Tropical 1950s Gallet MultiChron 45 Film Chronograph

Gallet & Co. has been a cornerstone of horology for 550 years, tracing its origins back to the year 1466 when it was founded by Humbertus Gallet. The company introduced some of the most significant wristwatch complications we recognize today, including the first wrist-worn chronograph, regatta timer, and GMT chronograph. Even today, Gallet commands great respect among vintage enthusiasts, admired for its meticulous attention to detail and superbly crafted wristwatches.The MultiChron line of watches designed by Gallet is the most popular and revered by collectors because of their usually larger case sizes and tool watch applications. The MultiChrons were always designed with an intended purpose in mind and their highly legible dials make for perfect daily wearing. 

This intriguing Gallet MultiChron 45 chronograph is an exceptionally rare variant, known as the Film Chronograph or Film-O-Graph, and it is technically a cinematographer's watch. The dial is distinguished by the outer scales, which are used to calculate the film usage of a video camera. The outer black chronograph ring indicates the number of feet of 35mm film (the 'professional' standard) run through a motion picture camera, at the standard exposure rate of 24 frames per second, for example, 45 feet at 30 seconds. The inner red ring indicates the number of feet of 16mm film (the 'amateur' standard), at the same frame rate, for example, 18 feet at 30 seconds. To our knowledge, only a handful of these variants are known to have been produced by the Gallet company.