Since its creation in 1854, Auricoste has been closely linked to the french air force and navy. The company’s history confers on it a unique position in the watch-making world, where beauty and precision are the key words. Its chronographs are considered to be the time-keeping device of choice by watch-making specialists and amateurs throughout the world.

Auricoste continues to provide its craftsmanship and services to the major Navy and Air Force divisions, both in France and abroad.

Today, this large and prestigious watch-making company is reinventing the legendary Type 20 and has added the new Type 52 to its catalogue, two particularly sophisticated chronographs made in the purest historical tradition so as to provide the greatest pleasure to watch enthusiasts and collectors.

Auricoste, one and a half centuries of elite watch-making

Émile thomas, the renowned watchmaker and specialist in marine chronometres, 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 recognised 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 shop at 10 rue de la Boetie

The interior of the store

The Type 20 of 1954

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). "Type 20" became the official name of this model. When this type of chronograph was imposed by the administration, a call to tender was launched to the expert watchmakers.

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 centre. 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 recevied 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.

More recently, the French Ministry of Defence has placed an order for its prestigious “Charles de Gaulle” aircraft carriers in order to equip them with the best ever time-keeping network, that of Auricoste, which is evidence of the French Army’s renewed confidence in this watch-making company.

For over a century the French Army has been putting its trust in Auricoste’s time-keeping devices, allowing the company to claim the highly coveted title of watch-maker to the French Navy.

Today, Auricoste continues its tradition by revisiting its two leading models, the Type 20 and the Type 52, bringing together horology experts and collectors and military mechanism enthusiasts around its range of products.