Sicura Breitling

[alterego]

Dear all: Can someone in the forum explain why would people insist on claiming that Sicura watches were made by Breitling ? That was not the case. I´m confused. The differenece in quality between the 400 Vacuum Tested poor man´s Sicura Sub of the 70´s and the 1980's gen Chronomat  I own is abysmal.  Obviously, not the Tudor/Rolex partnership, that everybody knows about.

 

Cheers.

 

Alter

 

 

[Journeyman]

Most of the time it's so that Sicura watches show up in eBay searches for Breitling.

Breitling has a chequered history from 1979 onwards, being owned by Sicura and then Ollech and Wajs. O&W produced historic Breitling Navitimer and Chronomat type models under the Avaition brand but Sicura only ever made their own models and bought the Breitling name when the company fell on hard times due to their reluctance to make quartz watches.

It's a bit like in the car world calling a Lamborghini an Audi just because Audi own them, while they might share some internal components, they're two very different cars.

[alterego]

Thank you Journeyman fort the explanation. Sicura may own Breitling and for sure they have brought the brand back to life in great fashion. But people should know that Breitling never made Sicura watches and insisting on spreading that myth is unfair and misleading, to say the least. 

[Nanuq]

The lines were blurred back then between many of the watch manufacturers.

[alterego]

You are right when you say that, And that is a variable to consider when discussing vintage watches, but by the same token I think it's fair to say that Sicura watches did not and do not match the Breitling quality and reputation. Otherwise, they would have marketed the Breitling line under their name brand.

[Journeyman]

Its an interesting topic, as Nanuq rightly says it was blurred back then, most of it was because swiss watch manufacturers believed that mechanical watches were their past and their future, when all people really wanted was an accurate way of telling the time for a relatively small outlay, consider the James Bond films of the time, in the mid to late 70's films, James Bond wears a Seiko Digital watch, not a mechanical watch. So while it is definitely mis-leading to refer to a Sicura as a Breitling, as fans of watches, we should be grateful to Sicura for saving Breitling as a brand from obscurity. 

 

The Breitling/Sicura association isn't the only example of this, check out Heuer and Leonidas, the Heuer and Zodiac Autavias, not quite the same but it helped to keep the Heuer brand alive.

 

Nice Cosmo Nanuq! 

[Nanuq]

After Breitling fell on hard times in the 70s it was fortunately saved from the ash heap of history, and the Nativimer lives on.  The lines continue to be blurred.

 

 

[Journeyman]

More Breitling bluredness......

[rionrlty]

I don't believe Ollechs and wajs ever owned the Brietling trademark.  They simply bought the tooling for the Navitimer out of receivership, but never acquired either "Navitimer" or "Breitling" trademarks.  Thats why the "Aviation" name instead of Navitimer.  I also wasn't aware they ever produced a chronomat style watch.  I believe it was Sicura who bought the tooling for the early Chronomat watches.

 

 About 9 years ago there was an ad in "guide to watches" for brand new early 70s Breitling watches and timing pieces.  Seems the factory building where Breitling was made wasn't sold until up in the late nineties.  When they were cleaning out the building they found several trays of finished stop watches and watch heads still still sitting where they'd been left when the factory closed.  I purchased a brand new gold plated Navitimer cosmonaute for $2,200.  It had a dial similar to the 806 and a plastic crystal, with a stainless steel snap-on back cover.  I was always afraid to wear it for fear I'd scratch it up.  I bought a gen strap and deployant for $150 and sold it in 2008 for a 100% profit.  Piece of his history that.  Here's a copy of the ad which dates to 2006.

 

  

[Journeyman]

Here you go, not the best picture, but hopefully you can see the 70's Chronomat style face.

 

 

The only UK stockist was Chronomaster in Bolton, all stock sold some time ago.

 

 

[rionrlty]

Thanks journeyman, you can't ever have too much information like this.  I've owned several O & W watches, the first back in 2008.  They're great quality watches at a bargain price. Back then this watch was not in there catalogue so maybe it was out of production by then.  Even by that time you could only get the watches by ordering direct on the internet or by phone and they would only quote price on request.  They claimed they were able to keep prices down that way.  

[Journeyman]

I think they're a striking watch, I nearly bought a Superocean as shown in your advert but bought something completely useless instead and still regret it to this day. One of my all time favourite watches is the Breitling GMT from the 70's.

[rionrlty]

Yeah, I've been a Breitling fan for a long time.  I think it started with my Uncle who was an Airforce jet pilot in the Korean conflict and later flew private jets for big companies.  He wore Breitlings from back in the 50's and settled on Navitimers later on.  I've owned countless gens over the years and now have 8 Breitling reps, including 5 Navitimer, a Chrono Abyss orange, a blue Steelfish and a blackTtransocean Unitime.  3 of the Navis are frankens.