Breitling Top Time

Breitling TopTime

Breitling Top Time is the name given to the series of watches characterized by a bold and elegant design, which were also useful tools for professional pilots and racers. These watches were first introduced in 1964 and were primarily intended for young men. Breitling Top Time watches were positioned as entry-level chronographs, with much lower prices than the company’s flagships, the Navitimer and Chronomat. Today, the Breitling Top Time watches are considered to be classic of their era. The Top Time is linked to those in aviation and racing as well as James Bond and The Beatles.

Thanks to its popularity, Breitling continued to produce Top Time watches years after the introduction of automatic chronographs in the late 1960s. Breitling Top Time’s production run ended in the late 1970s, roughly two decades after its original release. Unfortunately, Breitling does not provide information on its production numbers so there is no way of knowing how many watches were made.

Movements

By the time the first Top Time was produced, Breitling had already transitioned from in-house to third-party movements, which allowed it to save costs while focusing on its core task of designing special dials. For the Top Time series in particular, the watch maker used five movements from Venus and Valjoux:

1. Venus 178
2. Venus 188
3. Valjoux 7730
4. Valjoux 7733
5. Valjoux 7736.

These movements were all manual-wind chronographs that made used of 17 jewels at 18,000 bph. Most of them, with the exception of Venus 178, had sub second cam switches. The Venus 178, the earliest movement among the five, had a sub second pillar wheel.

The Venus movements were used in earlier models, while the Valjoux movements were used in later models. However, it’s important to note that Valjoux bought Venus when the later was facing some financial difficulties. When the deal was done, Valjoux selected Venus’ best movements, continued their production, and stamped the Valjoux brand on them. For instance, Valjoux 7730 is made from the Venus 188 movement, though it was given a new name. The Valjoux 7733 was also based on Venus 188, although Valjoux included some improvements such a new bridge form.

Venus and Valjoux movements are well regarded among watch enthusiasts and can also be seen in a number of watches designed popular brands like Heuer, Hamilton, and Omega. Venus 178, in particular, is a highly accurate movement and is considered to be iconic by many watch collectors. Meanwhile, the three Valjoux movements, all based on Venus 188, also gained much respect among the watch collecting community.

Dials

Breitling provided watch consumers with a number of options when it came to dial color. The company produced seven dial color variations.

Breitling Top Time used either a 60-second, 30/45-minute subregister or a 60-second, 30-minute, 12-hour subregister. On the dial’s face, Breitling placed its logo, “Breitling,” and “Geneve” at the 12 o’clock position, while “Top Time” can be seen at the six o’clock mark. The latter, however, was removed in Ref. 815 and 814. The tachymeter scale is present in all variations.

Breitling Top Time watches mostly featured index and obelisk hands, although a Ref. 2007-33 variant also used dauphine hands. The numbering consist mostly of batons, except for reference 824, 1765, and 7656. Top Time 824 used Roman numerals, while 1765 and 7656 both used stick markers. As for the lume, Breitling used tritium.

Links

• Breitling
• James Bond Watches
• The Mudu and The Breitling and George Martin
• The Breitling TopTime and James Bond

Credits - https://thespringbar.com/blogs/guides/collectors-guide-to-breitling-top-time/