Anyone into Breitling watches or collect them?

[Platemaker]

I may shortly be selling my 1946 Breitling and I thought I would see if anyone on here can help me with its precise model etc.
I have all the serial numbers but no reference for them.

It's a genuine Breitling model and has been to their factory for servicing , they were uninterested as they no longer manufacture service parts for it and could not supply any more data apart from the fact that they made it and it was in 1946 (I already know that!)

I have a price in mind for the watch and I know how much its insured for but what do you reckon out there in the real world?

[Departed 32016]

Yes i'm very into my swiss watches, I will have a look in my book at home for more info. I may be interested in it for myself or dad so pm me with a price if you want.

[stevemac]

Originally Posted by Messenger

I may shortly be selling my 1946 Breitling and I thought I would see if anyone on here can help me with its precise model etc.
I have all the serial numbers but no reference for them.

It's a genuine Breitling model and has been to their factory for servicing , they were uninterested as they no longer manufacture service parts for it and could not supply any more data apart from the fact that they made it and it was in 1946 (I already know that!)

I have a price in mind for the watch and I know how much its insured for but what do you reckon out there in the real world?

I'll swap 3 16" forks for it

[Rabett_Rover]

Rob75 is your man corin. I am sure he will help!

[podge]

So how big is your Dinner Service then Steve!....Sorry Corin!

[stevemac]

Originally Posted by podge

So how big is your Dinner Service then Steve!....Sorry Corin!

All the girls say that Pete

[Rob75]

I think i may be right in saying that it's a breitling chronomat alough the only thing thats odd about your watch is that the subsidiary dials are at 12 and 6 and the chronomats are at 3 and 9. The chronomat was introduced in 1942 and was the first chronograph to have a circular side rule which your watch has. So i'm going to say that its a early chronomat. It realy is a lovely watch!

[ColinB]

I don't think it is a Chronomat as they had a rotating bezel to work the slide rule. This watch looks as if the bezel is fixed.
Breitling made other chronographs around this time with the dials at 12 and 6 o'clock. There isn't much on the net about them but one ebay seller in Austria has a few similar (but not exactly the same) watches for sale at prices between 3200 and 3900 Euro's.

From your photo it looks like it is made from 18K gold (possibly Rose gold).

One point of interest is the minute dial at 12 o'clock. You can see it is marked at 3, 6 and 9 minutes. This is because long distance telephone calls were charged at 3 minute intervals back then and were very expensive so you could keep an eye on how long you talked.

As Rob says, lovely watch

[ColinB]

A bit more info

The telemeter dial in red marked in miles is used to see how far away a thunderstorm was. The second hand was started at the flash of lightning and stopped at the rumble of thunder. It would then show the storms distance.

Somewhere on the case (maybe between the lugs) there should be 2 numbers. One is a 6 digit serial number which dates the watch and the other is a 3 digit number (probably something like 174, 176, 178) which is the reference number.