A stunning early Breitling Chronomat chronograph featuring a gorgeous factory original multi-scale dial with rare Fab Suisse French import signature in a beautiful unpolished solid stainless steel case with Venus calibre 175 movement. This stunning early 1940's example of Breitling’s first slide rule chronograph was patented under the number +217012 and designed to quickly solve mathematical problems, calculate speeds using the tachometer or a patients pulse with a pulsometer. The design was later incorporated into the Breitlings famous Navitimer series, but even these early slide rule models were adopted by many pilots for use in navigation and aviation timing. You can imagine that only a small percentage of these watches were produced specifically for the French market, making this example with the Fab Suisse dial all that more rare! A superb, early Breitling Chronomat with an amazingly well preserved dial, case and movement, ready to wear.
Circa: 1942
Style: Sport
Case: Three piece solid stainless steel case with rotating slide rule bezel in sharp, lightly used unpolished condition. Measures 36mm in diameter excluding the original unsigned crown. Stamped on the back Acier Inoxydable with model number 769. The upper left lug has an interesting mark that I have been unable to identify, possibly and import mark stamp with some small corrosponding nicks on the back edge as well. The bezel turns with nice light friction. The 20mm lug spacing is fitted with a soft hand stitched leather strap with stainless steel clasp and strap keepers.
Dial: Original factory printed dial multi-scale dial with outer slide rule and 45-minute chronograph counter signed Breitling Chronomat with patent number +217012 then Fab Suisse. Superb overall condition with light aging to the original radium luminous on the dial matching it to the original hand set.
Movement: A Venus caliber 175 chronograph movement in excellent cosmetic and mechanical condition. The movements from this early production run were not signed and are correct for this model. Serviced mid-2020, running strong keeping excellent time with all chrono functions working as intended.