The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello all,

This watch was purchased by a family member, probably when he first began flying in the 1930's. Any thoughts on what movement this is? Thanks!

Gene

Movement appears to be in the Landeron family, probably cal. 42 (bottom pusher should stop and reset the chrono if so, top pusher only starts).
I am not 100% comfortable with the watch as a genuine Breitling--did they ever use Landeron cals??? Don't think so... And the logo on the dial looks off to me. But there are others around here who are better qualified to comment on authenticity than I.
Best,
T.

Its a very early Landeron 42 , 14 1/2''' with 30-minutes and 12 hours account.



Is it true, that your family bought this watch in the 1930's ? Do you know the exact year ?

( Nobody till today believed me, that Breitling used the Landeron calibres in the early 1930's - before they used the Venus 188 end of 1930's, not only in the 1940's - , and nobody believe me that Breitling signed thier watches with Breitling after/since 1928, but slowly. But slowly, slowly here comes the truth to light )


edit: hi tomvox, you was 1 second earlyer

Definitely a Landeron 42, and I'll need a lot more evidence than this to believe that it's a Breitling signed 1930s watch with an original movement.

My father-in-law began flying in 1937 and he depended on this watch extensively in cross country trips to assist with flight calculations, so it was a working instrument, not a wrist bauble. His airplane was requisitioned by the army for training at the beginning of the war and he went into the service and didn't fly again until after the war, so we have placed the date of purchase between 1937 and 1941. I will say that it is possible that it was purchased second-hand by him in the 1930's. It has has been in a drawer for probably 60 years and, when it was discovered in his things, my mother-in-law said she hadn't seen him wear it since just after the war. When he passed away in 2002, I took it to my watchmaker, an experienced man who was once contracted do perform repairs for NASA, and he kept it for two years trying to get it to run correctly, as it only runs for four hours. He concluded that it needed a specific part (can't recall what it was) and could not find one and finally sent it back to me. I will say that, given the provenance, it is improbable that it is anything but what it appears to be.

Thanks!

Gene

I forgot to mention that my watchmaker said that he thought the watch had been manufactured closer to 1930 than 1940, for reasons I can't recall. My brother-in-law now has this watch and also took it to a watchmaker who gave similar feedback and indicated that he thought that fixing it would be far more than it was worth, if the part(s) could be located. The period braided metal watch strap that you can't really see well in the photo has been on the watch since my father-in-law bought it, says my mother-in-law. It's not for sale, BTW.

Thanks for all your comments.

Gene

Here's another shot of the dial, which is slightly obscured by scratches or crazing on the crystal. -Gene

Hi, a watch with this family-historie, its never to expensive to repair it. Ask your watchmaker, which part he need, and i will look for it.

regards Michael

I would like to see a picture of the outside and inside of the back cover.

Thanks!

Here are views of the caseback. as taken by my brother-in-law (he has the watch in another state).

Outside of caseback: there is a small marking as seen in the photo and the number 369670 on the outside of the caseback. My brother-in-law said he used a magnifying glass on the mark but still can't tell what it says or really what it looks like, if it is a symbol.

Inside of caseback: you can read in the photo "METAL PLAQUE OR LAMINE 20 MICRONS GARANTI 10 ANS." He says that there is what appears to be a hand-scribed marking in cursive on the inside of the caseback that is not really visible in the photo and it says 6/4/5 and has what looks like the letters HSPT, but he is not sure. A second hand-scribed mark not visible in the photo is very small and has the numbers B05445. In the photo, you can also see a mark on the center of the inside of the caseback that has a domed rectangle border, with what he said appears to be the letters "KB" in the center.

My original question was only to identify the movement, which those on this listserv have done, and I appreciate this very much. This was a step in our thinking (one more time) about repair by first searching for a movement to serve as a parts source, since my watchmaker could not find one . My brother-in-law recalls that his watchmaker said that the part that is needed is a bridge and I think that is what my watchmaker said when he spent two years trying to find the part back several years ago.

As far as this other information from the caseback, does that tell all of you anything new?

Many thanks!

Gene

The text on the inside of the caseback is an indication that the caseback is gold plated with 20 microns of gold. The plating was guaranteed to last 10 years before showing the base metal through.

The K.B. could be a casemaker's mark, I fdon't have any references for that. Most of the other marks inside the caseback will likely be watchmaker marks from servicing.

The 369670 will be a serial number but is not particularly helpful. It is consistent with a Breitling serial prior to 1944 (when accurate numbering records exist), but could also be from many other things.

The comment on the bridge is problematic - that's the part with Breitling on it. That brings into question whether it is original if the watchmaker originally stated that a new one was needed.

Thanks for the reply. My watchmaker indicated to me that the part (bridge or whatever) was needed because the one on the watch was defective and was the reason behind it not running beyond four hours. -Gene

Any watchmaker who keeps a watch like this for 2 years and can only get it to run for 4 hours is NOT QUALIFIED to comment on what he thinks the problem might be. LOL, Craig

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S. Craig Bergsma

100 % agree but its not easy to find a real good watchmaker.

I completely agree. Unless it is something very bizarre, it only takes a few minutes to find the problems in a watch. If it only runs four hours, it shouldn't be run at all!

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