#TBT A Valjoux 72C-Powered Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph

My second article this year was dedicated to Gallet. My penultimate article this year will be dedicated to Gallet too. Today, we will look into the Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph that just returned from a complete spa procedure at my watchmaker.   

It was on my radar for a while, but I never pulled the trigger. The Gallet MultiChron Calendar is typically priced in the €4,000–6,000 range, and I was never ready to pay that much. I didn’t find it that rare and hoped my opportunity would come. And it came about a year and a half ago when I saw one listed on eBay. The seller was not a dealer, and this watch was part of her family heritage. As usually happens in such a situation, the pictures were relatively poor but showed potential to a trained collector’s eye. With the help of a friend, we managed to reach out to the seller, and we made a sweet deal.

Another Gallet with a story

Knowing the history of the watch and some bits and pieces about the original owner is always a nice bonus. Just read the story about my Gallet Commander, which was won by a Mexican man in a poker game with an American soldier, or the story of the Gallet Yachting that came to me from an original owner who took it to countless dinghy races. The seller of this Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph remembers her grandfather wearing it when she was a young girl. The watch’s honest condition can also be explained by the fact that it sat in a drawer since he died in 1978.

Revival

This watch came dirty with a scratched Plexi crystal, but it was all original. I gave the crown a few gentle turns, and it started ticking. Everything was working correctly, including the chronograph and calendar. As it was lying untouched for 45 years, I rather took it to my watchmaker for a refresh. And when I went to pick it up recently after maybe half a year, I could not believe how beautiful it was.

The “Rolex white” dial

There is something about the white color of the dial. I don’t know how best to describe it; it is rich, deep, very present, and magnetic. It reminds me of the white dial of my Rolex Datejust 16030. I bought that Rolex precisely because of that specific white that has some spell over me. I didn’t expect to encounter that white magnificence on my Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph, but here we are. Add the shiny steel hands and indexes along with the thin, light blue peripheral date track and blued hands, and you get a pretty unique, ice-cold snowstorm on the dial. Oh yes, and there’s an eye-catching bit of “blood” on the triangular tip of the date pointer too.

A later generation of the Gallet MultiChron Calendar

According to the Gallet page, the early Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph debuted around 1946 and was available until 1955. Those watches had dressier cases, rectangular pushers, and thin stick hands. Mine is sort of a second- or third-generation version. I say “sort of” because it was never presented in such a way. If you prefer, we could call it a “facelift.”

The Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph we have here today came out in the mid-1950s, and you can also find it in later Gallet catalogs. It has an updated version of the Valjoux 72C movement. So how does mine differ from the earlier models?

The calendar pushers

The Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph has two pin pushers on the left side of the case. Early models had them nicely integrated into the case band so that they were barely visible. When looking at the watch straight on, you couldn’t see them at all. Later models like mine got pushers twice the size, raised from the case, and seated in special tunnels. Do they look cumbersome? They do. I guess someone was more concerned about the function than the form. This is pure speculation, but I think they got this “uglier” treatment to make setting the calendar a more pleasant experience. The change could also be related to the pushers’ advanced functionality…

The later Valjoux 72C explained

One of the pin pushers sits at 10 o’clock and the other at 8 o’clock. The pusher at 8 is for advancing the date. The pusher at 10, however, operates the month and may or may not control the day of the week, both displayed in tiny windows above the classy Gallet logo. When pressing the pin gently, you will hear a click, and the month will jump ahead. But if you press it all the way down, you will hear the second click, and then the day of the week will jump.

The earlier version of the Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph with Valjoux 72C didn’t have this function. You’d have to advance the hands manually to set the day and then set the rest of the watch. Beware of that before you start arguing with your watchmaker that your Valjoux 72C doesn’t work as it should.

Last thoughts

My relationship with the Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph is relatively new. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I didn’t expect it to leave such a mark. There were other Gallet chronographs that I was hunting more seriously or that were higher on my Gallet wish list.

I tried my best to capture the white dial’s uniqueness, and you can judge it for yourself. Compared to my other darling, the Angelus Chronodato, this Gallet MultiChron Calendar Chronograph looks more rugged and robust. It is slightly smaller in diameter, but on the other hand, it has a bit of a sportier spirit. My Gallet MultiChron Calendar came unexpectedly, but it will get a lot of wrist time in the cold months ahead. Happy hunting!