Pre-Owned Breitling 'Long Playing' Chronograph 40990273/AS05147

Why We Love It

The Breitling Reference 815 is one of our favorite chronographs from the 1960s.

They feature all the hallmarks of a great sporty chronograph, including a perfectly sized 38m case with thick, straight lugs, a highly legible dial with triple-subsidiary register layout, and a tough as nails (and supremely accurate) Valjoux 7736 manually-winding chronograph movement operated by barrel pushers. And best of all, they remain under the radar and thusly less expensive than many of their period counterparts. 

This particular example features the sought after steel case, rather than the more commonly seen chrome-plated variation, a clean "panda" dial with evenly patinated indices and a matching handset, clean inside and out!

These are wonderful timepieces that represent just about everything that we love about vintage and are overlooked by many, but absolutely should not be by you.

The Story

Breitling first started manufacturing wrist chronographs as early as the 1930s. In 1936 they became an official supplier to military forces of the United Kingdom and Canada. While perhaps best known for the Navitimer and Chronomat lines—which were used heavily by pilots of many nations—Breitling also produced scores of other chronograph models that merit consideration, and for some esoteric purposes.

Soon after the brand’s first wrist chronographs were released, they made their way to Sweden. While some ended up on the wrists of Swedish military personnel, the chronograph we offer here ended up as the property of another entity entirely - the Televerke - a state-owned corporation that owned and operated all the phone lines in Sweden.

The Reference 815 was used by employees of Televerket who were responsible for timing switchboards. The engraving on the back reads Tilhörr Televerket or “property of Televerket.”

The telecommunications industry is an ever-changing one, with the switchboards that the employees of Televerket used now obsolete; however, this chronograph remains, a relic of a time gone by, as whimsical as a rotary phone, but much more attractive.