Breguet Type XX

A chronograph built to a military spec

The Breguet name reached the sky before the watch did. Louis Breguet, great-great-grandson of the founder Abraham-Louis, set up the aircraft maker Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet in 1911. American pilots stationed in France bought Breguet chronographs in 1918, and from the 1930s the watch house made special aviation instruments for military and commercial airlines.

In the early 1950s the French Ministry of Defense issued specifications for a military chronograph wristwatch, designated 'Type 20'. According to one detailed history, the 1952 criteria called for a case of about 38 mm, a black dial with Arabic numerals, a bidirectional rotating bezel, a flyback chronograph, a rate within plus or minus 8 seconds a day, and at least 35 hours of power reserve. The flyback was the key feature: a single press of the pusher reset the running chronograph to zero and restarted it, letting a pilot time one leg of a flight after another without fumbling.

Breguet's design was quickly approved. The name 'Type XX' first appears in Breguet's records in 1953, and Breguet dates the start of mass production to 1954. The military watches carried the Type 20 name; Breguet also made civilian versions, signed Type XX, to meet commercial demand.

From air bases to aircraft carriers

Breguet delivered the watches principally to the French Air Force between 1955 and 1959, to the Flight Test Center (CEV) in 1956 and 1957, and to the Naval Air Force, the Aéronavale, in 1960. One history records the first batch of 250 watches for the Air Force in June 1955 and a final Type 20 delivery of 120 in 1959, with an Aéronavale order of 500 delivered on January 13, 1960, numbered from 4100.

Sources give different totals. One account counts about 1,100 Air Force watches from 1955 to 1959 plus 500 for the Aéronavale. A longer history estimates about 4,000 made by the early 1970s, roughly 1,700 military Type 20s and 2,300 civilian Type XXs, followed by 770 second-generation pieces from 1970 to 1984. Originals stayed in service until the early 1980s.

The early watches used Lemania movements in 1949 and 1950, then from 1952 the Valjoux 222 and 225 with an added flyback module and a 35-hour reserve. The Valjoux 230 and 720 with Incabloc shock protection followed in 1963, and the Valjoux 235 and 725 in 1971. One civilian buyer of note: Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam bought Type XX No. 519 in 1954.

Aéronavale, XXI, XXII

Breguet describes three successive generations of the original chronograph, each with several varieties now sought by collectors. The modern era began in 1995 with the reference 3800 'Aéronavale', followed in 1997 by the reference 3820 'Transatlantique'; one history puts production of each at about 20,000, with 90 Transatlantiques in platinum and 150 in yellow or red gold.

The Type XXI reference 3810 arrived in 2004 with a 42 mm case and the automatic caliber 582. The Type XXII reference 3880 of 2010 pushed the balance to 10 hertz, and about 2,325 were made. In 2019 Breguet made a one-off Type 20 Revival, reference 2055ST, a 38.3 mm steel re-edition with a hand-wound Valjoux 235 for a charity auction for muscular dystrophy research. A Type XXI 3815TI followed in 2021, limited to 500 pieces.

The 2057: a Type 20 for today

In June 2023, after four years of development, Breguet replaced the line with two new watches. The Type 20 Chronographe 2057 takes its cue from a piece commissioned by the French Air Ministry in 1954: two counters (small seconds and a 30-minute totalizer), pencil-shaped hands and mint green lume. The Type XX Chronographe 2067 revives the civilian watch with three counters, alpha hands and cream lume. Breguet's own name for the 2057 is the Type 20 Chronographe, not Type XX.

Both are 42 mm across and 14.1 mm thick in brushed and polished steel, water resistant to 100 meters, with a black galvanic dial and sapphire crystals front and back. The full reference of the strap version is 2057ST/92/3WU. The 2057 uses caliber 7281 and the 2067 caliber 728: in-house automatic chronographs with a column wheel, a vertical clutch for smooth starts, a flyback function, silicon balance spring and escapement parts, a 5 Hz beat and a 60-hour power reserve. The 7281 has 34 jewels and 339 components; the 728 has 39 jewels and 350 components.

Prices

At launch in June 2023 the 2057 and 2067 were priced at US$19,100 on a strap and US$22,300 on a bracelet, and at EUR 19,100 in Europe. A February 2024 review quoted $18,000 for the 2057.

Original 1950s Type 20s are a separate market: different watches, with smaller 38 mm cases and Valjoux movements, and their prices are not the price of a modern 2057.

The numbers

Reference

2057ST/92/3WU (strap version)

Caliber

7281, automatic flyback chronograph, 34 jewels, 339 parts, 36,000 vph, 60 h

Case

42 x 14.1 mm, stainless steel, 100 m

Launched

June 2023

Original production

About 4,000 by the early 1970s (about 1,700 military, 2,300 civilian), per one history

Timeline

1. 1911

   Louis Breguet founds the aircraft maker Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet.

2. 1952

   French Air Force selection criteria for the Type 20 chronograph; Breguet adopts the Valjoux 222 with flyback.

3. 1953

   The name 'Type XX' first appears in Breguet's records.

4. 1954

   Mass production begins; Emperor Bao Dai buys Type XX No. 519.

5. Jun 1955

   First batch of 250 Type 20s delivered to the French Air Force.

6. 1956

   Deliveries to the Flight Test Center begin (through 1957).

7. Jan 13, 1960

   500 watches delivered to the Aéronavale.

8. 1963

   Switch to the Valjoux 230 and 720 with Incabloc.

9. 1971

   Valjoux 235 and 725 introduced.

10. 1995

    Reference 3800 'Aéronavale' launches the modern Type XX.

11. 1997

    Reference 3820 'Transatlantique' introduced.

12. 2004

    Type XXI reference 3810 introduced.

13. 2010

    Type XXII reference 3880 with a 10 Hz balance.

14. Nov 9, 2019

    Unique Type 20 Revival 2055ST auctioned for charity.

15. Jun 2023

    Type 20 Chronographe 2057 and Type XX Chronographe 2067 launched.

The world in 1954

• Jan 21, 1954

  USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, is launched in Connecticut.

• May 6, 1954

  Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four-minute mile, in Oxford.

• May 7, 1954

  The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in French defeat.

• May 17, 1954

  The U.S. Supreme Court rules school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education.

• Jul 15, 1954

  The Boeing 367-80, prototype of the 707 jetliner, makes its first flight.

• Jul 21, 1954

  The Geneva settlement divides Vietnam and ends the Indochina conflict.

• Oct 31, 1954

  The Algerian War against French rule begins.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Breguet Type XX is number 68 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (93 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• 'Type 20' marks the military watches and 'Type XX' the civilian ones; the current 2057 is officially a Type 20.
• The original spec allowed the watch to gain or lose no more than 8 seconds a day.
• Emperor Bao Dai of Vietnam bought Type XX No. 519 in 1954.
• The Aéronavale's 500 watches were numbered from 4100.