In the 1950s and 1960s several manufacturers supplied chronograph wristwatches to the French military forces. These were originally designated Type 20. After a period it became expensive to maintain and repair these watches, and a new series was introduced using more modern movements, the Type 21.

There were several suppliers of these chronographs, but my references are not entirely clear on this issue. Wesolowski writes that they were supplied by Auricoste, Breguet, and Vixa in the 1950s, and Dodane in the 1960s. Knirim lists the same makers but mentions that the Dodane-manufactured watches were sometimes marked with "Airain" or other labels. L'Orologio says that the Type 20 was commissioned to six makers: Breguet and Vixa (1950), Boullier and Auricoste (1954), and Dodane and Airain (1960).

The Breguet Type 20 is the most famous, and, to collectors, the most valuable of the French military chronographs. Montres Breguet was founded in 1775 by the great inventor and clockmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), and had its headquarters in Paris until it moved to Switzerland in the 1970s.

The Breguet Type 20 chronograph was produced in small numbers until it won the official approval of the French services in 1950. From 1954, Breguet was commissioned by the French government to supply the Type 20 to the Air Force, the Naval Air Arm, and the CEV. The Breguet Type 20s used stainless steel cases and screwed case backs.

The standard model for the French Air Force had a 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock and used a Valjoux cal. 22 movement with an added flyback function. (This movement may have been called the Valjoux cal. 222.) The Valjoux cal. 22 was first released in 1914 and was one of the first chronograph movements designed for wristwatches. The 17-jewel rhodium-plated movement is 14''' (31.6 mm, 1''' = 2.2558 mm) and uses a monometalic balance and Breguet balance spring. There were approximately 2000 of this model made. The case back was engraved with "BREGUET TYPE 205101/54" and the serial number and year.

The French Navy ordered a version with a 15-minute register for their pilots. These were engraved with "BREGUET TYPE 20 MARINE NATIONALE ONE AERONAUTIQUE NAVALE" and had an antimagnetic interior shield.

Breguet tried to win new contracts from the military in 1970 but their prices were too high. A second-generation civilian model was produced in the 1970s and 1980s, and has a heavier, polished steel case with squared lugs. This model used a gold-plated 17-jewel 14''' movement.

The third-generation Breguet Type 20 chronograph was launched in 1995 and has a fluted caseband and a Lemania self-winding movement.

The Vixa Type 20 was built in 1954 with case and movement by Hanhart. The company "Vixa" was named after a late president of Timex Watches France. (Timex had a factory in Besançon until 1960.) Some 4000-5000 Vixa Type 20 chronographs were supplied.

Adolf Hanhart was founded in 1882 and made stopwatches and timing products. The original factory was founded in Diessenhofen, Switzerland; it later moved to Schwenningen, Germany. In 1924 production relocated to Gütenbach, Germany. After the war, the Black Forest was part of the French Occupation Zone, so Hanhart produced chronographs under the Vixa name for the French forces. These deliveries were part of the German reparation payments to France. (Walter Storz [Stowa] provided watches for the French ground forces.) Since the 1960s Hanhart has concentrated on timers and stopwatches but they have recently re-introduced wristwatches to their product line, including a replica of their famous fliegerchronograph.

The Vixa Type 20 chronographs were similar to the Hanhart chronographs of the post-war German Federal Air Force. The movement is a rather large 16''' 17-jewel Hanhart movement, variously described as a cal. 4054 (Antiquorum), a cal. 40 (von Halem), or a cal. 15 (Knirim). The movement is only marked "Germany" (not "Hanhart" or "Vixa"). The Vixa was the only Type 20/21 to use a German movement.

Another manufacturer of the Type 20 chronograph was Auricoste, a specialist in naval clocks, stopwatches, and wristwatches. Auricoste was founded in 1854 by Emile Thomas, a clockmaker, who developed marine chronometers. In 1889 Thomas was succeeded by Joseph Auricoste, and in 1900 Auricoste was awarded a gold medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition. Today Auricoste supplies clock and timekeeping systems for marine applications and has its headquarters in Paris.

Auricoste provided around 2000 Type 20 chronographs under contract and delivered them to the French military between August 1954 and March 1955. The Auricoste Type 20 used Lemania movements that were marked "Auricoste." At least two different movement were used, one being the Auricoste cal. 2040 (Lemania cal. 15TL). The cal. 2040 is a 17-jewel, 15''' movement (33.3 mm x 6.5 mm), 18,000 bph, with a Breguet balance spring and Incabloc shock protection. The Lemania 15TL was introduced in 1940 and was Lemania's first movement to implement the flyback function. Another movement used by Auricoste in the Type 20 was a rhodium-plated 16-jewel, 14''' movement. And at least some movements were delivered with a swan-neck regulator. There were also two case types, one in stainless steel and one a plated base metal case; both used a stainless steel snap-on back.

Two other models were built in small numbers later: a model for the Moroccan and Argentinian air forces and one for the civilian market with a tachymeter scale. These later models were in steel and had a screwed caseback, and were supplied until 1961. The Argentinian pilots, who were trained in France, carried these watches in the Falkland War against Britain.

Dodane was founded by Alphonse Dodane in 1857 in Besançon. They were a long-time specialist in aviation timepieces, having constructed them for the US Army and Signal Corps since World War I. Besides manufacturing watches for the French armed forces, Dodane was a key part of their maintenance and service organization, and did general overhauls on all Type 20 and Type 21 watches in production.

Dodane constructed Type 20 and Type 21 chronographs between 1960 and 1980. (A small series was issued to NATO in the 1970s.) Total production was around 5000 pieces. Dodane used different movements at different times. They started with their own movements and then switched to outside movements including the Valjoux cal. 22 (cal. 222?) and later the Valjoux cal. 720. The change to the Valjoux cal. 720 may have been made with the switch to the Type 21.

All Dodane chronographs had the same stainless steel housing with a screw-back. Generally the caseback was engraved with the Phoenix of the Besançon observatory. Most of the Dodane models had an bezel engraved with the hours in count-down order (opposite of the Breguet direction).

Another example of the Dodane Type 21 from 1968 is shown in A Concise Guide to Military Timepieces  on page 156-157, with a photo of the front and back. The back is marked with "All Steel," "Waterprotected," "Antimagnetic," and several "FG" service marks.

Some 50 3-register models were built for French helicopter pilots. These are more difficult to find than the 3-register Breguet (of which 50 were also made) since they were more of a trial version than an official order. Some copies were also supplied to Morocco.

The Type 20 chronograph is no longer used by the French armed forces. New chronographs were evaluated at the beginning of the 1970s. In 1973 the Pechoin workshops supplied a set of prototypes using Valjoux movements, some labeled Type 21 and some labeled Type 22, but neither were offically accepted. Since that time, chronographs from many manufacturers have been tested and small procurements have been made. At one time the Air Force purchased Yema quartz chronographs; Breitling Plutons were selected for the Naval pilots; most service branches experiemented with Casio G-Shocks. But all of these watches were commercially available. The time when watches were a special military instrument is past.