The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hi all,

Just joined this forum after months of browsing the wealth of knowledge to be found here.

I'm hoping someone could give me some guidance on a personal project. On a whim i purchased a movement and dial for a very small sum of money. I'm yet to receive it, but here's a link to the ebay auction, where there are 2 pictures:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-BREITLING-CADETTE-MOVEMENT-FOR-REPAIR-OR-PARTS-/170992726865?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=8rtN7JChVlBWT3x4ICS%252FGPR68Z8%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc




As soon as it arrives i'll get some better pictures up!

My plan if two fold. Firstly, i'm hoping this is a great chance to learn a little about watch movements. I have never tried to repair a watch movement, but i'm an engineer by trade, and have spent many years servicing and repairing vintage cameras (lots of clockwork involved they're!) and lenses for my own use, so this is hopefully an opportunity for an interesting learning curve! I'm going to try and repair/service it, and then, if possible, source a donor case, hands, crown and pushers (and possibly dial, although i do love a nice vintage patina!)
I'd like to stick to original parts if necessary, although i'm not going for a 'like new' look.

Would just like to reassure everyone that this 'frankenwatch' would be entirely for my own use, and there is absolutely no way in which this is going to find its way on ebay or anywhere else. I'm way to sentimental for that, and feel very strongly about people being mis-sold such items. If i'm ever able to purchase a nice complete vintage watch myself, i wouldn't want to find myself purchasing a hodge podge frankenwatch!

Anyway, i'm appealing for a little help! For starters, can anyone tell me if this looks like a genuine Breitling so far? Once i get it i'll get some clearer pictures up, and see what identification i can find on the movement, plus any tell tale marks of work done.

Secondly, can anyone point me in the direction of information regarding the history and various variants of 'cadettes', so i can do some digging myself? And thirdly, can anyone help me to source donor parts? I don't believe movement repair parts will be a big issue, but i'm struggling to find a case and pushers.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Not the greatest photos, but highly doubt that there is anything Breitling there - sorry. Happy to be wrong with other opinions but the finishing on the movement looks very low end, even allowing for its 'experience' and the dial doesn't look right to me either.

In terms of cases / parts / dials / etc the genuine ones are going to sell for igh prices to people who need them for restoration of their pieces (which honestly is where I would rather see them go).

Thanks for your help Roffensian!

If its all fake, then thats fine, i'll just have a look and see what i can learn from it.
i'm sure i'm not going to find out any more until it arrives and i can have a closer look, but my uneducated guess was that it could have been an original dial, stuck on a cheap movement, but that was only down to the fact that i thought it unlikely to find such wear and tear on a fake dial. I also spotted a few identical faces on what appears to be genuine watches online.

Could you point me in the direction of some more info about early Breitlings? Catalogues etc? Cant seem to find much myself....

Much appreciated!

This site is likely one of the best sources. Benno Richter's book is the standard reference but has many flaws and Breitling produced their own The Book a few years ago.

Thanks for that Roffensian, i'll see if i can pick up a copy.

The movement arrived today, here's some quick pics i just took:







Any other thoughts? I can see the Venus hallmark, and '188' stamped quite cleanly, and it looks a lot higher quality in real life than the original photo. I can't see the 'Swiss Made' text, was it sometimes left off, or is that a red flag for a fake? The dial is obviously very damaged, but the Breitling script looks to be the same age as the dial itself, and quite fine.

I'll begin disassembly tonight, but i can see already that the balance is loose, either the staff has snapped, popped out of the jewel, or needs re-staking. I'm guessing this is most likely due to a drop, especially since its pre-incabloc?

I'll post more photo's as i go along if anyones interested.

Does look better from those photos and dial looks ok, although I am on a phone right now. Movement (or at least the bits of the movement that are there) doesn't look too bad.