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How Gallet Is Turning Its Heritage Into a Modern Watch Brand

Gallet Managing Director Erwan Rossignol explains how the revived brand draws on its history while shaping four collections around a modern idea of Wanderlust.
Estimate4–5 min Catalogued SpecialistWatchRanker Team
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Gallet’s revival is built around a tension: how to draw on a two-century history without simply reproducing vintage watches. In a 2026 interview, Managing Director Erwan Rossignol described the answer as “Wanderlust”—not just hiking, but a broader urge to leave routine behind and discover unfamiliar places. The new collections use Gallet’s associations with travel, aviation, racing and exploration as starting points for a contemporary brand.

What does ‘Wanderlust’ mean to Gallet?

Rossignol said the idea took shape about two years before his September 2026 interview, during a discussion at Breitling’s Zurich office. A book titled Wanderlust caught the attention of Rossignol, Georges Kern and Breitling Global Head of Design Pablo Widmer. The word offered a way to frame Gallet’s identity around movement and discovery rather than around a single activity.

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“It’s about more than just hiking; it’s really about the longing to be on the move,” Rossignol said. In his account, Wanderlust is the desire to step out of everyday life and encounter places that are unfamiliar. That makes it a broad brand idea, not a claim that every Gallet watch is intended for a particular sport or expedition.

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How much of Gallet’s past should a revival carry?

Rossignol described Gallet as a brand with 200 years of history and around 150 years of continuous activity before it became dormant. He associated its past with aviation, motor racing, sailing and exploration. The interview cites the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 and racer Rex Mays’s Springfield victory in 1940 as episodes connected with Gallet watches; these are examples Rossignol gave in the conversation.

The difficulty, as he framed it, is using that history without making the revived brand feel like a display of old designs. “We’re not a museum,” he said. The aim is to retain recognizable heritage while giving the watches and identity a modern expression. Rossignol said the company had spoken with retailers and collectors during the year before the interview to refine both.

That distinction matters to anyone looking at the new collection: the historical references explain the design language, but they do not mean every model is a direct reissue. The Classics collection draws explicitly on earlier Gallet watches, while the broader launch is organized around different kinds of travel and activity.

How do the four collections express the idea?

Gallet’s official relaunch announcement names four collections. Its launch framing assigns each a different emphasis, rather than presenting the range as one uniform vintage-inspired line.

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Collection Launch framing Historical or design context
Flying Officer Long-distance travel Gallet’s aviation associations
Multichron Pilot Exploration and changing conditions The Multichron name and Gallet’s exploration associations
Multichron Sport Speed and off-road pursuits Gallet’s motor-racing associations
Gallet Classics Elevated travel Historical Gallet designs, including the Classics anniversary launch described by Rossignol

Waqt reported 11 references across the four lines at launch. That is a launch snapshot, not a guarantee of the range’s present size. The official announcement also describes interchangeable quick-release straps and says the watches are made within Breitling’s infrastructure.

What does the Breitling relationship mean?

Rossignol characterized Gallet as a sister brand integrated with Breitling for supply chain, suppliers, distribution, after-sales service and manufacturing capacity. He said at launch that Gallet watches would be available through 90 Breitling boutiques and around 70 additional retail outlets worldwide. Those figures describe the distribution plan stated in the 2026 interview; they should not be read as a current store count or confirmation of stock at a particular location.

The interview also says Gallet would use some Sellita movements. It does not establish that every collection or model uses one, so the movement should be checked model by model rather than inferred from the brand-wide statement.

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Which watches show the balance between heritage and a new identity?

Gallet Classics

For the 200th-anniversary launch, Rossignol said the Gallet Classics use Breitling’s hand-wound B09 manufacture calibre. He contrasted the new 38 mm version with a 35 mm original. These are the interview’s stated dimensions and movement details for the anniversary watch; they should not be generalized to every Classics model or the rest of the collection.

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Multichron 45 tribute

Rossignol also described a tribute to the 1940s Multichron 45. The interview establishes its historical inspiration, but does not provide a complete, verified specification set for a current model.

Tribute to Silverlight

The Tribute to Silverlight takes inspiration from the 1970s Multichron 12 Hour Scientific, according to Rossignol. That connection places it within Gallet’s historical design vocabulary; it does not by itself establish the current watch’s dimensions, movement, materials or availability.

What can a buyer conclude from the relaunch?

The clearest way to approach the range is to choose by the collection’s stated purpose and then verify the details on the individual reference. The launch story supplies useful context—travel, exploration, speed and historical design—but not a full current model-by-model specification or price list.

  • For the anniversary Classics, the interview identifies a hand-wound B09 calibre and a 38 mm new version compared with a 35 mm original.
  • For other references, confirm the movement, dimensions, strap or bracelet configuration and current availability against the specific listing or retailer.
  • Treat launch-era reference counts and distribution figures as historical snapshots, not as evidence of present inventory.

In the interview, Rossignol also mentioned vintage Multichron or Flying Officer watches changing hands for more than CHF 10,000 or CHF 15,000. He offered these as illustrative secondary-market figures, not as verified averages or a dataset of transactions. They are not a reliable basis for valuing a particular vintage watch.

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