The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Rare as it is, the 24h Unitime AVI ref. 1765 was manufactured in two slightly different sizes; like every collector (addict, really) I am hoarding all kinds of rare parts; dials, hands, bezels, cases, crowns, pushers, crystals, movement parts - among them a nice bezel for the Unitime.

I was able to pick up a very nice Unitime AVI from 1969, missing a bezel; was shocked to find out my spare was slightly too small - and did not fit; desperately contacted many of my addict friends, but no luck. Was close to try to refinish a SuperOcean 2005 bezel, but very nervous about spoiling a beautiful piece.

Then another bezel became available, grabbed it - landed this morning; a perfect fit.

Frustration, patience, persistence, luck, joy - the life of a vintage collector.

The rather nice Unitime AVI - and the nice, but wrong SOC bezel.



And the rather nice Unitime AVI today. Joy.

OK, this is the only response that I could possibly have.....



Great piece Fred, absolutely magnificent.

Beautiful watch Fred

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5 Super Avengers
1 Super Avenger 2
1 Super Avenger limited edition
1 Super avenger night mission
1 Limited edition chronomat Boston Celtics
Navitimer GMT
Transocean Chronograph Unitime
2 Omega planet ocean chronographs
1 Tag heuer Monaco

Speechless...

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z

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White Dial Super Avenger with Batons
Grey Dial Breitling Bentley 6.75

Past:
Black Dial Super Avenger with Numerals
Countless "high priced" cheapos

thanks, all. collecting vintage watches is one if the nicest hobbies you can imagine,
joy definitely winning over frustration.

it is, frankly, shocking to see what treasure trove of iconic designs Breitling is sitting on, just to launch 49mm DLC behemoth.


thx, Roff, not a Bettlach though, sorry

No one's perfect

Have to agree

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Breitling Old Navitimer II
Breitling Emergency
Breitling Superocean Steelfish

Wow. Fantastic.

And, quite notably, JLC and Longines are universally praised and, in the case of JLC, are able to sell new pieces like this for significant dollars.

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Scott

AP Royal Oak 15400, silver
Zenith Chronomaster El Primero Classic Cars
Vintage gold Corum
Rolex DJ 36 TT, oyster dial, oyster/smooth
Baume & Mercier Riviera 200m, silver dial/aquamarine bezel
Breitling Superocean 57, rose/stainless

Oh Fred.

That's just beautiful.

Quite wonderful

I'm very envious.

Enjoy it Sir.

D

the joys of collecting vintage Breitlings were almost perfect, but ......

to show how crazy a collector can be, I was still not totally happy with that beautiful bezel; great patina, but the rest of the Unitime 1765, especially dial and hands, was in close to NOS condition, so it wasn't the perfect fit yet - the search continued, not frustrated or desperate any more, but still not completely satisfied.

then a UK seller listed a bezel in the perfect condition, negotiated a BIN, could not reach an agreement, the bezel sold well above $200, I was too cheap to bid so high, although some AVI bezels recently reached prices above $500 - hated myself afterwards. Then the seller relisted the bezel, buyer had not paid; went for a relative song - and here it is in Vienna.

sorry for the long blah, probably extremely boring & strange for anybody who has not hunted for watch parts, but thought I'd share some pics of the current and final condition of the Unitime:

I so hate you!

Man that watch itself looks like it hasn't seen the time of day.

Could be a little off topic but when Old World was selling their NOS pieces back in the day was this model among the discovered treasure?

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"I don't got the bright watch I got the right watch" -Jay Z