Technicum Neuchâtelois Ecole D’Horlogerie Triple Calendar Chronograph

This Triple Calendar Chronograph is not a Rolex, Heuer, Girard Perregaux, or Zodiac; it has no brand, the generic label. It was the ultimate pride and joy of a budding watchmaker in the mid-late 1960s. This dial reads Technicum La Chaux-de-Fonds, short for Technicum Neuchâtelois. This was, at the time, the preeminent horological school. The school was particularly known for its master projects, where each pupil had to create a singular masterpiece in order to graduate. This is one such watch, made by trainee JF Billard (signed on bridge). With no work experience whatsoever, Billard made something as beautiful as a Jean-Claude Killy and finished it to a superior standard.

The is a Valjoux 88, and one of the only examples you’ll ever find with côtes de genève, anglage, and hand engraving. The high level of ability the school imparted is obvious. The silvered dial has applied gold indices and a solitary Arabic 12. Its hands are non-luminous and alpha-shaped. The edges of the day and month apertures are a detail I can’t get over, obviously hand-finished but where you normally see hard inner angles, this has uniformly rounded concave edges. School watches are often just as (if not more) well-made than their branded, serially produced peers. But, most importantly, you know someone absolutely loved this object, pouring their years of heart and soul into its construction. Probably the first time they ever built a full watch with their own two hands.

School watches, more commonly searched by ‘Ecole D’Horlogerie’, represent a very interesting area of independent (can I even use that word here?) watchmaking. There is no brand. They often look like watches you know, but just slightly distinct; like the uncanny valley of AI from 1960 as applied to watches. But where else are you going to find a hand finished (basically) Heuer Carrera or Jean-Claude Killy? Each is unique. Each is, often, surprisingly attainable. There are values left in the market, one just has to look further. And finding interesting, beautiful examples is as challenging a rare collecting category as any. This doesn’t have the history or the weight of a 6236 Rolex. It simply presents an overload of charm, personality, character, and all those other fluffy intangible words. That’s enough to win our hearts.

The Valjoux 88 here is a totally unknown quantity, so be sure you have watchmaker on speed dial. Triple calendar chronographs are lovely and desirable things, but not so easy to service, so be warned. The patina on the example is beautiful, helped by the fact that there’s no radium or indeed tritium to be see. The case appears quite sharp too. Someone else has loved this watch and treated it with respect. It comes from a well-regarded Parisian retailer.