Hi all,
I´ve been a passenger for some time in your fine Forum, now I´ve a Question to ask; Does anyone recognise this Watch (which I picked up today)
On the Dial it say Breitling, but on the movement it says nothing...I´ll rearly be sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for qualified replies.
Thank you in anticipation!

Hi Werner

Welcome to the IHC 185 !!

From Germany to Germany:

The movement is a Venus 170, see the shield with star on the balance bridge?

Please show us pictures from dial and caseback(inner and outer view); this will give us more information. Tell us the serial number in the caseback.

Regards,
Gerald

Hi Gerd, thanks for your reply, i´m still trying to find out how to post more than one picture at a time... Here is the dial, to start with. The number, if my eyes are seeing correctly, is
//39621BO

Here is the dial

here the back

Gerd, do you know the approx. date of manufcture? I was told by the guy I got it from, Ca. 1940-1950
Would it be worth restoring the watch?

Kind Regards Werner

WERNER

I would say a very nice watch indeed and well worth restoring, though much will depend on whats wrong with the movement.

Clive

Werner

Very nice vintage Chronograph !

Vintage Breitling ref. 174 with black dial; venus 170 calibre with 45 min. register and early shock-protect mechanism.
The watch was made 1944/1945 (by appearance and serial number on case-back

If you take this watch as a keeper it is for sure worth restoring. I would leave the dial untouched (just remove the dust),relume the hands, new glass, repolish the case, and clean the movement + new band and it will be a real beauty!
For selling this watch it can be a little problem that the so-called 'Breitling-fans' often look for watches with 'Breitling" written on all parts - the bigger the better. So it might be a problem to get back the restoration costs.

Regards,
Gerald

Hello Clive, Hi Gerald,
The Watch is working very accurately, there´s nothing wrong at all with the movement!
As Gerald suggested, I´ll leave the Dial original, and have the rest cleaned.
Thank you for your help and advice, the watch will be with me for a long while!

Kind Regards
Werner

It appears to be a civilian watch with a military look which I am sure was popular at the time. If you do restore it, I would urge you to be very careful with the luminous material on the dial. It is hard to tell for sure on my computer screen, but it appears that the material is radium. Is is brown or yellow-brown colored? If it is radium, it is still full strength even though it no longer glows - the half life is about 1,500 years.

Hi Jim,
thanks for your warning, indeed it is Radium dotted,with a half-life of 1602 years (like my own)

Regards
Werner