The Breitling Watch Source Forums

This is my first posting on here so first off, Hello !

My father has given me his old Breitling watch that he bought in 1964. At the moment the watch is in need of repair as he wore it daily in his youth and over the years it got knocked and bashed.

So, i now have this watch with no bezel, glass, strap (although there is one on it) and i'm sure no second hand.

LOL... other than that it works perfectly albeit a little fast which i'm sure a good service would sort.

The details that i have found on / in the watch are as follows:

Breitling Geneve Top Time
It has 2003 stamped on the back case and then L001562 on the inside of the case. The mechanism has seventeen 17 jewel and unadjusted swiss breitling watch ltd stamped on it.

At the moment i havent been able to find an exact match for this watch on the net. I have contacted a couple of watch repairers and Breitling themselves via email and havent had any responses.

As soon as i can get some decent pics of the watch uploaded i will. For now i'm hoping the info above will be enough for you guys to work on.

There were several top time watches from the 60s, and as I recall the 2003 has a Venus 188 movement with two subdials at 3 and 9. That is a 17 jewel movement.

thats excellent, at least i have more info on this watch...

any ideas where i might be able to find more info from? Or even a pic of what it may have looked like when new and complete?

Is it possibly this one? http://www.farfo.com/menswatches/Page2/ ... _time.html

I found that watch while searching this morning. Mine is a lot like that one but the face on mine is black. The sub dials, hands and case are the same. The crown on mine looks the same but is very worn and the buttons on mine are square with a pin sized hole in the middle.

As the original bezel and glass are missing on mine i cant comment on the pic though.

That's a model 2000, the only picture I could find online of a 2003 (and it's not a very good one) is here:

http://www.artfact.com/catalog/viewLot. ... e=thvnPmG2

same face but different case and buttons. Mine has a gold coloured case and square buttons.

Getting closer though, i knew this was the right place to come.

The case wouldn't bother me - you can have different cases with the same model number, but the different pushers is a little unusual.

That said, a distant part of my brain seems to recall that the same model number could have different movements - a Valjoux 7730 would be the logical alternative to a Venus 188, so maybe the same is true of the pushers.

I think we've reached the extent of my limited knowledge, but I'm sure Paul will be along soon and he is far more knowledgeable than I am.

Look on page 15.

http://www.breitlingsource.com/books_1969.shtml

That should be close. Variations in the dials is common.

Paul

ok guys, thanks for the info so far... its looking promising and the catalog scans look about right.

I took the following pics this morning (sorry about the size but the detail was lacking when they were anything smaller).






Again, thanks for the help with this so far.

I have managed to find a well respected repairer / restorer near me so will be sending him these pics to see what he thinks and hopefully get an idea on costs for putting this back to its best.

Movement looks like a legit Venus 188 to me, but I'm not the expert. The stainless back suggests to me that the case is gold plated - I think all of the 18K cases had gold casebacks as well, but may be wrong.

Looks like you have the bones of a great watch - obviously needs some work but it will be a very good looking piece when complete. I believe that there was a good degree of shared parts among the To Time models so hopefully won't be too difficult to find a replacement bezel, hands, etc.

I do agree. Looks totally original and authentic to me as well. The serial number checks - 1964 to be exact. Nice!!!!

The movement itself tells us, that it is a Valjoux 7730. On the main plate, under the balance wheel there are 2 stamps: a) the famous Valjoux-'R' , and
b) the number 7730.
Regards,
Chris

Paul,
certainly not only the administrator will regret your absence. I personally regret to have met/lost a knowledgeable partner of a field that not many
people share.
The back cover of the Top Time still gives me some trouble. Breitling is not well known for distributing their logo or name more than needed.
How come that the Breitling logo + name can be seen inside and outside the back cover? Peculiar.
Regards,
Chris

Hi another newbie here. I found this forum and this thread by googling Breitling 2003.

I'm afraid these photos aren't very good as my cameras not very good with close ups and I had problems with the flash, this is the best I could get I'm afraid.

This is my husband's watch. His father gave him it for his 19th birthday in 1967. He still wears it sometimes and it works perfectly. It's his favourite watch (even though he has loads), there's no way he'd sell it, but we've often wondered if it was worth anything?

It looks very similar to the one above, but the wording on the back looks different?

Any info appreciated.





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