Beautiful Martin Bretton 104 ultralight

[CincyDavid]

Early 1970s ear Bretton 104, marketed in the US as a Martin Bretton 104 just arrived today. Great looking little reel in good condition, removed a little excess grease and relubed it, spins freely and is ready to use.

[happyhooker]

Really good-looking reel.  Occasionally seen, but not very often.

Frank

[CincyDavid]

Thanks Frank! It really is clean, almost no paint loss, just some scuffs on the spool cup.

[jgp12000]

I am assuming a 104 = 1000 size i.e. Cardinal 3,Penn 716,DQ 110,Mitchell 308? Is there a 204,304,& so on...

[CincyDavid]

The model doesn't necessarily correspond with size...and to be frank I am a little puzzled about how Bretton's model numbering works. It is about the size of a DQ 110 or Alcedo Micron.

[Gfish]

What kind of drag washer system does it have?

[CincyDavid]

I dunno, I'm at the house in Florida this week, I'll be back in Ohio a week from today, and I'll look then.

[CincyDavid]

I have another 104 coming, not quite sure what I'm going to do with it but I like having multiples of the same reel so I can convert one into a parts donor if push comes to shove.

[Midway Tommy]

Bretton model numbers have no relevance to their size, they're just models numbers.

[jgp12000]

David I have never heard of some of the reels you have been finding.If you find schematics for them & have time to post them,Just curious if it has a ball bearing?

[CincyDavid]

Turns out I DIDN'T buy the 104, the emblem was missing and I wound up with an 804SR that should be arriving in a day or two. I knew a Bretton was coming, just had the wrong one in my mind. I'll throw some pics up when it arrives.

[CincyDavid]

David I have never heard of some of the reels you have been finding.If you find schematics for them & have time to post them,Just curious if it has a ball bearing?

Here are some specs from an advertisement that I think is from Feb 1973 Fishing Facts magazine

[Midway Tommy]

Bretton was one of the larger reel manufactures in France. At one point they claimed they were only second to Mitchell in total reel sales. They also made reels for Ocean City and Martin.

In the early '80s manufacturing was moved to Taiwan and Japan, similar to a lot of other reel makers. They ended up packing it in in 1992.

[happyhooker]

The Bretton story sounds like so many others: successful tackle manufacturer sees change a comin' and takes the path of offshore production to cut costs (and, presumably, to try and stay alive.), only to fail a few years later.  I guess there were a few that stuck it out at "home" (or, came back after their overseas experiment) and made it work, but looking back now, that probably wouldn't have worked for too many either (or would it?).

Frank