The Breitling Watch Source Forums

My latest purchase, a Navitimer 806 just arrived today. Spotted in a local online auction site, I couldnt believe my eyes when it arrived this morning, complete with box and manual. Seller claimed it is 1967, which would be correct by looking up the serial number 115***** . Purchased from the original owners estate.
I consider it to be in original beautiful condition with just one mark on the crystal, and of course the case can use a gentle clean, but the crystal will polish out fine. the dial is perfect to my eyes. Even the lume looks to be in excellent condition. I will send it off for routine servicing of the Venus 178 movement in the next few days. The strap is a metal mesh Tessuflex which is in excellent condition, but will be replaced with a new leather breitling strap to suit after it has been serviced. A fitting companion for its little brother, the Breitling 801 moonphase that my father left me. This can be seen in an earlier post.

Congrats on your find. I think the dial has been relumed which is not the end of the world depending on what you paid.

Beautiful watch. Congratulations. I think the Lume is likely original, can we see some close ups of the dial please?


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Hard to say for definite...but brightness of lume doesn't match with the fading of red dial accents. I'm with Buddman on this one.

Still a lovely watch.


Will

Was exactly my observation. The '12' is quite blobby too but I called it on the mismatched fading.

I have no doubt what so ever that the lume is original, red color will fade over the years, specialy when exposed to sunight, Tritrium will patinate into a similar color as long as it has not been exposed to moisture.

Similar examples below.

Kurt B http://www.kurt-b.com

Good insight kurt.

Thanks Kurt. Good to know.



Will

The fluorescent light directly above the OPs is making the Lume appear much brighter than it is in real life.

Observe the following box 10 with "fat 12" under direct fluorescent and then normal ambient light.






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Thanks for your comments re my Navitimer 806. It really is a very beautiful watch. Apologies for the photo quality, taken with my Iphone 6 so not able to take any macro shots. I will borrow a real camera in the next few days and post better pics. I agree that the lume looks new under certain light, but looking with a magnifier, I cannot see any sign of relum, not that I am an expert. As the watch has spent its entire life in New Zealand, and we do not appear to have the ability to relume in this country, I believe it to be completely original. Even the subdial hands still retain their "blueing" under the right reflected light. The reds appear to be a little faded as stated above. Re the condition of the dial, I can say that it looks like factory new as do the case edges and the milling of the case body. I look forward to your comments when better pics are posted. Thanks for all your input, I have found your site to be a real wealth of information.

Absolute beauty! Great find!