Breitling ref 817 CP-1 E.I Esercito Italiano

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 approx 31 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 – 1 433 810
0024 – 1 433 697

0104– 1 433 498
0120 – 1 433 850 (Bridge unsigned)
0182 – 1 433 513
0198

0264 – 1 433 467
0328
0339

0346 – 1 433 377
0354
0385 – 1 433 477
0388
0394 – 1 433 629
0416 – 1 433 398

xxxx –   1 433 549 ( sadly the assigned number removed by watchmaker during ‘restoration of the caseback’)
0423 – 1 433 560

0462 – 1 433 715 (EI engraving on the back and casebrushing not original , I suspect case was restored and re-engraved)

0475 — 1 xxx xxx (serial blurred out in pic)
0488 – 1 433 676
0517 –
0524 –
0545 – 1 433 636

xxxx –   1 433 643 ( sadly the assigned number removed by watchmaker during ‘restoration of the caseback’)
0566 – 1 43x xxx
0567 – 1 433 488
0616 – 1 434 079

0627 – 1 433 418
—————————–
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

I hope if anyone has some info on these Breitling ref 817 , numbers , serial numbers , provenance, who and where they were delivered etc that they please contact me

update Feb 2017: Recently 40 pieces were auctioned off by the Italian DOD , details here https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/military-issued-breitling-reference-817-italian-government

link to original Italian discussion : http://orologi.forumfree.it/?t=73626688