I think I'm going through a "Breitling Phase". Right now my Big Case Chronomatic is the apple of my eye. Always a thrill to strap it on my wrist. Short lugs make this 48mm easily wearable on my 6.75" wrist



I just picked up a 38mm Navitimer 92, like this one. The example I got has developed some interesting patina on the subdials that give it a parchment color. Excited to see it in the flesh when arrives in the mail. Movement is shot so my LA watchmaker will have his hands on it first..



Now theres a 34mm Datora that has caught my eye. Movement is also busted. Supposedly automatic but isn't this sort of design too early for an automatic movement? I've checked the Breitling Museum online and there's no exact match. Is this legit?

 

I am also a bit suspicious about that Datora. It all looks wrong to my eyes but I am not an expert. The blue print for the date seems quite bad. The Brietling monogram is not centred between the day and month boxes. Also the hour and minute numbers don't seem quite aligned.

I also share your opinion on the large cases from the 60s and 70s. They wear amazingly well. I have an old 816 which fits well on my 17.5 cm wrist.

 

I really like that big case due to the Orange hands and white face. Great piece...

 

Not sure about your particular example, but Breitling did use the Felsa 693 Bidynator movement in Datoras, which is an automatic movement dating to the late 1940s.

 

So I passed on the Dodgy Datora, but I completely forgot about an incoming 806:

The lume on the indices have decayed to almost black, but I kinda like it because it sort of de-clutters the dial. The beveled lugs are pretty sharp, and the Venus handwind (most likely movement) is very tactile.

The crystal though turns with the bezel? I imagine this sort of thing causes WR problems..

 

Correct WR is an issue with those that Sinn corrected in the newer 903's by adding a crown at 10 o'clock. Leaving the bezel and crystal fixed but rotates the inner bezel. The Sinn 903 is the continuation of the 806.

I agree it looks great!

 

Interesting piece of history re: the Sinn 903