#TBT The Gallet Commander Won In A Bar Gamble By A Grandpa

The only shortcoming of this otherwise perfect watch story is the fact that it was not my grandpa. The injured Gallet Commander was posted on Facebook by the grandson of a Mexican man that won the watch from an American soldier in a saloon-based poker game. That’s what I call a bad-ass cool granddad!

It’s not entirely impossible to find a Gallet Commander, but many online listings look very inconsistent and, frankly, too suspicious. Over-polished, relumed, even redialed, the OG crown long lost, you name it. Patience is, to a watch collector‘s life, as important as following the “condition, condition, condition” rule. As Gallet was very popular in the US (thanks to distributor Jules Racine), I believed that an honest piece would resurface sooner or later.

Gallet Commander as a Christmas gift

It was sometime around Christmas that I spotted a Facebook post featuring bad pictures of what I believed was an honest Gallet Commander. I got in touch with the owner Orlando, who told me the entire story. The watch belonged to his grandfather, who won it from an American soldier in a poker game down in Mexico. At first, Orlando wanted to keep Gallet Commander but couldn’t find a watchmaker in Mexico who would service it. He was not willing to ship the watch to Gallet Service and rather decided to sell it.

The bad-ass granddad that won the Gallet Commander in a card gamble.

I assumed the watch was not just dirty and expected bigger problems. Regardless, I took the risk and made Orlando an offer despite knowing the watch was broken. Orlando sent me pictures of his granddad and showed me other watches he had. I was already hooked. I couldn’t wait to see the watch in the flesh.

Watchmaking artistry

If it weren’t for my beloved @watchmaker_tom, I would have probably backed off. I smelled a real problem. After I took the Gallet Commander to Tomas, I eagerly awaited the condition report. As expected, the pivots on the balance staff were broken. He thankfully didn’t have to drill new ones, as we found a NOS balance staff listed on eBay. The worse news was that the chronograph was not functional, as the minute counter jumper was missing. Don’t ask me how that happened.

An after-service shot

It’s typically the kind of news that prolongs service for months, maybe years until you find a donor movement or replacement part. Tomas is however one of the very few devoted watchmakers that go the extra mile. He doesn’t hesitate to manufacture the tiniest parts on old-school machines he has collected over the years from old watchmakers all around the country. To my greatest surprise Tomas had another EP42 on the bench at the time, so he could take all the specs needed to manufacture the identical copy of the missing part. Bravoooo.

Baby Gallet Commander

The Gallet Commander is 29mm only. It’s tiny, indeed. Strapping a 32mm watch needs a lot of confidence, but another 3mm down, that’s something! But you know what? Once you put it on, it doesn’t feel like the smallest watch in your collection. I guess it is thanks to all the elements that make it a real chronograph, including the quite generous Arabic numerals and the two subregisters.

Four decades on the stage

Another specialty is the unusual oval shape of the movement. If you let the case back pop, the view is divine. It almost looks like there was no case at all. It’s a fine movement and later became available in a round version. Since its first introduction in 1938 the Excelsior Park 42 and its later round versions, the EP4 or the EP40 with an hour counter were in production for forty years. With each press of the upper rectangular pusher, I am stunned by the manufacturing quality that works flawlessly seventy or eighty years since first being strapped on a wrist.

Shotgun notes

My Gallet Commander came on a dirty bracelet. I could not believe what came back after an ultrasonic bath. It’s signed Forstner and the clasp works like it just left the factory. Even better. Exactly like the door handle on my grandma’s kitchen door. It’s the same today like it was 30 years ago. With no single lapse. I don’t know, engineers in the middle of the last century knew how to build things that last forever.

Why the Gallet Commander matters

Citing the Gallet History page, “The Commander was powered by the world’s first and only oval chronograph mechanism. This uniquely shaped in-house manufactured Excelsior Park 42 movement allowed for a time recording wristwatch of smaller proportions for professional women or the man desiring a timepiece that fit easily under the cuff. The Commander was also the first wrist chronograph capable of recording events lasting up to a full 45 minutes in duration.” Add the “snail“ tachymeter scale and radium lume, and you get another hard-to-resist chronograph.

A little more interesting history

The Gallet Commander has another interesting war story behind it, featuring American LT James Richard Hoel. Hoel received the Gallet Commander as a gift from his employer before he left for the war. He was wearing it when his bomber was shot down on 17th May 1943 in the Netherlands by the Germans during WWII. Hoel was sent to the prison camp where he helped dig the tunnels as portrayed in the famous 1963 movie The Great Escape. In 2003, 60 years later, he got a call from England telling him that his watch had been found. Hoel and his Gallet Commander reunited, and the watch was later part of a temporary exhibit at the National Watch and Clock Museum.

Final thoughts

You can recognize a fine collector by the fact that he recognizes Excelsior Park movements. And if you want to play the highest league, you should keep an eye out for the oval EP42, the mother of the legendary EP chronograph movements. With an intact lume and original crown, it represents the proudest of the 16mm lug width watches I keep in my collection. Happy hunting.