Vintage
DrStrong's detailed post on the Breguet Aéronautique Navale provides a historical and technical overview of the Type 20 and Type 21 chronographs supplied to the French military. He delves into the specific requirements, the flyback function, and the unique markings of these iconic pilot's watches. This article synthesizes his insights and the community's discussion on the nuances of these vintage Breguet pieces.
In the 1950's and 1960's, several manufacturers supplied chronograph wristwatches to the French military forces. These were originally designated Type 20. After a period, it became expensive to maintain and repair these watches and a new series was introduced using more modern movements, the Type 21.
One of the French Defense Ministry's requirements for the Type 20 and Type 21 was the flyback (retour en vol ) function. The flyback is also called the "Taylor system" or "permanent zero setting." The flyback allows you to instantly stop, reset, and restart the chronograph with a single press of the lower button. This is useful when you don't really need to know the actual event duration, only that the timed event was completed within a certain limit, and are then going on to monitor another event. While not a significant mechanical complication, the flyback feature is a great convenience for a operation that is common in aviation. The "permanent zero setting" mechanism, implemented on the basic two-button chronograph function invented by Breitling in 1933, was patented by Longines-Francillon in 1936.
Other basic mechanical specifications for the Type 20 included an accuracy within 8 seconds/day, a power reserve of more than 35 hours, and the ability to handle the start-stop-reset operation 300 times without any problems.
The primary recipients of these chronographs were the pilots and flying personnel of the French Air Force, French Navy (Marine Nationale), and the CEV (Centre D'Essai en Vol, the French flight test center). Some of these watches saw duty in the French Indochina war. A number were also sold to the air forces of Morocco and Argentina. The watches belonging to the French forces were overhauled every year (in theory, anyway). After servicing, the casebacks were marked with the letters FG which stand for Fin de Garantie (end of warranty) and the date of the next scheduled maintenance:
The Breguet Type 20 chronograph was produced in small numbers until it won the official approval of the French services in 1950. From 1954, Breguet was commissioned by the French government to supply the Type 20 to the Air Force, the Naval Air Arm, and the CEV.
In 1958, the French Navy ordered 500 watches with a 15-minute larger register for their pilots. Unlike the previous version for the Air Force, these watches had signed dials, were engraved with BREGUET MARINE NATIONALE AERONAUTIQUE NAVALE and had an antimagnetic interior shield.
(Source: S. Sugiyama, K. Knirim)
Here's my Aéronautique Navale :
The bezel and winding crown are from another Breguet Type 20 version, they have been replaced by the previous owner and I still have the original parts.
According to the Breguet registers, this watch was delivered to the Marine Nationale in 1960:
Here's the nice case back engraving with the Breguet number, the watch number in the batch of 500 and the Fin de Garantie:
The movement is a Valjoux 222 with 17 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance, self-compensating Breguet balance-spring:
The watch with another Breguet Type 20 from the 1970's:
A wristshot in front of a Breguet airplane:
Another example sold at an auction:
I bought a Breguet Type XX recently and find it to be IMHO the most elegant looking chronograph watch on the market. The only "fault" I can find on it is in the layout of the minute register at the 3 o'clock position. Why does each baton represent a 2min period which makes it very difficult to read at a glance. I had thought originally that it was for historical reasons where the models from the 50's and 60's had a similar layout and it was important for pilots to be able to read time as a perce
this is the correct explanation: the new versions have just decided to copy the old dial (that was a true 15 min register) but did not change the movement to be a 15 min wheel and make it 100% "true" to the originals
the 1950's CEV that is in the collection of Bethune - this is clearly a 30min register with 15 batons. MK
Do you have a picture ?
This is - according to the article http://www.finertimes.com/asp/articles/type20.asp "is one of the rare 3-register models issued to the CEV. Another example of a 1950s 3-register Breguet, part of Gordon Bethune's collection, is shown on page 26 of the Feb/Mar 1999 issue of InSync. From the position of the minute hand on the register (bang in between two of th batons) and the second nad about to complete one full minute - it must be a 30 min register with batons at 2min intervals. Therefore the
if you have ever seen a vintage Breguet Type 20 with a 15 min register work, you know that the chronograph minute hand moves "in two steps": since the original movement with a 30 min register has been modified to have a 15min register, the chronograph minute hand makes "a first step" when the chronograph second hand reaches 55 (then it is between two markers), and a "second step" when the chronograph second hand reaches 5 (then it reaches the marker). It is a little hard to explain (I should mak
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