Long ago I wrote an article on how to date early Breitling Navitimers by counting the beads on the bezel
Here I will show you how to differentiate , in one glance, between a Navitimer that has a Valjoux 72 movement that was build in 1954 / 1955 or a later version ref 806 with the Venus 178 movement
The Navitimer was first produced in 1954 and it was made for the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilot Association) hence the reason why its a beautiful applied 18K Golden AOPA wing on the dial
What not many seem to realize is that the 1954 AOPA wing is slightly different from the mid to late 1955 and the later versions with the Venus 178 movement
here are both AOPA wings with the V178 above and the V72 below
as you can see
1) slightly droopy & pointier wingtips on the V72, where the V178 has upturned wingtips (green circle)
2) top wing roundings are more pronounced , almost a ‘shrugging’ look if that makes sense ? (red circle)
3) The V72 has more wing shaped wings , the V178 flatter (blue line)
4) the last A in the AOPA logo sits different on the shield (yellow circle)
now you know .. and good luck hunting 🙂
