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We are proud to offer you this excellent vintage BREGUET TYPE 20/TYPE XX Military FLYBACK CHRONOGRAPH, Ref.5101, in stainless steel on its black leather bracelet and steel pin buckle.

Glorious 38mm vintage military watch with anonymous dial, the ultimate elegant gentleman's watch.

Even though the BREGU'ET watchmaking company was already producing so-called 'special products' for aviation at the beginning of the 20th century, including aerodrome chronometers, chronographs with split-seconds hands, onboard chronometers, thermostats and siderometers, the first Type 20 / Type XX references did not appear until the early 1950s. These Type 20 / Type XX watches were destined to characterise BREGUET pilot watches for the next 30 years and, in fact, continue to do so to this day.

In the early fifties, the French Ministry of Defense drew up specifications with a view of purchasing a large quantity of chronograph wristwatches for its Air Force, to be known as Type 20.

Drawing on its experience in this area, BREGUET expressed its interest and designed a model that was quickly approved by the authorities.

The year was 1954 and the legend of the Type 20 had just begun. Strictly speaking, the Type 20 models only refer to the military watches that were delivered to the French Air Force (1,100 units), the Aéronautique Navale (500 units) and the CEV test flight centre (80 units). They were the state's property and were only issued for the duration of service.

The watches were provided to pilots as part of their equipment. They remained the property of the French state, which in turn ensured they were kept in good working order until they were unfit for service.

To mark that the watches, which were a critical part of the pilot`s equipment, were in good working order they had to be brought to service in regular intervals.

After each interval a new interval would be defined and marked on the watch`s case back - the FG mark that stands for 'Fin de Garantie'.

The watches were only given personally to aviators in exceptional circumstances.

In the face of such success and high demand, the House of BREGUET also produced a civilian version named Type XX, which would go on to be enjoyed by several generations of private pilots and those who were simply fans of chronographs.

After the French Air Force received three test models, an order for 1,100 Type 20 chronographs with the order number 5101/54 followed in 1954.

These military pilot chronographs were characterised by their smaller diameter of 38.3 mm, a 30-minute counter, a bezel without a scale, the pear-shaped crown, and the Valjoux calibre 222 with flyback function.

The dials were not signed. An unimaginable thing today.

It is worth noting that in the house's books, the military models are referred to as Type 20 and the civilian models as Type XX.

The Type 20/XX was introduced as a pilot watch equipped with a flyback chronograph, the emblematic function of this watch. The flyback function allows for the chronograph function to be reset to zero by simply pressing the lower pushbutton, simplifying the pilot or team members' operations and offering the possibility of recording several consecutive times.

These are very rare watches, especially in this immaculate condition, and are still undervalued.

A collector`s as well as investor`s dream piece!

1 year warranty through our watch lab.

- We buy watches since 1991. -

-- All offered watches are on stock in our store. --

--- Please contact us if you want to sell your fine wrist watch or your entire collection. ---