Good evening all,
By way of a quick introduction before posing my question, I am an amateur watchsmith, somewhat obsessed by watchmaking and horology but in particular by vintage Japanese watches. My main preoccupation is restoration and servicing of vintage Seiko's mostly from the 1960's but also '70's and 80's, an activity I document on my blog, which if any of you are interested to take a look, can be found here: https://adventuresinamateurwatchfettling.wordpress.com/.
So, to my question. I have recently acquired, somewhat by accident, a Breitling Top Time 2002 fitted with a Valjoux 7730.
I am guessing that this dates from about 1966. The watch case looks to be in excellent condition, as does the movement for the most part. However, the dial and index ring are water damaged, the dial retaining ring, crown, one pusher, the crystal and all of the hands are AWOL. Normally, when buying something incomplete, I would bide my time and slowly accumulate the missing bits before restoring the watch. However, my knowledge of the vintage Breitling universe is sparse to say the least, and from my preliminary investigations, I sense that to locate all of the missing parts may well be a vain hope.
I would greatly appreciate any advice, in particular either on the realistic prospect of locating at the least a correct retaining ring and hand set and whether original or alternate crown and pushers might be available. Could I, for example, use generic pushers from Cousins? Are there alternative Breitling signed crowns that would work? What about the crystal? I don't want to spend significant amounts of money on locating some of the missing pieces only to realise eventually that I will never find them all.
Any advice, gratefully received.
Thanks
Martin