After a four years wait...just arrived.

[CFR]

We're in the early 50s. The French Ministère de la Defénse is counting on an order of a few thousand chronos Type 20 to be delivered, according to their own specifications: function retour en vol (flyback); 38mm steelcase; black dial with white luminescent hands and marks; automatic movement with a minimum of 38h power reserve; acceptable precision: -8 to +8s/day; chronograph functions performing a minimum of 300 operations without failure. The goal was to equip the pilots in the Armé de l'Air, the Marine Nationale and the Centre d'Essais en Vol with appropriate chronographs.
Auricoste, Dodane, Vixa (in association with Hanhart) and Breguet fulfilled the request.



In 1954 was the turn of Breguet: 2000 chronos type 20 was the order coming from the Ministère de la Defénse; the Breguet Type 20/5101/54 was born.
Later on (1958) 500 watches were going to equip the Aéronautique Naval and in 1960, 50 pieces would go to the Centre d'Essais en Vol.



But not all type 20 were the exact the same watch. The trusted Valjoux 22 with a flyback module (Valjoux 222) was the primary choice, however, the watches for the Aéronautique Naval had a magnetic shield and a 15 minutes counter, while the chronos for the Armé de l'Air had a 30 minutes counter and dispensed the magnetic shield. The Centre d'Essais en Vol had two models: bi and tricompax, both with a 15 minutes counter.



The watches were not exclusive for the military, because, meanwhile, Breguet also produced a couple of thousand for the civilian market. In fact,three generations of the Type 20 were produced: the 1st during the period1950s-1960s, the 2nd covered the years 1970s-1980s and the 3rd, from 1994, still remains in the Breguet catalogue (but only the Aeronavale version).



Now, why am I cleaning the dust from all those uninteresting stories? Am I bored to death? Don't I have a lot of work to do? Yes, but…there's aTransatlantique quietly resting on my wrist…



Most of you know – and I always repeat this - I never had a grail, I don't have a grail and I'm pretty sure I'll never will (I'm talking about watches, here ). Maybe some of you remember – or probably not – something I've mentioned still in the 'other place' four (almost) five years ago: sooner or later, I would have to get a Breguet Type XX.



The modern type XX is a small watch – by today standards. The diameter is a bit over 39mm and its thickness around 14mm. The case rests perfectly on the wrist and the very short lugs doesn't make the watch uncomfortable. The case is highly polished and the sides have that typical Breguet cannelé we know so well, perfectly executed. Since I chose the - now - discontinued Transatlantique (the model with the date on the dial) its finely brushed bezel (polished on the Aeronavale) happily breaks the strange feeling of a bit too much bling. By the way, the bidirectional bezel has 60 detents and works as it should: not too heavy, not too sloppy. The package is good enough for 100m WR and that's ok.



A beautiful made metal bracelet, unfortunately doesn't provide any kind of fine adjustment. I'm not going to wear it, anyway. The 21mm lugs are terribly unwelcome, though. The only strap I had at home with the exactdimensions was the Hirsch Duke. I'll take care of that, later.



The movement, the cal. 582Q, everybody knows it's Lemania based (1372).While well finished, it's far from lavishly ornamented; rhodium plated plates and bridges, nice perlage shown in the main plate and the usual Côtes de Genèveare the chosen decoration for the rotor and bridges… and that's it.
The movement does not hack and the chrono is a cam lever system. I can feel the purists already protesting…



Let's see if I can resume the watch main characteristics: flyback chrono; 100m WR, date @ 6; tri-compax layout; screw-down crown; arabic numerals; black dial; sapphire (convex) crystal; bidirectional bezel; automatic non-hacking movement; 48h PR; adjusted in five positions.



Finally: why did I buy it?
Did I get a fair (impossible to refuse) price? I would say: reasonably fair,yes.
Did I need a flyback chrono? No.
Did I get mad? Its always a possibility to take into consideration. I would say no, but that was to be expected, in any case, so, it doesn't count.
So, why? This is going to sound so shallow…but here it goes: per mio diletto. As simple as that.

Thanks for reading.