The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello from Australia,

I have a 1965 Navitimer 806, which unfortunately has gotten some water in it.

The dial, bezel, and movement all have damage. This was something i was hopefully able to get fixed. or at least receive some feedback on whether it is worth it

Thanks!

I'm on a phone but from what I can see of the pictures that dial is beyond saving. Replacement dials can be found but it won't be cheap, and if the dial is that badly damaged then the movement is probably also in a pretty sorry state. With patience and time it will be recoverable but you will need donor / replacement parts and without knowing what state the rest of it is in it's difficult to guess at whether it is worth it financially. Even if only the case is salvageable it will have some value.

The case is pretty much perfect. which is one of my reasons for possibly restoring this watch.

pictures i supplied of the dial and movement look worse than it does in person.

I guess an option is sourcing a Venus 178 movement. is that even viable?

I'm happy to spend time fixing this watch, but don't know where to start or who to go to..

Thanks.

well, quite a lot of "some water" .....
as Roff says, the dial is beyond saving; but hands, case and (most of) the movement should be salvageable; standard advice would be to contact member chronodeco and ship the watch to him, so he can evaluate and quote; it will be worth it, I'd say.

I concur with the dial and movement assessment and I would suggest sourcing another dial and movement first (Ebay is your best option but you need to be patient) before sending the watch out. The watchmaker will probably not have replacement parts and the watch may be there for months until parts are found

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

Imho, saving the movement is not a main issue . In sourcing Venus 178 parts , just consider that most of steel parts are common to Venus 175 , and main parts are rose gold plated and do not rust . Storing the whole movement in appropriate liquid ( benzin or if you do not have that , WD40 would be ok for the job ) would avoid rust to continue its work and allow to wait .

For the dial you will need time and/or luck . One can pop out on ebay, tomorrow or in one year ...

Sorry to hear mate, did it fall in water or was it just rain water that got in? Agree with the advice of the experts around here!

It got dropped in pool water (probably a mixture of salt and chlorine.)

Thanks for the advice so far everyone! Much appreciated.

Ouch, these vintages and water never mix, all the best with the restoration, let us know how it goes. Check with Craig and also the Heists for spare dials for these, you might get lucky else just lookout on Ebay!

My Cosmonaut had way less rust than that and still cost me over $500 to repair. A replacement movement will cost you even more. Put it back together and sell as is as they've been bringing ridiculous figures lately in much worse shape.