The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Ditto.

@ Fred .....grrrrrr you are not helping me hahaha , I thought you would say "stay away from that thing" ! ..... Are "transitional" Breitling more valuable in a collection ? This will be my 1st Vintage Breitling....just affraid I'm making a bad decision

Mania

Paul, excellent point w/ the added "1" btw., it is in a different stamping font.

From the pictures he sent me, the crown seems to be unsigned, unlike the ref.1782 in the Breitling Catalog....so crown is not original I think...

Mania

I Googled ref.781 and didn't find much info on that model, beside its a Breitling Premier from 1950's

Mania

Ok so serial # make it a 1947
Ref. 1781 doesn't exist
Dial + hands from 1960's
Movement is Venus from 1940's with bridge from 1950's

.....oh boy...


Mania

google can be your enemy too.
according to the 1940s catalogs, neither 1782 NOR 1782 existed.
there is a ref. 1782 in a Breitling Germany catalog from the 1960s, no 1782
781 & 782 are 1940s Premier, using the Venus 175.
your watch (and presumably the Trautmann piece?) use a Venus 188, not used in the Premier line, but normally the "mid market" 11xx line

so the Paul theory (sounds reasonable, but is purely theoretic) is that Breitling used stock remaining (as they did w/ other models) from 1940s Premier to produce some Venus 188 pieces in the early 1960s.

@ Paul and Fred , if that theory is valid, does it make this watch more of a collector piece?

Mania

not really, as we have no proof, just assumptions.
at 500 it's a buy, but do not expect it to be the investment of your lifetime.

You will always have an uphill battle to prove authenticity because it's just an unknown. It's a cool conversation piece for sure.

That example appears to have a redone dial.

@ Fred & Paul , I looked at the picture again , and I Googled for the V188 bridge to see how the signature style look like in the 50's .... I didn't see any that is aligned like the one i want to buy. And the one that is straight has 17 jewels written under BREITLING... Can you guys please confirm that the movement including bridge is authentic ?

Cheers!

Mania

@ Fred & Paul , so I went to see the watch, it does look good. But I'm concerned with the case size, its 40mm , does that make sens for the aera ? Aren't they all bellow 38mm in the 40,50 and 60's ? And there's no marking inside the case back.

Many thanks for all your help!

Mania

40mm (minus crown) is a problem. Often fakers use too large of a case on the vintage pieces which is a dead give away that something is wrong. I can't tell on the new pics but did the newer Breitling logo on the back look like it was worn away or just lightly engraved? Those other numbers under the reference number are wrong also. Probably best to pass on this one.