Hands-On With The Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph With A New Black And Rose Gold Dial
About three years ago, I went to a watch get-together in the city of Maastricht, in the “far” south of the Netherlands. It was my first time at one of these events, so it blew my mind to see all the watches that everybody brought with them. But I also remember that many people were very excited about one specific Airain re-edition. When I went back to Amsterdam by train, I had the honor of sitting next to Tom van Wijlick, the owner of that brand. He’s the same guy behind the Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph that I’m going hands-on with today.
He told me about how, in 2014, he and his wife brought back the Airain and Lebois & Co brands because of their love for vintage watches. Now, a few years later, I’ve seen quite a few of their watches, and I’m always impressed by how well these re-editions are designed. For some reason, I always thought that the designs came directly from earlier references, but that’s not the case. Tom and his designer Matthieu Allègre certainly take inspiration from older references. But then they take certain elements that they like and blend them. Let’s see how they did that for this new Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph.
The Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph ref. 324.406
The new Heritage Chronograph ref. 324.406 has the same 39mm stainless steel case that we know from the earlier Heritage Chronographs. As RJ already mentioned in his review, it’s a very wearable case with a 47.35mm lug-to-lug length and a 13.9mm thickness. On paper, that seems like quite a thick watch. But the domed sapphire crystal takes up almost 3.5mm of that. In addition, the brushed and polished lugs are nicely rounded and slope down dramatically toward the wrist. All this means that the watch sits very nicely on the wrist and doesn’t look too thick in any way.
I also really like how the brushed and polished chronograph pushers mimic the shape of the sloped lugs. The nicely sized and branded crown sits very well in between those pushers and is easy to reach. That comes in handy when you’re winding the hand-wound La Joux-Perret movement. Taking all this into account, the well-finished case looks and feels compact. Moreover, I don’t think there’s anything I’d change about it. That brings us to the unique thing about this new reference — that black dial with lovely gold details.
A matte black and rose gold cocktail with Breguet numerals on top
As mentioned, the dial on this new reference isn’t a direct copy from an older reference. Its inspiration comes from two Lebois & Co chronographs from the ’40s. One had a very busy white dial with Breguet numerals, and the other had a yellow gold case and hands and a black dial with rose gold detailing.
On the new Heritage Chronograph, the dial layout is simplified. The matte black dial feels much more organized and relaxed. The gilt-colored printing is thick and gives the dial some depth, just like those azurage-finished sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock. The rose-gold-tone handset looks like it was almost directly transferred from one of those earlier references. They match very well with the Breguet numerals, which, in this case, haven’t been cut off anywhere on the dial.
I think that mixing the inspiration from those two vintage references resulted in a very good-looking dial. It still oozes classic and elegant ’40s style, but it looks a little cleaner than those earlier versions. It also pairs very well with the Cognac leather strap that came on our review sample. The watch is also available on Hickory Brown suede, Charcoal Black suede, Aegean Blue suede, and Midnight Navy leather straps.
La Joux-Perret inside
This new watch features the same hand-wound column-wheel chronograph movement as the other watches in the collection. The LC-450 caliber is a 24-jewel caliber by La Joux-Perret, and it runs at a 28,800vph frequency. If you fully wind it, it’ll have a 60-hour power reserve. You can enjoy the Côtes de Geneve decoration on the top plate and perlage on the mainplate through the sapphire crystal on the exhibition case back. Furthermore, the engraved wording and branding are colored gold as well. The movement has been regulated in five positions, and RJ already noticed that it runs quite accurately (he got around +4 seconds per day).
A walk in the park
The price of the new Lebois & Co. Heritage Chronograph is €2,800 (including 21% VAT). That seems like a fair price for a watch with a well-finished case, such a good-looking dial, and a high-quality La Joux-Perret movement inside. Tom makes introducing vintage-inspired watches look like a walk in the park when you consider the ones he has released since he took over the brand. But we’ve seen enough examples of brands that are not able to find the right mix of size, design, and proportions. So hats off to Tom and his designer for another job well done!
By the way, next year is the 90th anniversary of the Lebois & Co brand, and it will also be 10 years since it was resurrected. I’m excited to see what the team comes up with for those special occasions. The Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph ref. 324.406 is available for pre-order now. It’ll start shipping in January 2024. You can find more information on that and the watch on the official Lebois & Co website.
Let me know what you think of the latest Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph in the comments below.
