For its 250th anniversary, Breguet revisits its Type XX chronograph

In the Breguet family, a sense of invention and innovation seems to be part of the DNA. Abraham-Louis Breguet was the watchmaker par excellence, the inventor of so many concepts still present in watches and clocks today. But his great-great-grandson, Louis Charles Breguet (1880-1955), would go on to be one of the pioneers of French aeronautics. Blood on the wall. At the beginning of the 20th century, he designed one of the first experimental helicopters: the gyroplane (1907), before founding the Breguet Aviation company, which would play a leading role in the development of both military and civil aviation. During the First World War, his aircraft—including the famous Breguet XIV, a legendary reconnaissance and bombing biplane—were produced on a large scale. After the war, commercial aviation took over, with Louis Breguet also contributing to the creation of Air France. In 1971, Breguet Aviation merged with Dassault to form Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation. The name “Breguet” disappeared in 1990 when the company name was simplified to Dassault Aviation.

But history sometimes reveals surprising intersections, such as that of airplanes and Breguet watches. Indeed, in the early 1950s, the French Air Force launched a call for tenders for a chronograph wristwatch for its pilots, which it codenamed Type 20: a case of approximately 38 mm, a black dial, a bidirectional rotating bezel and a Flyback chronograph, "Retour en Vol", allowing the chronograph function to be returned to zero by simply pressing the lower pusher. In addition, there were two counters at 3 and 9 o'clock capable of totaling 30 minutes on the dial marked with photoluminescent Arabic numerals. The ministry also required a manually wound movement accurate to 8 seconds per day maximum, with a power reserve of at least 35 hours, and capable of enduring more than 300 start-stop-reset cycles.

Skip the ad

Ultimately, four companies were selected by the ministry: Auricoste, Breguet, Dodane, and Vixa. However, a good half of the pieces produced were produced by Breguet. In 1954, the Breguet Type XX was launched, without a logo on its dial, as it was a military-issue model. Today, all have become pieces of choice for collectors, whether those delivered to the French Air Force between 1955 and 1959 (2000 copies), to the Flight Test Center in 1956-1957 (80 copies) or to the Naval Aeronautics (500 copies) in 1960. Issuance pieces produced until the end of the 1960s, therefore belonging to the State, and being supposed to be returned when leaving service, then destroyed… Type 20 for the Air Force and Type XX for the Naval Aeronautics, Type XX civilians… The model has become a classic pilot's watch. The 4th generation was launched in 2023. It is now complemented by the Type XX reference 2075, available in two versions to celebrate the brand's 250th anniversary. Their inspiration: a civilian gold model presented in 1955. According to archives, this piece originally had a satin-finished silver dial, later replaced by a black dial. Today, Breguet offers two reinterpretations: one with a black aluminum dial, and the other, limited to 250 pieces, with a solid silver dial.

These new Type XX models reconnect with the codes of the original models with their small diameter and their manual winding movement. They incorporate a variation of the high-performance 5 Hz 728 movement introduced by Breguet in 2023. Both models have a diameter of 38.3 mm, identical to the historic piece from 1955, and a thickness of 13.2 mm. They share the small seconds display on a dedicated counter at 9 o'clock and Breguet gold gilding of the movement. These new chronographs with black or silver dials and a "flyback" function are also crafted in Breguet gold, the alloy unveiled with the first single-hand subscription piece unveiled for its 250th anniversary. The caseback reveals an engraving entirely handmade in the Maison's workshops. It depicts the Breguet 19 aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean, accompanied by the precise route of the 1930 non-stop flight as well as a drawing of the European and North American coasts.

In homage to Louis Breguet, who used a sheet metal called Duralumin (containing 95% aluminum) for his aircraft, a pioneer of which he was, Breguet has chosen to equip its Type XX 2075 with a dial made from this material, a first in its collections. In order to obtain a black color close to the historic 1955 model, the Maison used anodization, a process that consists of creating a layer of oxidation that offers total protection against corrosion. The silver variant of the Type XX is in keeping with the spirit of the historic piece No. 1780, faithful to its original version with

a silver dial. This genuine silver dial features a vertical brushed finish, in addition to a tachymeter scale.

Expect to pay €42,800 for the new version of the Type XX Chronograph 2075, and €44,600 for the new limited edition Type XX Chronograph 2075. For example, expect to pay €24,250 on Chrono24 for a Breguet Type XX military watch from 1955 (in steel, 40 mm, with a black dial, equipped with a manually wound 222 caliber. A period piece sold by a professional, without box or papers, but registered in the company's archives, delivered to the French Air Ministry in 1955, and available on request with a certificate of authenticity from Breguet.