Military watches are not rare, per se, as the volume of the orders for these were quite large. However, these watches tend to be difficult to find for the simple reason that they were tools to be used by the armed forces and as such were either destroyed when no longer used or have survived in poor condition.

The present Breitling 817 is one of the rare military watches to have survived unscathed as it remains in overall very good condition. Intriguingly, Breitling never issued a civilian version of this model.

Made in 1974 for Italian army helicopter pilots and commanders of the Battaglione Paracadutisti Carabinieri Tuscania, the Breitling 817 was produced in very limited numbers. It is believed that fewer than 1000 were delivered, and only a handful have appeared in public over its 40-year history. It has been theorized that so few watches are known because the manufacturer destroyed most of the models produced following regulation changes.

The reference 817 was made according to military specifications, using the smaller CP-1 case measuring 39.5mm, instead of the CP-2 which measures 42mm.