These are fantastic looking watches and what a great pedigree.

At some point in my life, I would love to understand the CP-1 and CP-2, Italian military versions and German military versions, Breitling, Leonidas and Heuer, etc. And of course there are sidebars on the Zeniths and some other brands that were involved with the Italian and German armed forces. I'm a long way from having that knowledge, but can say that these are awesome looking watches!!

Let's learn more about them!!

Jeff

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

: I know this isn't an Heuer , but as it looks somewhat like a Bund I
: hope to get away with it ;-)

: 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
: peaceenforcing italian mission.

: Tough guys.

: as such these were never made available commercially on the open
: market and 22 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
: 0120 – 1 433 850 (Bridge unsigned)
: 0182 – 1 433 513
: 0198
: 0328
: 0339
: 0354
: 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

: 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 anyone has some info on these Breitling ref 817 , numbers ,
: serial numbers , provenance, who and where they were delivered
: etc

: Rgds
: Rene