Auricoste

French Navy 1950s radio room bulkhead clock of good precision, with four hands: seconds hand, minute hand, hour hand, and secondary hour hand (red) for different time zone. This red hand is easily set so as to show any other time zone selected by the user, or it can simply be hidden behind the main hour hand if not in use. The two blue zones (0 to 3 and 30 to 33 minutes) are the times dedicated to encoded transmissions every hour. The two red zones (15 to 18 and 45 to 48 minutes) are the times dedicated to radio silence for listening to distress signals.

Easy adjustment of retard and advance through the dial near the number 3. MN 753 is the inventory number of the Marine Nationale (French Navy), and it bears the signature of AURICOSTE, Horloger de la Marine de l'Etat (Clockmaker to the State Navy).

The door seals with a screw key to the right, the same key being used to rewind the clock every 8 days. Strong aluminium body, painted dial, the case being painted on the destination ship for color matching with the local wall. The movement recently cleaned and overhauled. All parts original.

Dimensions

All-out diameter 8 ¼ʺ (21cm), all-out depth 4ʺ (8,5cm)

Auricoste the firm known to supply all precision clocks and watches to the French Navy for the past 80 years, and to this day.

A brief history

Émile thomas, the renowned watchmaker and specialist in marine chronometers, founded his own watch-making company in 1854.

In 1889, Joseph Auricoste succeeded É.Thomas. He named the company after himself and devoted his expertise to it, an expertise which would soon be recognized and rewarded at the Universal Exposition in Paris. After the Second World War, Auricoste took on a completely new dimension. At this time, Pierre Auricoste, who was continuing the work of his father Joseph, began collaborating with Patek Philippe. Together they installed their first time-keeping network (electro-mechanical) on the French Navy’s Warships.

The 1950s saw the beginning of an extremely successful period of collaboration between Auricoste and the French Army. The French War Ministry ordered that the chronographs being used at that time by its military units had to include a flyback function ("retour en vol" in French and "taylor" in Italian).

Auricoste, already well-known for its reliability and its expertise in this field, received orders for more than 2000 chronographs from the different divisions of the French Air Force and Navy and the French flight test center. The highest administrations, such as the Elysée Palace and the French Senate, as well as the French Merchant Navy and numerous liners, also used the exceptional time-keeping pieces by Auricoste.

The Foch and Clemenceau Aircraft Carriers, the Avisos, the Frigate 2000, and the Nuclear Attack Submarines all appear on the illustrious list of warships which were equipped with the Auricoste time-keeping network. Crossing the world on French Warships, the reputation of the watch-making company was no longer limited to the French mainland. Numerous orders were received from foreign military services. And although it was on the waves that Auricoste won glory and fame, it was not long before Air Forces from all over the world began to equip themselves with Auricoste devices.