Chronosport diver anyone?

Nice outcome and good to see an update!! Your optimistic approach was the right way to go.

Did you have him do the repair? I emailed them several months ago about selling just the module and he said they weren't doing that yet. The full repair is a little pricey.

Yes I had the full repair done. Luckily much of movement was intact. The price was an afterthought for me as this piece was more based around sentimental value. This watch is why I got interested in horology and why I am even on this forum today 😁

I once had a Breitling watch made for the French Air Force that was pretty similar to your Chronosport, and used the same ESA movement.



And predictably, it was similarly prone to failure.

In fact, my dad had bought this watch already non-functional in the mid-1980s. He had tried to have it repaired by Breitling, but they declined and offered a discount on a new watch instead.

Then, after my dad's passing in 2004, I inherited this timepiece. By that time, I had forgotten about my dad's attempt to have it repaired, so I naively sent it back to Breitling for a full service. It's no surprise that I got a similar answer, with the brand offering me a massive discount on a brand new B1. But I was not interested, and asked to have my watch back. And asked again. And again, more forcefully this time. It was obvious that Breitling was not keen on letting it go, but they finally relented. But when this chrono returned, its caseback was so tightly shut that it took the strength of two people and a dedicated tool from a watchmaker friend to have it opened. I can't believe that this was not a deliberate attempt to condemn access to its insides.

Anyway, after a bit of research, I located a donor watch with a functional ESA movement, and my watchmaker made the swap.



I later sold it to a French collector who also had the Yema with the same movement that the French Air Force tested at the same time as this Breitling, allowing him to complete his collection. It is to be noted that the fragility of these watches led the French military to select watches from Pulsar instead.

I just wanted to add I also have used the gentleman in Australia, to restore my Scubapro version of this watch. He has made his own movement that completely copies all the functions of the original. It works perfectly and was very reasonably priced, highly reccomended.

I just had Neil from RAWSAR repair 4 different watches using this movement so I'm pretty pleased with the results. Pics are pre-repair.

https://www.rawsar.com/

That is correct, Rambo wore the "universal Diving Timer" or UDT. Momentum has reissued the Magnum PI Sea Quartz already and I would love to see a reissue of the UDT as well.

Yep Momentum are reissuing the UDT, they are canvassing opinions on what customers would like to see in the new watch at the moment. Definately looking to pick one up! Also picked up the Sea Quartz 30 and impressed by it - great looking watch for the money.

Pre-ordered the Arabic dial UDT - Anyone else picked up the new watch? Hoping they've fixed the intermittent problem with the pushers on this new batch. Glad I waited as I prefer the arabic - looks very military to my eye.

Love these analog/digital watches. Tough to find one working fully though.