At that sort of price range, the obvious buyers would be Cie Financiere Richemont, Swatch Group AG and LVMH. Unfortunately, they've all got good reasons for staying away.Richemont has more than 5 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of cash on its balance sheet. But it's also grappling with improving sales at its high-end brands such as Piaget and Vacheron Constantin, as well as turning around Dunhill.
LVMH also has the financial flexibility, but it already has TAG Heuer. Lately it has been buying niche, yet heritage brands -- it recently paid 640 million euros for an 80 percent stake in luxury luggage maker Rimowa. While Breitling's got the history, it's not obvious it fits this bill.
Similarly, Swatch has 1.5 billion euros of net cash, and Chief Executive Officer Nick Hayek has been keen to keep investing during the luxury downturn.
That leaves Asian and Middle Eastern buyers, or a private equity group.