The Breitling Watch Source Forums

was doing some research about "up/down" chronographs to find other examples of Valjoux R77 pieces & stumbled upon a piece in an Italian forum I had previously only seen in catalogs, thought I'd document it here.
http://www.vetroplastica.it/forum/viewt ... =3&t=10464

1946 catalog page:



in the metal, apparently dating to the very late 30s, nice !

Very nice Fred, thanks for sharing!

The Harman above it looks a lot like it as well, same/similar bezel ?

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

Very nice indeed - love that bezel.

Beautiful and interesting!!

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"A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure."

What it said in that post was that the Harmon serial number was only a couple off the Breitling serial number. Just another example of the early Breitlings not being all that exclusive to Breitling. Interesting that the Harmon has the bridge markings when typically Breitling chose not to use them in the early pieces. Buying generic pieces was probably cheaper than getting your own name stamped on the bridges. Basically all they did was put their name on the dial.

And it would be really neat to see an example of this rare model. I have never seen one either.

But, in pieces from this era (all, maybe) it's a balance of probabilities to decide whether it's genuine. Here are the things that subtract from the sum of probabilities.

1. That dial is redone and the font matches that of the early-1990s reproductions, which were nicely done.
2. The previous time I saw quotation marks on the caseback, the piece was of dubious distinction.
3. I don't know another example of a a caseback marked "STAINLESS STEEL CASE" versus just "STAINLESS STEEL" or "ACIER INOX."
4. I would expect a more waterproof, screwdown caseback.

and the "5" of the reference number seems engraved, not stamped.
will have to wait for additional examples to compare, though that might be a decade or two ...

I find it curious that on the Breitling model the scale on the bezel is off like maybe it rotates?

Just picked up this Crawford. The bezel does rotate. Pretty cool and I imagine one of the first rotating bezel pieces which is probably why Breitling used the same case. It measures 35mm across the bezel and has 17mm lug spacing. Interestingly it has the copper ring built into the dial like the early Breitling pieces I've had. What a good looking piece!

That's a great looking piece Paul - a nice seasonal gift to yourself.

Thanks! It runs and looks like someone has put a new crystal on it but the 45 min reg hand doesn't appear like it's resetting so it'll be going out for service after the holidays. Think I might have the lume in the hands redone also.

Just thought I'd resurrect this old thread since I just found this nos case online. Still early but later than the other one above so probably on the tail end of production.

Fred, you should write a book entitled "Why I Have All The Luck"