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Joël Pynson
Publication: January 2025
1. Excelsior Park
Excelsior Park has been one of Switzerland's leading manufacturers of chronographs and counters. Its origins date back to 1866, when Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret founded his watchmaking factory in St Imier.
One of Jules-Frédéric Jeanneret's sons, Henri, formed the Jeanneret-Brehm company in 1901, and Henri's two sons, Robert and Edmond, took over under the name Excelsior Park [1].
1923
Excelsior Park is a manufacture, which means it makes its own calibers, and the company's specialty is chronographs and counters. In 1922, Excelsior Park had a range of 32 different counters: tachometers, pulsometers, split-seconds, anchor or Roskopf calibers, for soccer, rugby, water polo, field hockey, with boxing chimes, Taylor counters for production calculations, etc.
1941
In 1938 Excelsior Park created a 12/13-line chronograph caliber for wristwatches. Initially called simply 12/13, it was later christened caliber 42. From the outset, it was available with 1 or 2 pushers and with 30 or 45-minute counters. A few years later, a classic, round version of this movement appeared, called calibre 4, and a version with a calibre 4 hour counter, under the name 42.
2. Compass watches
Watches and compasses have long been associated. In 1892, leather goods specialist A. Garstin & Co, on London's Queen Square, made leather bracelets for Her Majesty's officers, to which watches and a small compass could be fitted. Kurt Frères in Grandes, Grana and Certina watches, also made them in the early 1940s.
1892
1943
But the compass was not integrated into the watch itself: magnetism is the enemy of the precision of a watch movement, and it wasn't until the development of anti-magnetic alloys, particularly those containing nickel, that a magnetized part could be brought closer to a suitably protected movement.
As early as 1891, Philippe Reinhardt in Berne [2] had patented a watch with a north-south index on the dial for orientation according to the position of the sun. There was even a military version of this solar compass watch, developed in France around 1908 by Captain Vincent, an officer with the 149th infantry regiment in Épinal [3].
The Aram K. Hissarlian company in Granges, which specialized in Roskopf watches, took an interest in the subject in 1938 with a first patent signed by Gabrielle Jeanne Pierrette Hissarlian-Lagoutte, then a second in 1940 signed by Aram K. Hissarlian describing a solar compass watch [4].
Patent text: To orient yourself on the northern hemisphere using this watch, proceed as follows:
Place index d on the division of scale g corresponding, as accurately as possible, to the time marked by the watch hands e, f, in this particular case 8 hours 22 minutes in the morning.
The watch is then placed horizontally and oriented so that the sun shadow d' cast on the dial by the index d, is placed under the index or is projected, extending radially, towards the center of the dial, as shown in the drawing. From this point on, the Compass Rose is approximately oriented, with the fixed index h indicating the N-S direction.
This led to the launch of a highly original chronograph in 1941: "The astronomical interest of this new timepiece lies in the fact that it provides results of far greater accuracy than those obtained with an ordinary watch. The patent is characterized by three essential elements: a movable index-arrow on the glass, bearing the sun's shadow on the dial; a fixed hand on the dial, replacing the magnetized hand; a specially graduated dial [5]."
1944
The watch features a mobile bezel with a small black triangular index. The dial features a compass rose with a north-south line. Closer examination reveals a graduated hour scale, 6 to 12 on the left and 12 to 6 on the right, at the top of the dial between 9 and 3 o'clock. To determine its orientation, two operations are necessary:
"1. by turning the bezel, place the moving arrow on the auxiliary hour scale at the edge of the dial, at the same time as that indicated by the hour hand on the normal dial. 2. place the watch in front of the sun and tilt it until the shadow of the arrow lies exactly under the arrow itself, extending radically towards the center. The fixed hand on the dial, replacing the magnetized hand, will now indicate the direction of north. The indications on the compass rose will be accurate. The geographical situation of the place must also be taken into consideration."
It should be noted that this chronograph can only be used as a solar compass watch in the northern or boreal hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere, the peripheral hour scale would have to be reversed, in the lower position on the dial.
Aram K. Hissarlian has also produced non-chronograph watches with this device.
1946
3. The Excelsior Park "Paratrooper" chronograph
This principle was taken up and improved by Excelsior Park around 1945 with an orientation hand chronograph:
"This double push-button chronograph is fitted with an arrow hand pivoting in the center of the dial. This red hand bears the letter N. It completes one revolution of the dial in 24 hours. To orientate yourself, simply hold the watch horizontally and turn it until the hour hand "points" at the sun. The orientation hand then points north. When the watch is stopped and reset, the hour hand must be superimposed on the orientation hand at midnight, not noon. In this watch, a special device enables the small seconds hand to be reset to the exact time. Simply press and turn a crown located on the perimeter of the case, opposite nine o'clock, to move the small seconds hand in either direction [6]."
This device, patented by the St Imier factory in 1943 [7], enabled the time to be set "to the second", on top of a radio signal for example.
A few years later, when the 14-line (31.60 mm) caliber 4 movement was fitted with an anti-shock device, Excelsior Park recommended this watch to military paratroopers:
"In the plane carrying them, the paratroopers receive the exact time at the right moment by radio. They then set their chronographs to the exact time to within 1 second, by moving the small seconds hand by the required amount using crown B. In this way, after parachuting, all the men can tackle the various tasks assigned to them as a team at the prescribed times, to within 1 second, so to speak. By activating the chronograph and counter hands with one of the two push-buttons, they can time the various phases of each military operation at will. Paratroopers hidden in the terrain can use yet another feature of this ingenious watch to find their way to the sometimes remote assembly base, often in unknown terrain. All he has to do is turn the watch in such a way that the usual hour hand points to the position of the sun, while the additional central hand bearing the letter N automatically indicates the direction of North [8]."
4. Description
The Excelsior Park "Paratrooper" chronograph is in steel with a rectangular pushpiece. This is a rare model.
It does not come with a water-resistant case.
The numerals on the dial can be luminescent.
The dial features the distinctive numeral 7 typography characteristic of Excelsior Park chronographs, but some models have a more classic numeral 7.
The movement is a calibre JB (Jeanneret-Brehm) 4, modified to include the small seconds setting.
This chronograph was also marketed by Gallet and Zenith.
Gallet was a major importer of watches in the USA, which explains why this chronograph is often branded Gallet.
Zenith used calibers manufactured by Excelsior Park for its chronographs. The "Paratrooper" model was called " Sextant " at Zenith. It is an extremely rare model.
There is also a non-chronograph version of the Excelsior Park chronograph, which is also extremely rare.
[1] More information on Excelsior Park here
[2] Patent CH 3531
[3] Revue internationale d'Horlogerie, 1908, 17, p. 926
[4] Patent CH 216 462
[5] Journal Suisse d'Horlogerie, 1942, 7, p. 218
[6] Chronograph with orientation hand, La Suisse Horlogère, 1953, 2, p.16
[7] Patent CH 235 072
[8] Revue internationale d'Horlogerie, 1954, 1, p. 26