The Type XX is no ordinary watch. It is a reference, both literally and figuratively, that began life almost a century ago. It is also a trophy which the biggest brands have had in their sights and which several — the likes of Breguet, Breitling and IWC — have bagged. Competition was rife to supply pilots and the armed forces with the most attractive, most accurate Type XX, yet one detail went largely unnoticed: these chronographs were manufactured by the same company: Mathey-Tissot.
Unofficial purveyor to watchmaking royalty
Known only to the most savvy collectors, the brand boasts an illustrious past in the service of the profession’s greatest names. In addition to the aforementioned Breguet, Breitling and IWC, Mathey-Tissot also supplied Vacheron Constantin, Ulysse Nardin and Girard-Perregaux. All came knocking on the door of the factory in Le Ponts-de-Martel in search of two well-attested competencies: complications and precision. Indeed, watches made by Mathey-Tissot regularly took part in Kew or Geneva observatory timing trials.
Mathey-Tissot x Alfred Rochat
No other watch captures these values of complication and precision better than the chronograph, and more especially its most emblematic incarnation, the Type XX, which is making a comeback in not one but two executions. The first is an automatic flyback while the second is manual-winding with a date display. Of the two, the flyback is the most noteworthy. Its base movement is by Arola, aka Alfred Rochat, an illustrious maker established in La Vallée de Joux since 1941 and a supplier to the profession’s leading names, thus creating an historical continuity with Mathey-Tissot which during these same years was also working behind the scenes, often for the same brands.
An auction find
The Type XX, or Type 20 as referenced in the French Ministry of Defence’s commission to Breguet, returns as an exceptional reissue of the original manufactured by Mathey-Tissot for, notably, Breguet. Despite the difficulties of tracking down early pieces, the brand succeeded in getting its hands on an example from the 1940s, one of its first Type XX, when it came up for auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2019. A hammer price of almost HK$ 20,000 testifies to the rising value of watches with Mathey-Tissot movements from this period.
Just 25 examples
Now in possession of this treasure, the brand — with its partner, Arola — was able to recreate the aesthetic of this 1934 watch, which it is issuing as a prestige limited edition of just 25 pieces. While the Flyback Chronograph has been back in the collection for close to 30 years, the actual mechanical Type 20 is far more recent (2015) and there has never previously been a reissue of the authentic 1934 model. For these reasons, the Type XX Arola Automatic Flyback Chronograph is a rare occurrence. It is the continuation, in very limited numbers, of an entire chunk of chronograph history, as well as characteristic of the watches commissioned by pilots circa 1935 to 1955, when Mathey-Tissot was one of the industry’s unnamed heroes.
