A 200-Year-Old Watch Brand Just Came Back With Breitling Behind It

Gallet is back, and this is much bigger than a heritage name being dusted off for an anniversary.

The Swiss watchmaker founded in 1826 has returned as part of the same House of Brands as Breitling and Universal Genève, launching four complete collections built around travel, aviation, motorsport and archival chronographs. The most important detail for shoppers is the one printed directly on the new watches: Manufactured by Breitling.

That gives Gallet an unusual proposition. Instead of asking buyers to take a chance on a newly revived independent brand, the company is using Breitling’s manufacturing, service and distribution infrastructure from day one while occupying a lower entry point in Swiss mechanical watches.

What launched

The comeback includes four families: Flying Officer, Multichron Pilot, Multichron Sport and Gallet Classics.

The Flying Officer is the easiest place to understand the new brand. The automatic 40 mm version starts at $2,900 before sales tax and revives a travel-watch name first introduced in 1939. Its rotating city bezel is updated around modern global gateways, while the steel case is rated to 100 meters of water resistance.

The chronograph side of the collection moves higher. Multichron Pilot and Multichron Sport chronographs are currently listed from $4,400, using the automatic Gallet 23 caliber with a roughly 65-hour power reserve. Gallet’s anniversary Classics are the collector-facing end of the lineup: 38 mm hand-wound chronographs priced at $6,700, powered by Breitling’s manufacture B09 caliber.

Why Girls Who is watching it

Most luxury-watch launches ask shoppers to choose between an established logo at an increasingly high price or a smaller name without the same service network. Gallet is trying to sit between those two worlds.

The $2,900 Flying Officer is especially interesting because it offers a mechanical Swiss watch with genuine archival roots, 100-meter water resistance and Breitling-backed manufacturing at a price that sits meaningfully below much of modern luxury watchmaking. That does not automatically make it a better buy than Tudor, Longines or TAG Heuer, but it makes Gallet a legitimate comparison rather than a nostalgia project.

There is also a reason not to rush blindly. A revived brand still has to prove resale demand, long-term collector interest and whether its design language develops beyond the launch story. For buyers who care more about recognizability and secondary-market liquidity, an established competitor may still be the safer purchase.

Girls Who verdict: worth knowing now, especially for shoppers looking for a less-obvious Swiss watch under the usual prestige-brand price ceiling. The Flying Officer Automatic is the clearest entry point; the B09-powered Classics are the pieces for buyers who care most about the horological argument.