Horological Meandering

Nose to tail.

 

Breitling was my first vintage watch love many years ago and while I have strayed my passion for them has never diminished.

I was always struck by the variety of styles they produced, the wonderful heritage and the original and wearable chronographs.

It was Breitling who first patented the separate single pusher around 1915 and then produced the first two pusher chronographs around 1935 that have created the layout of the classic chrono we know today. Breitling also continually innovated, producing in collaboration with Heur and other firms the well known first automatic chronograph in the Sixties.

To me they still hold mysteries that are to be uncovered.

Towards the end of the Seventies, like so many companies, Breitling was struggling and went into liquidation, to most collectors this marks the end of Breitlings production and make up the vintage watches collectors look for.

The Breitling 817 was produced towards the very end, around 1975, and was exlusively for the Italian military.

Around the same time Breitling produced this single button chronograph for the Canadian military. Strangely given their aviation and military heritage the only two Breitling watches I know uniquely produced for military issue.

In the early Seventies Breitling produced this 7104 Long Player, which has a Valjoux 7740 movement.

This Superocean with the Caliber 11 automatic movement was also produced in the early Seventies and has a uniquely designed waterproof case which allows the bezel to be turned. I believe it was the largest commercially produced watch of the time with a case 47mm large.

The late Sixties/ early Seventies also so production of the smaller Superocean, which has a specially modified movement to create a single hour chronograph.

In the mid-Sixties they produced this 765 a reference that was in continuous production from the late Thirties, this one is double marked with Wakmann who were for many years Breitling's US distributor.


Perhaps one of the most famous models is of course the Navitimer. Initially produced around 1954 and then until their demise. This one sports the AOPA wings who were an early champion and seller of the Navtimer.

The 806 Navtimer was initillay produced with all black subdials transitioning sometime in the early Sixties to the white subdials. This one dates to around 1960, gilt gloss dial.

The 765 AVI was a long held grail of mine, a more subtle cousin to the Navitimer and designed for pilots it was initially produced around 1954, for me it's one of the most balanced chronographs from this period with a big case size of 40mm. This one is also from about 59/60.


Before either of these Breitling established a unique signature chronograph in the Chronomat, originally reference 769 then 808. This first appeared around 1942 and again was a model, much varied, in continous production until the end. This one dates around 1945. Around 36mm.

In the late Thirties, Breitling was only just starting to put their signature on the dials and this one is very rare being both signed and using what is believed to be a uniquely adapted Landeron ebauche. It is around 40mm and dates to the mid to late Thirties.

Breitling only really signed their dials somewhere around the mid to late Thirties, they were still unsure at that time what their brand name would be. They initially traded under the company name Montbrillant and only really decided on Breitling at the end of the Thirties.

This pilots watch circa 1937 is a rare Montbrillant marked Breitling and for me represents the birth of the company name.

This message has been edited by Ubik on 2012-03-05 04:41:49