The Breitling Watch Source Forums

I was at Scott's Antiques Market in Atlanta today. Saw a black dialed two toned chronomat. I noticed that the date wheel was gold, not white. The watch worked, though. It appeared to be, after looking at the early chronomat pictures in the models section of this website, to have been made in the mid 80's to mid 90's. About 40mm. Aren't all the datewheels, even on the two tones, white? The dials all worked, and appeared to be correct. The 6:00 rider tab was misaligned. The strap was leather and the buckle was stamped IWC (I guess a previous owner relaced the strap, but if one can get an IWC strap, couldn't you just as well have gotten a Breitling strap? $ wise,that is). The ref. #, if I remember correctly, on the caseback began with 61. Something just seemed "off" to me. The dealer wanted $1,600. I did not buy it. I'm thinking replica. Anyone agree, or did I just pass up a good one? The gold date wheel is what caught my eye. Another thing I noticed, and this may be just due to age, is that the lume was very old looking and had flaked off of one of the markers. Applied logo looked ok, and just the word Breitling under the logo. Sorry, no pics. Opinions?

Jack H.

I replaced the bracelet on my Submariner with a nato strap... I am not sure where the bracelet is now... It is worth what now over 1k. People change stuff on what they own. Maybe he just had an IWC strap. As far as authentic is concerned why not open it up and find out?

Lume has fallen off better watched then Breitlings I own after a few decades I would not sweat it.

Would be complete guesswork without seeing it.

I guess my main concern was the date wheel being gold. I only know of them being white. Any official ruling on the date wheel?

Jack H.

I've never seen one, but I have seen replaced date wheels on genuine watches.

ok. I've been looking at earlier model chronomats-81950, on ebay. I found one that looks like the one I saw. The batons are all lume, like the one I saw. But, the date wheel is white instead of gold, like the one I saw. I can't seem to find one with a gold date wheel, which makes me not feel good about it. I really want it to be genuine, but don't want to get burned. I may go back and get some pics. Scott's will be open through Sunday. The ref. # on the back was kind of worn, so I may have mistaken the first two numbers and they may actually be 81... instead of 61... If I go back and get some pics, I'll post and hopefully someone will be able to let me know.

Jack H.

It should be white, it appears gold because of age.
If it's 81950, it should be real.

Found an 81950 that has a gold datewheel! It's on this forum in the for sale section. Just search 81950 and it will pop up. The poster is Breitling Newbie. I guess it's real. Someone check it out for me. Would make me feel better about getting the one I was talking about if I knew this one was authentic.

Thanks,

Jack H.

Or you could just have posted the link yourself which is here - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=19583&p=145768

Seller is actually Louis, and what are the chances that we would let a fake Breitling be sold on BreitlingSource - it's real.

but keep in mind that the dial is obviously not 81950 serie but 13050.1
so it's not a first serie 81905 original but refurbished, not good for a collector.

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Breitling Antares B10047
Breitling Chronomat B13050
Breitling Chronomat A13050.1 - pilot bracelet
Breitling Chronomat Blackbird A13050.1 - serie spéciale
Breitling Avenger Seawolf E17370
Breitling Chronomat EVO A13356 - pilot bracelet

Thanks. I'm just getting into the "older" not yet vintage styles, I guess. Learning as I go.