Auricoste Type 20 - References, Prices and Owners' Reviews

More than 20 years ago I became interested in military chronographs supplied to the armies, particularly the French army. Breguet is well known to collectors for its Type 20, but Auricoste is less so... even though the brand was chosen during the same call for tenders as Breguet to supply flyback chronographs to naval aviation officers (if I understood correctly). Mine is in generally good condition and above all fully functional in all its complications, particularly the flyback. Too bad we can't post videos to show how the flyback works and thus better understand the issues and needs of pilots of that era. After some research, I tried to find a model that had actually been supplied to a pilot (the case back has engravings on the back specifying the revision dates in particular). But a model of this type that has flown is much more expensive, between 6,000 and 7,000 euros currently). And yes, the market got carried away and I bought this Auricoste for 7000 francs in 1998! On the technical side, it is an Auricoste 2040 movement with a low frequency of 18000 vibrations (2.5 HZ) which makes the second hand move very slowly as if it were tired by the passing of time. It is a movement from the manufacturer Lemania which made the glory days of many brands including Omega which later chose it for its famous Speedmaster. The dial is in very good condition with indexes that have kept their intensity and taken on an almost ochre color over the last 10 years with the most beautiful effect. The market being fond of this patina, I can only be delighted with the rating of this watch even if my goal is not to sell it but rather to pass it on like all the rest of my collection... On occasion I will do a review of my other Type 20 and in particular a Mathey-Tissot and a Dodane... Thank you Dialicious for this platform that was missing!