Auricoste Spirotechnique ref. 906.21.05 'M.N.'

Dealer description — Oliver & Clarke

Auricoste was established in France as a manufacturer supplying timepieces to the French Military and Navy, with civilian models produced as a secondary line. As a result, the overwhelming majority of surviving Auricoste watches trace their origins to military contracts. La Spirotechnique, founded in 1947 by Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, began as the distributor for Cousteau's newly developed Aqua-Lung regulator, and the company built its reputation supplying professional-grade diving equipment to divers worldwide. Beyond civilian markets, Spirotechnique became a key supplier of diving gear, watches included, to the French Navy and Army. Its American operations were established under the name U.S. Divers Company, an entity later rebranded as Aqua Lung. The brand crossover doesn't stop there, however. The piece that we have here utilizes a case design originally utilized by Heuer in their Deep Dive model, but production for Auricoste was contracted out to Zodiac. So, what we've got here is one heck of a compilation of brand stories all rolled into one piece that just happens to have been issued to the French Navy; better known as the Marine Nationale. Dating to the early 1990s, the case is 41.5mm in diameter and is made from stainless steel, with both a screw-down caseback and crown. Thanks to the 4 o'clock position of the crown and being largely recessed within the case, combined with the downward sloping lug design, this piece wears much more like a typical 39-40mm timepiece. The bezel has a uni-directional rotating design and houses a black aluminum insert with individual minute markers. Inside, the dial features vibrant colored text and logos, along with Tritium plots and a high-contrast white-painted handset. Powering this piece is the robust workhorse Calibre 2824-2 by ETA. Last but not least, flip it over and you'll find the appropriate Military engravings denoting that it was property of the French Military. It is also accompanied by its decommission paper dating to 2003. This is a real piece of history — a phrase often repeated in the world of watches, though rarely as deservedly as in this case. And when compared to other military-issued pieces from other brands, particularly other dive watches issued to the Marine Nationale, this actually is fantastic value, and they do not grow on trees!