Thanks for the info. These are really nice. Right now I am looking to choose between a Type XX 3800 with nice yellowed tritium markers (so from 1990s), not sure if polished, and a fairly new 2010+ one, most likely not polished. Both are around the same price. Which one do you think I should go for?

 

Tritium dial hands down.

 

Interest is limited due to high price and style which is very classical-formal.
They are by far the best finished watches in the Swatch group.

Here is my Marine 5823 chronograph—I found it to be a great blend of sporty & elegant.
It is one of my absolute favorites.

 

Well I will find out shortly what the fuss is about, Type XX tritium dial ordered!

 

Excellent choice! Please show it here when you get it.

 

I was visiting a friend in Munich recently and his Italian wife told me that on her last visit to her dad in Rome he'd pressed a watch box into her hands "for safe keeping" .. as he was getting befuddled and the relatives were circling.
As far as I can recall, she pressed something akin to this in my hands like this and said "is it worth anything?"


!!!

 

Love it!

 

WOW! Lovely indeed.

Congrats!

 

Breguet are beautiful watches, and I hope to own one someday. I think their low production and classic designs account for less popularity among the masses. However if you want a unique watch, with a rich history, Breguet is an excellent choice, in my opinion.

 

Unfortunately I just discovered that the flyback feature is not working. Will have to return it. Shame because the condition was so nice..

 

Hi, I love that first pic with the black dial!

Would the numbers on my 33,3 CHRO be considered Breguet as well? I've been calling them "Arabic" or "Italicized Arabic".

 

When I saw the photo, I assumed it was brand new. Too bad.

 

Alright I am getting ambivalent here - am I better off servicing this than returning it and hopefully something as nice comes along?

 

Will the seller work with you at all?

 

Unfortunately this particular seller does not do concessions, only returns. Sometimes the deal is good enough for me to eat the cost of repairs (if it needs to be repaired), sometimes I return a nice but faulty watch and never find one like it again (or find one that was way above the cost of fixing the faulty one). Maybe the course of action here is to get an estimate from my watchmaker.. if its not a broken part maybe I can just eat the cost of labor to get it fixed..

 

It could definitely be worth it if you are happy with the watch and you got a good price. I returned a watch last year (advertised as serviced by a well-known dealer) because it stopped-and-started, had a loose movement, and had rust in the movement. At the time, it seemed like a no-brainer to return it since it needed significant repairs and obviously had not been serviced as claimed. Now ... I'm not so sure I made the right decision. Cosmetically, the watch was really nice and I haven't seen another one since then.

 

Oh I do have a lot of love for my Breguet Type XXI:

After unloading my pictures:
There are several killerwatches burried between a lot of rather old fashioned pieces in their range.
It is not easy to appreciate them, because you rarely see them in the wild at ADs.

 

Totally agree - it's undervalued. But also the pieces are not cheap... particularly at retail. It's fair to say at similar prices, Vacheron and Lange probably provide more "mechanical value" in their pieces than Breguet, or at the very least, their movements are finished to a higher standard (lange in particular).

Breguet I've always thought is a bit of a mixture between Cartier and the holy trinity watch brands. Their entire production range seems to focus around only a few historical style influences - with a focus on high end case and dial finishing. Unlike Cartier however, they don't have anywhere near the general mass-appeal/prestige to the brand.

These days, many people really really value movement finishing in high end watches, and for the same price as a entry-ish level Breguet at RRP, you can easily get entry level vacheron, lange, and i think probably even some pateks, which is hard to go past. You basically really ahve to LOVE the breguet design and look I think!

 

I am not sure we can say Breguet is undervalued. But it is probably not a brand for every taste.

I personnally love the Tradition!

https://www.breguet.com/en/timepieces/tradition/7097

Its construction is original (inspired by a famous Breguet pocket watch) and very nice. By the way, it is to me a good exemple of a watch where the finition of the movement (which is still nice) is less important that the global construction. The position of the 2nd wheel and the balance is very elegant. But see also the shock protection: very original, very nice touch!

But it is also true that Breguet often offers very similar designs that some people can find a little boring. Again, I am rather a fan. But the traditionnal dimension of Breguet's watches is sometime a little repetitive. Also, if several of their movements are very well constructed and well finished, it is not the case of every of them. Some are only "fine" I would say.

 

I like simple, understated, dress watches. I like Breguet, their dress watches are something to be hold. Just look at the pictures on this thread page 1, they are stunning. But as already said, they are probably a little bit on the too classic and too formal side. I think even Patek Calatrava or Vacheron Patrimony can be considered on the casual side if you compared those two with Breguet.

Nevertheless, I like Bregues, I like the design, but probably just too formal for me (and many other people)