Exactly 100 years in the past, in 1921, Louis Charles
Breguet shared his bold imaginative and prescient for an aircraft that could
attain heights of as much as 13,500 meters and cover the gap from Paris to New
York in six hours. Louis Breguet, tremendous-brilliant-grandson of
Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), wanted as many human beings as feasible to
tour via plane. In 1930, his vision became a reality when the primary
non-prevent flight become crafted from Paris to New York.
The descendant of watchmaking legend Breguet is in the long
run answerable for the own family's connection to aviation. Louis Charles
Breguet became an plane dressmaker who evolved, among other matters, the first
flying helicopter. During each wars, his employer produced army plane for the
French Air Force, which, by the manner, had been ready with Breguet watches.
Modern Breguet pilot's watches, from Type XX to XXI and XXII, pass again to the
chronographs produced for fighter pilots seeing that 1935. Without further ado,
permit's pass lower back in time and get acquainted with the maximum vital
milestones and Breguet models. Pilot watch. Digital Medicine
Louis Breguet and Maison Breguet
Louis Charles Breguet was born in 1880. After graduating
from the Higher School of Electricity, he devoted himself entirely to aviation.
He based the Société Anonyme des Ateliers D'aviation Louis Breguet (later
sincerely called Breguet Aviation) and had first-rate achievement selling his
plane under that name. In 1916 he designed the Breguet XIV plane, approximately
8,000 of which have been added to fifteen international locations among 1917
and 1926. At the peak of his career, he done vertical flight with René Doran.
The Breguet-Dorand Gyroplane become introduced in 1935 and became the maximum
effective helicopter of its time.
Although Louis Breguet became additionally interested in
watchmaking, he dedicated himself completely to aviation. Louis-Clément Breguet
sold his own family's watch enterprise to his workshop manager Edward Brown in
1870, which supposed it became now not within the hands of the Breguet family.
However, each agencies remained near the Breguet call. During the world wars,
Breguet navy plane were geared up with on-board clocks from the Breguet
watchmaker.
History of the Kind 20 and Type XX
At the same time, Breguet produced watches not handiest for
the cockpit, however additionally for pilots, and ultimately even civilian
models because of their recognition. The manufactory produced the first
wristwatch for fighter pilots in 1918. However, to begin with they'd most
effective three arrows. It wasn't till 1935 that Breguet additionally geared up
watches with chronographs. However, ultra-modern Breguet Type XX-XXI-XXI
clearly pass lower back to pilot's watches that had been produced after each wars.
Since simplest approximately 10 human beings worked for Breguet inside the
Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, the Mathey-Tissot enterprise in Le Pont
de Martel became entrusted with the manufacturing of Breguet Type 20 watches.
From 1975, they have been assembled in Paris in small workshops.
In fact, the history of Breguet pilot watches may be divided
into 3 generations. It is vital to recognise here that the navy fashions were
referred to as Type 20, and the civilian fashions were called Type XX.
1954–1970: First era Type 20
In the 1950s, the French Midair Power expressed a need for a
wristwatch for its fighter pilots that would must meet numerous criteria. This
Type 20 was to have, amongst other things:
have a black dial with Arabic numerals
case 38 mm
bi-directional rotating bezel
chronograph with reverse feature.
Also, movement become simplest allowed to deviate via +/- 8
seconds in step with day. In addition, the electricity reserve had to be at
least 35 hours. Along with different manufacturers together with Vixa and
Dodane, Breguet took over the specification and evolved its own interpretation
of the Type 20 specification.
Initially, Breguet produced small series that were to be had
exclusively to the army. These early fashions featured the Valjoux 222, a 2.5Hz
flyback chronograph. The watch's feature become truly designed for navy use;
the elongated markers on the massive sub-dials of the 15-minute counter at 3
o'clock were lumed (every 3 mins), as had been the hands and Arabic numerals.
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