I have recently acquired the above-noted watch – sort of a grail piece for me really. But lets get the contentious bit out of the way first. Am I not supposed to be rationalizing my collection? Well yes, but rather cunningly I have actually killed two birds with one stone. How so? Well, I saw this watch on James Kibble’s site. I had always wanted a Breguet watch, and in particular a military-type pilot chrono. In this case the upside was the price at a bit over £4k, so, rather less than the usual offerings, which seem to hover around £4.5 – 5k. The price though I guess reflected a few downsides – no papers or box, the bezel was a bit worn, and the bracelet was going to be a bit snug. It did however come with a new and quality generic brown strap.
My first gambit was to offer one or two of my cheaper watches as a p/ex. I did this as James had expressed an interested in buying outright some of my watches before Xmas. In the event he bought 5 of my watches, worth more than the Breguet. After some brief haggling, he would get the watches and I would get the Breguet plus £1k. So, my watch collection had reduced plus I have recouped some cash. I reckon we’ve both won here!
I now have the watch and I am not disappointed. It is in pretty good condition and runs well. Yes, some of the black infill of the numbers on the bezel have eroded, but that will not be too tricky to fix. Also, the bracelet. Whilst I can wear, it is a little snug so shall investigate obtaining at least an extra link. From my research I think there are at least 3 links missing. The other matter is to obtain a box and authenticity papers – these may be more tricky. The latter I could probably effectively deal with if I have the watched serviced by Breguet – but at what cost? I have seen the quirky box on the internet, but it is up at some £350 and overseas. Anyway, all that is for the future. At the moment I have fitted the leather strap and shall enjoy wearing for a bit.
So, what did I buy? Well essentially it is the more modern play on Breguet’s original military Type 20 series from the 1950s. The French military offered the contract to around 5 large brands, and Breguet won out. The series ran into the 1970’s. A second series ensued in the 1980’s, and was then superseded by the third series that came out in 1995, with the Type XX 3800 time-only chronograph. This also had a “retour-en-vol” (fly-back) module. Power was from the 582 caliber which was based on Lemania’s 1350 movement (at this time Breguet owned Lemania. Ed). A variety of similar models were offered for the next few years, including with gold and platinum cases.
The next big change occurred in 1998 when the Type XX ref 3820 Transatlantique was launched. This was – to all intents and purposes, the same watch, but now with a date complication. To cater for this, a different movement was used, being the 582Q (Lemania 1372). As far as I can see, the model ran to about 2004/5. Since then a selection of again quite similar models have been offered – in particular the popular titanium XX1 ref 3810, now at 42mm. Also the very similar Aeronavale ref 3807 with a cobalt blue dial, and for the first time an exhibition case back. There was even a small version – ref 4820, with a 33.5mm size aimed at the female market. Even more feminine was the ref 4821, with a MOP dial and diamond bezel. The XX11 ref 3880 offered in 2010, sported a new movement – cal 589F, which ran at an astonishing 10hz – so 72000 vph! This was now a hefty 44mm. Today, after perusing the Breguet website, prices have clicked up somewhat. The nearest model to mine I could see is the Type XX Chronograph ref 2067 and of a 42mm size. The cal 728 here offers 60hrs of power via 39 jewels and runs at 5hz. The price though is a hefty £20,900.
I won’t dwell too much on the brand or real detail, as much is already online, plus my images tell the story too. I will though just cover some basics; the s/s case is 39x 13.5mm with encircling fluting. The bezel is bi-directional and has minutes picked out in black (or though not so much here!), plus a lumed inverted triangle marker at 12 o’clock. The pushers are pump type, and the crown is of a decent and useful size, signed and knurled. The case reverse is solid and notes a few salient points.
The dial is in matte black. there is an outer rail track interspersed with metal batons. Inboard are large lumed Arabic hour numerals – three being sacrificed for dials and date window. There are three registers – at 3 o’clock the 30m counter, at 6 o’clock the 12 hour counter, and at 9 o’clock the running seconds dial. The framed date window is also at 6 o’clock and has a lovely black font on a white background. The main hands are syringe style and are lumed – as is one of the sub-dial hands. The sweep hand is a needle with a lumed lollipop near the end. Under 12 o’clock is “Breguet” in a lovely classic script.
The motor is cal 582Q – an automatic Lemania-based movement. This offers some 48hrs of power at 28,880 vpm, aided by 24 jewels.
Lastly, the watch was offered with either an integrated bracelet with butterfly clasp, or black or brown leather straps with a fold-over clasp. As mentioned earlier, in this case some of the links have been removed and lost (why oh why don’t folks keep such things – and the boxes and papers! .Ed). As such is a bit tight, so I removed and replaced with the supplied leather strap. Yes, it looks fine – in fact my other two pilot watches are on straps. However, when it came to then take some photos for this piece, I ran into trouble. For the first time ever, I could just not refit the bracelet. The ends are very shaped and angled in order to fit the circular case snugly. One needs to get one bar end in first and then compress the other end, but try as I might, it would just not work. I even adapted some tweezers so I could compress both bar ends via the small recesses, but still no joy. I can only think that Breguet have a special tool for this. So, that is why if you look closely at the above image, the bracelet ends are just resting on the watch. After 30 minutes of angst I gave up in fury!
I am very happy with my purchase. It represents great style and quality, plus I think good value for money (used) – all from an old and illustrious brand. It also neatly completes my selection of military-type chronographs – the other two being a Zenith Big Date Pilot ref 208271, and my old favorite the IWC Pilot ref 3564297. I shall now embark on the improvements noted earlier. I find this side of things quite fun and satisfying – but I fear that the price to pay may be a bit hefty as I may go with Breguet. Ho hum, we shall see!
Rating: 4.5/5
Words & Images: The Writer