@ReneJK schreef:
Specifically made for Italian Helicopter pilots , (Army Pilots, not
Air Force pilots) and in some rare cases to platoon commanders of the
Battaglione Paracadutisti Carabinieri “Tuscania”. These guys get a full
training as Carabinieri (Police and Military Police) then a full
training as paratroopers at the “Folgore” Paratroopers Brigade School in
Livorno (Tuscany). Then the steep mountains of Sardegna and Calabria
are their usual fields of ops hunting kidnappers, mobsters and
camorrists. They are the spearhead of almost all the peacekeeping and
peace enforcing italian mission.
Tough guys.
as such these were never made available commercially on the open
market and 23 pieces have surfaced so far or were ever offered for
sale. The ones I have found over the last 15 years are these , and I
would love to hear from fellow collectors if they have more information :
0006 – 1 433 8100024 – 1 433 697
0120 – 1 433 850 (Bridge unsigned)
0182 – 1 433 513
0198
0328
0339
0346 – 1 433 3770354
0385 – 1 433 477
0388
0394 – 1 433 629
0416 – 1 433 398
0423 – 1 433 560
0488 – 1 433 676
0517 –
0524 –
0545 – 1 433 636
0566 – 1 43x xxx
0567 – 1 433 567
0616 – 1 434 079
—————————–
Unassigned – 1 433 723
Unassigned – 1 433 786
Some of the unconfirmed rumours about these watches :
– The Pilots really disliked these watches as it was delivered to
them with a Japanese version of the Speidel bracelet and they disliked
wearing those bracelets as it pinched their arms and hairs on their arms
, Hence the reason why approx 20-25% of the watches we have seen are in
such good condition
– The Pilots really disliked these watches as it has a manual wind
movement when , at the time, automatic chronographs were already readily
available
– A large portion of these watches were destroyed due to the stricter
radiation guidelines , and although the used Tritium has a much lower
radiation count than previously used Radium at the end of the 70ies it
was decided to no longer use them and destroy them
What the truth is in these rumors is , as always , anyone’s guess but
the fact remains that we have only seen miniscule numbers of these
watches hit the ‘open market’
It is my long held belief, after many years of investigating other
Breitling models, that Breitling ordered watch cases in batches from
1000’s pieces. probably due to economy of scale etc. so it is my firm
belief there were a maximum of 1000 pieces ref 817 ever made , and even
less ‘assigned’ as there are unassigned pieces as well
Berichten: 2
Deelnemers: 2