Breguet

DrStrong
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Breguet Aéronautique Navale

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: