Gallet & Company: Difference between revisions
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==History== |
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<B>The Gallet Watch and Clock Making Dynasty</B> |
<B>The Gallet Watch and Clock Making Dynasty</B> |
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Revision as of 03:43, 9 January 2010
| File:Gallet 1466 200x58.jpg | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Watch movement & case manufacturing |
| Founded | 1466 by Humbertus Gallet, registered as Gallet & Cie in 1826 by Julien Gallet |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Walter Hediger (CEO) |
| Products | Wristwatches, accessories |
| Website | Gallet Official Website |
Gallet & Co is a Swiss manufacturer of high quality, professional-use wristwatches.
Officially registered as a La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland company in 1826 by then family patriarch Julien Gallet (1806-1849), the Gallet watch making dynasty can trace its roots back to Humbertus Gallet, a clock maker who immigrated to the republic of Geneva in 1466.
Gallet is best known for its line of complex MultiChron chronograph wristwatches. Commissioned specifically for professional use by military and industrial clients with greater spending abilities that the average citizen, Gallet watches incorporated some of the most advanced innovations available to the Swiss timekeeping arts.
One of these unique professional-use watches was the famous Flying Officer chronograph. Commissioned by Senator Harry S Truman in 1940 for pilots of the US Army Air Force, the unique rotating 12 hour bezel and 48 cities dial made is easy to calculate changes in the time as a pilot flew across lines of longitude. Besides being the worlds first time zone calculating wristwatch, the Gallet Flying Officer was the first wrist chronograph to be housed in a water resistant case. Truman himself wore a Flying Officer during his term as 33rd president. After the war, the Flying Officer remained as a favorite timepiece of military and civilian aviators.
The Gallets' best customer and exclusive distributor in the USA, dating back to 1877, was the wholesale dealer Racine.
[1] Jules Racine, a cousin of the La Chaux-de-Fonds Gallets, distributed watches manufactured by Gallet[1] as well as his own brands Racine (since 1870), Jules Racine, Lady Racine, and Racine Royale. Racine also distributed American brand named timepieces including Bridgeport, Burlington, Chancellor, Commodore, Continental, Eureka, Mars, National Park, Security, Select, Solar, Success, The Governor, and others.[1] While the style of these US distributed timepieces had cases, bands, dials (faces), and hands tuned to American tastes, the movements were always manufactured by Gallet in La Chaux-de-Fonds.[1]
In 2007, the award winning design team of Slaz-Laurence was commissioned to assist the Gallet company in adjusting the utilitarian appearance of its professional-use watches to the tastes of the contemporary consumer of high-end timepieces.
History
The Gallet Watch and Clock Making Dynasty
Humbertus Gallet (1430 - 1492) clock maker, immigrated from Bourg-en-Bresse to Geneva on 18 April 1466
Gonin Gallet (1543 – 1610 ) grandson of Humbertus Gallet, clock maker, Geneva
Claude Gallet (1597 - 1663) son of Gonin Gallet, watch and clock maker, Geneva
Jacques Gallet (1649 – 1700) son of Claude Gallet, watchmaker and silk merchant, Geneva
Philippe Gallet (1679 – 1739) son of Jacques Gallet, goldsmith & watchmaker, Geneva
Pierre Gallet (1712 - 1768) son of Philippe Gallet, goldsmith & watchmaker, Geneva
Jacques Gallet (1745 - 1806) son of Pierre Gallet, goldsmith, watch & case maker, Geneva
Jean-Louis Gallet (1774 - 1809) son of Jacques Gallet, goldsmith, watchmaker, watch case maker, Geneva
Julien Gallet (1806 - 1849) son of Jean-Louis Gallet, watch & case maker, registered family business in La Chaux de Fonds as Gallet & Cie.
Louise Gallet (1808 - 1865) widow of Julien Gallet, ran the company after her husband's death
Leon L. Gallet (1832 - 1899) son of Julien Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Lucien F. Gallet (1834 -1879) son of Julien Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Julien Gallet (1862 -1934) son of Leon L. Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Georges Gallet (1865 -1946) son of Leon L. Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Leon Gallet (1899 - 1975) son of Georges Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Pierre Gallet (1926 - 1995) son of Leon Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Bernard Gallet (1930 – 2006) son of Leon Gallet, watchmaker, La Chaux de Fonds
Notes
- ^ a b c "Gallet & Co. - Gallet Geneva 1466 - History", Gallet & Co, Inc., 2010, webpage: Gallet-hist.