Breitling Buys Gallet, What’s Next?

Just last week, Breitling announced its acquisition of a second defunct watch brand with historic roots that it plans to relaunch: Gallet. This purchase comes just two years after its purchase in 2023 of defunct luxury brand Universal Geneve. Now, with the purchase of Gallet – with roots dating back centuries – Breitling execs have their hands full.

”This acquisition is a natural next step in Breitling’s expansion” said Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling, in a press release issued today. ” Our vision is long term—reviving Gallet as a strong brand in watchmaking while honoring its legacy of adventure and innovation in chronographs.”

Building the brand involves everything from start to finish, such as putting an executive team in place for the brand, researching the archives, designing and building watches and marketing programs and so much more.

Gallet was founded  in 1826 by Julien Gallet and was dedicated to creating timepieces for travelers and adventurers. But the founding family’s roots go even further back – to the mid 1400s when they were clock builders. Under the vigilant eyes of Julien Gallet, the brand focused on building rugged timepieces and even chronographs.

It expanded in 1871  to the United States market via Jules Racine & Co., which distributed it exclusively — building Gallet into a prominent name in American watchmaking. According to the brand’s archives, its contributions to aviation history include timing the Wright brothers’ first powered flight in 1903 (when the Kitty Hawk Flyer covered 852 feet in 59 seconds)with “The Sun” stopwatch.

The brand acquired a Swiss watch manufacturer, Société d’Horlogerie Electa, in 1907 – giving it even greater production capacity, and in the ensuing couple of decades, developed several  patents and innovations.

Highlight timepieces in its history run the gamut from the 1939 Flying Officer  water resistant  chronograph designed for multi-time zone tracking (a watch that  President Harry S. Truman was gifted by a friend and was often seen wearing) to the Multichron Regulator watch for auto racing that American racer Rex Mays regularly wore. The list goes on as Gallet enjoyed a heyday, especially in America, until the 1970’s. Then, like many Swiss brands in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it succumbed to the quartz crises (the introduction of quartz-powered watches) that nearly derailed the Swiss mechanical watchmaking industry.

According to Kern, Breitling’s concept for Gallet is position it as an opening-price-point sibling to Breitling. He anticipates its debut to take place in 2026. With this being the second purchase by Breitling of a vintage brand, we can already see the writing on the wall for Kern to position these brands across the entire entry to luxury price ranges.

(This article by Roberta Naas first appeared in her column on Forbes.com.)