The Breitling Watch Source Forums

So which watch is Jean Claude Killy wearing here ?

the caption of the pic is :

"Jean-Claude Killy takes victory at Grenoble, 1967. At the lower edge of the frame you can see his Rolex"

Which Rolex is he wearing ?, I cant find any Rolex with that subdial layout / bezel combination
but I have a strong feeling it might be this one , I cant think of any other brand using that particular dial/subdial/bezel layout ?

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

MIGHT be an Autavia 2446, but my bets are w/ the B too.

Grenoble 1967?

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Jim

"You have Control".

are you doubting this ?

I assume in the usually obtuse style, it's a reference to the bibs which say 1968.

which is clearly correct, thank you for pointing this out, Jim !

Yes, the caption of that pic is clearly incorrect

After quite a bit of research and finding several other (better) pics there is no doubt in my mind anymore that JCK was wearing a Breitling ref 765 CP during the 1968 olympics

I will post what I have found so far in a little while

I wonder if the Breitling vintage scene will hype it as much as the Rolex crowd does as he was actually wearing it during his triumphant successes !!!! (And not a Rolex I might add)

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

I found a better picture which settles it for me,
As I said in a post above Its a Breitling ref 765 CP , for me clearly visible as the 15 min. counter subdial is larger than the other 2 . That together with the black bezel with large chrome numbers as visible in the previous pic convinced me its the ref 765 CP Breitling

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

Nice work, I'm convinced

this is the story as it stands , and I am going to stick with it

The watch Mr Jean Claude Killy wore before, during and after the 1968 Olympics

“We all know legendary Jean Claude Killy and his ambassador role for Rolex board of directors for over 40 years now. Although Rolex first advertisement with Mr Killy was to show the Orange Hand 1655 he was wearing during his ski career, his nickname to honor a important Rolex reference next to the Paul Newman Daytona, Jean Claude Killy became Mr. Datocompax alias The chronograph calendar, the Über Cosmo, that finally became most important chrono in the Rolex watch family with ref 4768, 4767, 5036, 6036, 6236.”

This is how most everyone in the Rolex world knows Mr Killy

But what watch was he actually wearing during his Ski career , which ended after he won 3 gold medals in the 1968 Olympics, and during his race successes in 1967 and 1968 ?

This question arose when I stumbled across the below picture



the caption of the pic is
“"Jean-Claude Killy takes victory at Grenoble, 1968. At the lower edge of the frame you can see his Rolex"”

But wait a minute , as far as I am aware that is not a Rolex ? The subdials are too big for a Daytona and the bezel numbers are too bold as well .



Maybe an Heuer Autavia ? But those were only 37mm in 1968 and again, the bezel numbers dont match .

Could it be a .... ?

So my search continued . Looking for high resolution pics of the 1968 Grenoble Olympics and in particular ones where JCK visibly wore his watch. Then I stumbled across this picture and all pieces came together





And I thought to myself 'I know that watch, I have one in the safe'

and everything fits , the black bezel with large 'chrome' numbers , the 15 minute counter subdial larger than the other 2 , the dial markings and '12' on the top

it is a Breitling ref 765 CP made from 1965 to roughly early 1968



And when I read about Mr. Killy's impressive race career I started looking at pics from those races as well..

* 1st at the targa Florio, catégory Grand Tourism, en 1967 (still looking for pics showing his watch)
2nd at the 1000 km de Monza, catégory Grand Tourism (You can clearly see him wearing his Breitling)



3rd at the 1000 km du Nurburgring, catégory Grand Tourism (still looking for pics showing his watch)
* Participation to the 24 heures du Mans – 1969 , (by this time he was Rolex Ambassador so I assume he was wearing Rolex)

After the 1968 Olympics and Monza and after becoming a Rolex Ambassador Killy always stayed close to Rolex, he is still today member of the Governor’s board, was appointed at the head of Research and Development in 2010 and it is said that he still have a strong influence on the design. His own daughter had been working for some years at the Rolex communication department. JCK is now an avid Rolex collector .

But , the watch he was wearing during the height of his successes does not seem to be a Rolex , but a 1965-68 Breitling ref 765 CP with a black anodized aluminium bezel

thank you for reading
Dracha / ReneJK

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

Brilliant René!
Very well documented.

In the background i am working on a few other things as well , as soon as i know more you'll see it here on the board

Btw, you must be please as your famous countryman is really a breitling afficionado ?

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

Yes!

The next step would be to have a lot named "the Jean-Claude Killy Breitling ref 765" in a famous auction in Geneva lol

Not a bad idea ! How high should I set the reserve ?

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

This article is now receiving top billing at Timezone.com!! Excellent Job!!