breitling watch from my new wife. It is nearly as beautiful as she. She gave me what we believe to be a circa 1966 Vintage Breitling Chronograph 765. It is a 38mm and has venus 178 movement. Serial is 1074403. I have just a few questions for you.

1. I would love a manual as I do not know how to operate it. Do you have any suggestions on where to acquire one? Also, if you know how to operate it, I would greatly appreciate your tips as well.
2. I intend to have it adjusted and cleaned. My first steps researching have lead me to want to send it directly to Breitling via a trusted jeweler to do so. I want to maintain it as it was intended. Suggestions and tips welcomed. I am sure this is not the cheapest way to do this... Are there any reasons to why/why not I would go to Breitling direct?
3. I want to have it appraised and insured, however it would of course be benifitial to know exactly what I am dealing with. The information I listed above is what I know, and I have attached some photographs. Can anyone validate and/or point me in the right direction? This is my first fine time piece.
4. I am sure that I will have many more questions about my new gift, so please feel free to share and add anything that you think I may find useful.

Thank you in advance. I appreciate your help, and interest.

welcome to the forum and congrats !
a great gift, case was manufactured in 1966 indeed, watch maybe a little
later, as a 66 would still have a WOG-marked bridge.
hands might be service replacements, dial lume apparently refinished.

chrono operation:

chronograph subdial at 3 counts up to 30 elapsed minutes
chonograph subdial a 6 counts up to 12 elapsed hours
subdial at 9 provides "running seconds"
center second hand provides chronograph seconds
pusher at 2 starts and stops the chronograph
pusher at 4 resets all 3 chrono hands.

regarding adjusting and servicing: would be great to know
where you live, but most of us do not use Breitling to
service vintage watches - neither pricing, lead times
nor competence make this a smart choice - remember
the current Breitling shares only the name with the
original company that manufactured your watch.

Many/most of us hope Craig (member Chronodeco)
will lead a happy and very long life and continue to
service and restore our watches for many years to
come, he lives in the US, but I am happy to send him
my watches from Austria.

Uncommon watch. We usually see AVIs or Co-Pilots with the 765 moniker, this is the 60s variant of the original 765 from the 40s.

Manuals will be impossible to find, but instructions are simple. Stop watch (chronograph) is started with the top button, stopped with the top button and then reset when stopped using the bottom button. Wind it by turning the crown away from you (assuming right handed) and stop when you feel additional resistance. Pull the crown out to adjust the time.

Don't send it to Breitling for service, it's a different company to the one that produced this. We have a member here chronodeco (Craig) who will give the watch everything that it needs - just use the search for references. He's in the US, but his customers are global - he's that good.

Valuation on these is going to be tough because the AVI and CPs are the one that demand the attention, for insurance purposes maybe $2,000 - $2,500, but I haven't seen any for sale recently to validate that so see what others say.

edit Fred beat me to it.

Beautiful watch, congrats! First time saw a real Breitling-Wakmann co-branded watch!

Had a few of the 765's. Unrestored I'd value them them in the $1100-$1300 range based upon what they usually sell for on ebay. Restored and serviced $1500-$1900. The Wakmann version either attracts collectors or puts them off. I usually see more Breitling/Wakmann versions for sale than the Breitling only 765's. Nice watch!

Thank you for the information everyone

I should also add that the watch now has an alligator strap (of course approved by Breitling, and a Breitling clasp.( I will of course upload additional photos.)

Silly question, but what does the waksman represent? I see the majority say Geneva

Is one more common than the other?

Thanks again everyone

Wakmann was the US importer of Breitling (among other brands). It's a long story, but basically the US had some protectionist legislation that restricted the importation of Swiss watches and so Breitling partnered with, and ultimately acquired Wakmann to assemble the watches in the US and get around the restrictions.

Most models for the US market will only have an export code on the movement, but some models, like this 765, also have the dial marked. On this model the Wakmann co-branding seems to be more common than the Breitling only ones.