- By Alexandre Ghotbi
The most reliable and largest clients of the watchmaking industry are not super-collectors, but international governments. That’s right, countries are behind the production of thousands of watches, ordered and manufactured to meet specific military requirements.
In fact, the need for accurate, reliable, and robust timepieces has financed many of the most important developments in the watchmaking industry of the 20th century, as foreign governments place high expectations on watchmakers to deliver the very best equipment for their armed forces.
Most often, these timepieces were issued to senior officers, pilots, and members of special forces operating in harsh environments, and as a consequence, they were meant to be practical tools, nothing more. But a few pieces have transcendent their utilitarian function to become important collectibles today. One of those is Breguet’s Type XX.
In the beginning of 1954, the French Ministry of Defense decided to release a specification for a multipurpose chronograph wristwatch, known as the Type 20, designed for the pilots of its naval and air forces. A navigational tool, the watch’s defining feature would be the flyback function, used for dead reckoning.
Furthermore these watches should measure 38mm, feature bi-directional rotating bezels and black dials with large Arabic numerals, and their movements should have a power reserve of at least 35 hours, and lose nor gain no more and no less than 8 seconds per day.
Several companies contributed to the supply of Type 20 chronographs: Airain, Auricoste, Breguet, Dodane, Seliva Chronofixe, Vixa and Mathey Tissot. Interestingly, Breguet was the only company to officially use the Roman numeric system to designate its chronograph, and (for very different reasons), it is theirs which is the most coveted today.
Of all the Type XX producers, it was Breguet which was perhaps the biggest surprise supplier, since the storied manufacture had never previously made a military watch. And ironically, it was Breguet’s which transitioned the most successfully from its military introduction into the civilian market. In fact it is still in the Breguet catalogue, more than 60 years after the original model was delivered to the French government.
Next month, we will be offering four very different versions of the Type XX, produced over the course of a ten-year period, and this gives us a wonderful opportunity to look at the watch it is based on, the various changes introduced during the course of the model’s production, and finally, its transition into the civilian market, including a very rare gold variation.
Lot 119: The Pre Type XX (1953)
This watch features everything that makes the “Type XX” a great pilot’s watch, including a flyback chronograph movement, a black dial, large luminous Arabic numerals, syringe hands and a grooved rotating bezel. Except for the military markings at the back. And that's because this watch technically isn’t a Type XX.
Incredibly, this never seen before timepiece was sold to the aircraft manufacturer Louis Breguet (a descendant of Abraham-Louis Breguet) in 1953, one year before the Type XX program was even launched by the French government and two years before Breguet delivered the first timepieces.
We do not know if the French Ministry of Defense was aware of this watch before releasing the Type 20 specification, but the watch proves that Breguet was in ideal position to start producing and delivering watches shortly after receiving the first order for military-issued Type XX chronographs.
Lot 120: An Early Military Issued Type XX (1955)
Speaking of early Type XXs, this here is one of the first models delivered to French pilots in 1955. Being a military version of Breguet’s Type XX, the dial is without the name of the manufacturer. This kind of information was instead engraved on the back of the case with issue number, and servicing dates.
The letters FG stand for “Fin de Garantie” (which in French translates to “End of Guarantee”) and were left by the watchmaker responsible for servicing the watch, to inform its user when it should be brought back. This particular example bears inscriptions almost every 2 years from 8.56 to 13.2.79 meaning it was in military use for 23 years before it was decommissioned.
Lot 122: One of Three Type XX in Gold (1956)
While the great majority of Type XX models were intended for military use, civilian pieces were eventually commercialized. These are much rarer and they are easily recognizable by the absence of military markings to the back and the presence of Breguet’s signature on the dial.
While maintaining the general design codes of the military version, Breguet produced different variations, often to the customer’s specifications with either two or three chronograph counters. The present watch is completely idiosyncratic as it has the design elements of a tool watch but is housed in yellow gold (decades before any other brand did anything similar).
The Breguet archives confirm that only three gold Type XX models were ever produced. One sits inside their Museum in Paris. Another is yet to be located. This is the third, and the only one to have ever publicly appeared at auction.
Lot 121: A Tachymeter Dial Type XX (1965)
Between 1965 and 1970, Breguet experimented with the dial of the Type XX by adding a tachymeter scale. The decision may have been influenced by the rising popularity of motorsports. In any case, this attempt at making its pilot watch more versatile was not very successful and these dials were quickly retired from production, resulting in their ultra-rarity.
All four Breguet Type XX chrongraphs presented here will be offered during the Geneva Watch Auction: SEVEN, taking place on May 12-13, at the Hotel la Reserve, in Geneva. If you would like to bid on one of these watches, please make sure to browse the full catalogue, here, to learn more about them.