Wristwatches · Wristwatch
Gallet Chronograph 1940s Mk1 Flying Officer
- Maker / attribution
- Gallet (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 36 mm
- Stock no.
- W-701
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, Bulang & Sons (W-701)
- Catalogue title (original)
- Gallet Chronograph 1940s Mk1 Flying Officer (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Bulang & Sons (dealer), Copenhagen (stock number W-701), this is a wristwatch by Gallet, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 36 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — Bulang & Sons
The Mk 1 US Air Force Flying Officer We are delighted to offer this super condition and rare early large size steel chronograph. The Gallet Flying Officer was launched in 1939 as an aide to military pilots for quickly calculating changes in time zones as longitude lines were crossed. The dial is cream with dual register chronograph function , wit a so called “snail tachymeter track” and there is are cities listed, by time-zone, around the outer track. The hour markers are painted in radium on the inner section of the dial. The case (36mm) remains in good crisp condition with nice original round pushers and a screw down caseback. The rotaing 12-hour bezel (to monitor time zones or measure elapsed time) functions as it should and also remains in very good condition. This is an important steel chronograph and is feature in the book FERO – 150 Steel Chronographs. We are including a copy of the book with this Flying Officer! The watch has been fully serviced by our watchmaker. Specifications - Dates to the 1940s - Cream GMT with radium numerals - 30 min chronograph function - 12-hour rotating bezel - 36 mm waterproof case - Venus 150 movement - Comes with a copy of FERO by Paolo Gobbi - Fully serviced by our watchmaker - Includes a handmade single leather watch pouch
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Chronographs and split-seconds watches
A chronograph is a watch with an additional seconds hand that can be started, stopped and returned to zero independently of the timekeeping. Louis Moinet built an early example in 1816 and Nicolas Rieussec a recording 'chronographe' in 1821; Adolphe Nicole's heart-shaped reset cam (patented 1862) made the modern return-to-zero possible. Split-seconds (rattrapante) chronographs add a second hand that can be stopped for intermediate times; flyback chronographs restart instantly.
Chronographs were essential tools for doctors (pulsometer scales), artillery (telemeter), engineers and sport. In wristwatches, Valjoux, Venus, Lemania and later the automatic chronographs of 1969 (Zenith El Primero, the Chronomatic Calibre 11 group and Seiko 6139) are milestones.
What to look for
- Push-pieces on the case band or a single button in the crown (monopusher).
- Subsidiary registers for minutes and hours; tachymeter, telemeter or pulsometer scales.
- Column wheel versus cam control visible in the movement.
- Calibre markings of specialist makers (Valjoux, Lemania, Venus, Landeron).
Dating clues
- Pocket chronographs with heart cam reset: after 1862.
- Wrist chronographs: from c. 1910; two-button designs from the 1930s.
- Automatic chronographs: from 1969.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Flyback chronographChronograph
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