THE ESSENTIALS

MAKE: BREITLING
MODEL: 2002
YEAR: 1966
BOX/PAPERS: NO/NO
CASE DIAMETER: 36mm
CASE MATERIAL: STAINLESS STEEL
BRACELET MATERIAL: STAINLESS STEEL
MOVEMENT: MANUAL WIND

The 1960s and ’70s were a golden era for sports chronographs, giving rise to some of the most iconic models ever made—think the Rolex Daytona, Omega Speedmaster, Heuer Carrera, and Universal Genève Compax. Amidst these legendary names, chronographs from another top manufacturer, Breitling, often fly under the radar and still represent excellent value on today’s market.

Breitling introduced the “Top Time” line in 1964, aiming to attract young, active professionals. This marked a shift away from the brand’s more technical models, such as the Navitimer and Chronomat. Just a year after its release, James Bond—played by Sean Connery in Thunderball—was seen wearing a modified version of the 2002, his had a black dial with white subdials.
Unfortunately, ours doesn’t come with an in-built Geiger counter to help locate SPECTRE’s nuclear warhead cache.

This example has survived in superb condition. The case shows minimal polishing with minor wear marks, the serial is still prominent on the caseback. The dial has some wear on the outer tachy ring, common with these due to the mono case. The dial is clean with virtually no blackening which is normally the case in these silver dials. All the lume plots are still visible under uv. We have fitted the watch to a period straight end bracelet which looks killer. 

The movement was serviced recently and is performing at +5 s/d, 280 amps, with a beat error of 0.4.