Throughout history, there are countless examples of the inherent and primal human desire to explore the unknown. This wanderlust is more than the urge to chart a course to new destinations. It’s the instinct to break free from the ordinary, leave the noise behind, and chase what lies beyond. Driven by these aspirations, we’ve built timepieces ready for wherever adventure calls. It’s these same principles that have anchored watchmakers and their designs, which have long served as loyal companions to adventurers on their journeys.
Gallet is one such brand with two centuries of history tied to adventure within aviation, motorsport, and yachting. On the monumental year of its 200th anniversary, the brand is in a modern renaissance with new collections manufactured by Breitling that are rooted in this lineage while considering the needs of today’s voyagers. These adaptable designs feature interchangeable quick-release straps that allow the watches to evolve with every environment and expedition. We sat down with Gallet Managing Director Erwan Rossignol to discuss the brand’s re-emergence amidst its historic anniversary.
Hodinkee
When you’re reintroducing 200 years of history, how do you decide which pieces come back and which stay in the archive?
ERWAN
It’s about finding the right balance between honoring the heritage and staying relevant. We never wanted to become a museum brand. We went into the archives and identified the iconic names: the Flying Officer, the Clamshell, the Regulator, the Navigator, and the Multichron family. We chose pieces for their design and story, and then we updated them for today’s customer. On the Flying Officer, for example, the city ring now reflects current time zones and dream travel destinations instead of the historical refueling stops. The Multichron Pilot keeps its 1960s-inspired indices and orange hand. The Classic line stays very close to the original designs and uses Breitling in-house manufacture hand-wound movements, to honor the era those watches come from, and to celebrate the brand 200th anniversary.
HODINKEE
What does modern wanderlust look like to you personally, and how is it shaping Gallet’s design and marketing?
ERWAN
Wanderlust doesn’t have to mean climbing Everest. For me, living in the mountains outside Zurich, it’s about spending my weekends outdoors, and breaking from routine. That’s how we define it at Gallet: the desire to step out of your routine and experience something new. The watches are built to be robust and versatile, with interchangeable straps, so the watch can come with you on whatever your next adventure is. We’ve teamed up with real modern adventurers, but we don’t expect every customer to live that way. We speak to people who carry that spirit of curiosity through their lives.
HODINKEE
Who is the Gallet customer today, and how does that compare to the customer when the brand was last most active?
ERWAN
There isn’t one Gallet customer. On one end, it’s a younger, adventure-minded person buying their first mechanical watch. On the other, it’s an experienced collector drawn to the distinctive design and the authentic history. What connects them is curiosity. They want something authentic and distinctive, beyond the most obvious choice on the market.
HODINKEE
What was a key strategic decision that shaped the business as you built toward this relaunch?
ERWAN
The central challenge was keeping the brand authentic while making it feel relevant to a new generation of watch enthusiasts. With that rich history, it would have been easy to reproduce the past, but that alone wouldn’t satisfy today’s customers, and a straight copy would invite unfavorable comparisons. We had to apply that balance everywhere: product design, visual identity, and the campaign. It took the whole team, with significant input from experienced specialists who helped shape the relaunch.
HODINKEE
Is there a story, moment, or object from Gallet’s history that best captures the wanderlust spirit you want to bring to a modern audience?
ERWAN
I think the Flying Officer itself best captures that spirit of wanderlust. When it was created in 1939, intercontinental travel was a very different experience. A journey from London to Tokyo, for example, could involve numerous refueling stops, and the city ring reflected those specific routes. It was a watch designed to track the time in world cities, but also around the excitement of exploring a world that was still far less accessible than it is today.
For us, the challenge was to preserve that original purpose and character while reinterpreting it for the modern traveller. The routes have changed, and those cities no longer serve the same practical role as refueling points, but the idea behind the city ring remains just as powerful: connecting people with the world and inspiring them to discover new places.
That is why we chose to retain this distinctive feature while updating the destinations. We selected cities that evoke a sense of adventure and wanderlust, places whose very names spark the imagination and make you want to travel. In that sense, the modern Flying Officer carries forward the original spirit of the watch, keeping world time. It’s made to go far and stay in sync.
HODINKEE
What does Gallet need to prove to collectors over the next five years that it didn’t need to prove 20 years ago?
ERWAN
We need to prove that Gallet deserves a place on the wrist again. Today’s customer has far more choice and far more information, so heritage alone isn’t enough. Our ambition is to become one of the leading names in accessible luxury, and we’ll earn that credibility through authentic design, strong quality, and exceptional value, delivered consistently over time. In the end, we’ll measure success in share of wrist and share of voice.
HODINKEE
If someone had never heard of Gallet before reading this, what’s the one sentence you’d want them to walk away with?
ERWAN
Gallet brings 200 years of Swiss watchmaking into a new generation, with distinctive design, exceptional value, and the manufacturing expertise of Breitling.
To mark its bicentennial, the brand has introduced the Gallet Classics, a trio of chronographs. Each watch in this series is powered by the Caliber B09, Breitling’s hand-wound in-house manufacture movement. With compact 38mm proportions and approximately 70 hours of power reserve, the Gallet Classics offer a more refined and traditional expression of the brand’s identity. Within this lineup is the Tribute to Yachting Big Eye. Here, Gallet hits the high seas with a model that reinvents a historic regatta chronograph for the next generation of explorers. Born in the 1960s, the original Multichron Yachting Big Eye chronograph was notable for its distinctive “Big Eye” countdown display, which brought clarity to the chaos of the pre-start phase when boats maneuver for position in the final minutes before the gun. Today’s Tribute to Yachting Big Eye continues that story as a maritime chronograph that seamlessly blends both heritage and function.
These new watches themselves reflect the breadth of Gallet’s commitment to wanderlust. Taking to the skies and long-distance travel, the brand has reprised one of its most iconic designs: the Flying Officer. This is more than a historic model – it sets the blueprint for the brand’s new era of watchmaking. The Flying Officer’s distinctive city ring has informed the brand’s visual language, while the warm patina of a vintage model has inspired Gallet’s signature orange-and-green palette. Originally created for early intercontinental travel, it allowed pilots to track the time at upcoming refueling stops via the city ring on its rotating bezel. Now, the Flying Officer is offered in two interpretations of the same concept: a chronograph rooted in the model’s instrumental heritage and a three-hand version that brings its distinctive world-travel design into a more streamlined, everyday watch. Altogether, the collection gives context to this spirit of adventure that continues today through the brand’s collaborations with trailblazers around the world.
Bringing things back down to earth, Gallet has reimagined its Multichron family in new ways while staying true to its original purpose: measuring speed with precision. The new Multichron Sport Chronograph 41 also draws on the brand’s broader history of chronographs, namely those from the mid-century. While not a direct homage to a model from Gallet’s origins, the Multichron Sport really represents the forward motion and fresh perspective of the brand today. This versatile model is made for all adventures on changing terrain, from asphalt and gravel to dunes and rougher ground. Within this line, there’s also the Multichron Pilot, which retains its original DNA as a purpose-driven chronograph while receiving modern proportions and upgrades.
Two centuries after its founding, Gallet returns not as a museum piece but as a living brand, one that treats its archive as a launchpad rather than a destination. From the hand-wound Classics, like the Tribute to Yachting Big Eye to the world-traveling Flying Officer and the terrain-ready Multichron Sport, each release carries a piece of that history into a design built for how people explore today. For a new generation of collectors, Gallet offers something rarer than heritage alone: a reminder that the urge to break from routine and chase what lies beyond is as alive now as it was 200 years ago.
To see the latest pieces from the anniversary release, visit the Gallet site here.
