Since Louis Moinet created the world’s first chronograph in 1816, the movement, which can measure the passage of time not only in its infinite constancy, but also in phases we define ourselves, has enjoyed uninterrupted and ever-increasing popularity among users.
The technology became indispensable for professional commuters – sailors, pilots, motorists and then astronauts – and therefore unknown to ordinary people: the most capable members of society – if you will, superheroes in flesh and blood – used these watches, theirs and their glory was also projected on those whose daily work was not about discovering new frontiers or breaking existing records.
This legendary watch has been resurrected after 90 years
A late production Type XX chronograph from 1968
A late production Type XX chronograph from 1968
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Of course, the chronograph structures, which presuppose extremely precise and reliable operation as well as exceptional robustness, have brought accolades not only to users, but also to their manufacturers. There was little more recognition (and, let’s face it, few bigger deals) in the watch industry than a government order, when tens of thousands of watches had to be delivered to a country’s aviation.
At the beginning of the 1930s, the forces of the French Republic launched a tender, in which the largest watch brands applied. Manufacturers such as Breitling, IWC, Vacheron Constantin, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux or Breguet have competed for the opportunity: the latter has finally won the important order.
A subsequent Mathey-Tissot chronograph movement, the Type 12, also informed the pilot of one of the greatest light turboprop aircraft of all time, the Beechcraft Super King Air model introduced in 1972.
Even then, however, only insiders knew that the structure of the watch, originally ordered with the code name Type 20, but then written in Roman numerals and become legendary as Type XX, had been made by the same specialist for all these brands. : the Mathey Tissot developed and produced.
As a supplier of luxury brands, the renowned manufacture remained in the background at the time, but just ninety years later it commemorated the success of its great predecessors in magnificent circumstances: in January 2022 the original was reinterpreted and an extremely limited number of copies were released in a so-called Homage type XX model, of the same size as the original, 38.5 mm.
Mathey-Tissot type XX
The mechanical structure watch, which came on the market in two dozen pieces, was quickly bought by collectors, but Mathey-Tissot had the good sense to realize that there is a strong demand in the market for chronographs with a good look. vintage, but with a modern and reliable structure. That’s why a quartz version of the watch with a similar, but much more affordable appearance was unveiled this summer and now in the fall.
The watch, also in a limited edition, produced in only one hundred copies, arrives to its owner in a wooden box appropriate for the time, who can choose the interpretation that best suits his style from different straps. Here’s how the XX. one of the cornerstones of industrial design of the 20th century with modern, reliable and carefree technology, further strengthening the link between Mathey-Tissot’s glossy past and the promising future.
