Most of us know that sketchy dudes wear Breitling. If you don’t understand this, I suggest going and checking out Watches of Espionage’s video on this. It is a fun little thing that some of us in the watch community like to joke about, but like most jokes, there is a modicum of truth behind it.

What if you are an aspiring or budget-conscious sketchy dude? Breitling might be out of your price point. Well, do not be worried. Breitling has you covered. Earlier this year, after the acquisition, Breitling relaunched the Universal Genève brand. More recently, they acquired and relaunched the Gallet brand.

A Quick Look at Gallet

Gallet is a brand that was founded in 1826, meaning this year marks 200 years of the brand existing in some form or fashion. They were previously well known for making chrono watches. In 1993, the brand filed for bankruptcy. In 1996, the brand was bought and then mothballed until Breitling purchased them in 2025 and relaunched them this year.

With the relaunch, they started off with a limited but exciting lineup. The Flying Officer line is the entry point into the brand. These are your more everyday watches from the line, having a world time that is a three-hander and chronos. The Multichron Pilot is the mid-level tool watch category. Multichron Sport is the mid-level sporty watch category. Gallet Classics is your more vintage-inspired line that is considered to be the premium line.

With each step up in line, there is an associated price hike as well. Your entry point is the Flying Officer Automatic 40 on strap for $2,900, with the Tribute to Silverlight chrono coming in at $6,700. This pretty firmly plants itself into the entry-level luxury watch segment, which is where the brand was mentioned to be positioned. The intention of the group that has been formed around Breitling is meant to be: entry point is Gallet, luxury is meant to be Breitling, and high-end luxury is meant to be Universal Genève.

Checking Out Gallet at Husar Tic-Tock Shop

Recently, I had the opportunity to check out Gallet at my local A.D., Husar Tic-Tock Shop. They were holding their Watchtober Fest event, which I was excited to attend. The day of the event, I had a couple of watches I had decided I wanted to trade in and started browsing their website. They had a few used pieces I was interested in checking out, and then I also remembered that they were now carrying Gallet. I sent a text message with what I had to trade in and what I was interested in and got a response quickly to let me know what the trade-in offer would be. It made me excited because I was speaking with Peter through text, and he seemed genuinely excited about the Gallet brand.

I went into the store early in the day to do my trade deal before the actual Watchtober event started. When I arrived, I worked with Aidan, whom I have worked with before. What struck me is that this was another person genuinely excited about the brand, and it came across as genuine. Dom, the other watch associate, had the same excitement when I talked with him. This was interesting to me. The reason I say this is that I have worked with all three people mentioned previously, and these guys are knowledgeable and work with brands such as Breitling, Rolex, Tudor, TAG Heuer, Omega, and many other luxury brands on a daily basis. For all three of them to have a genuine excitement about a brand, and for it to show equally and genuinely between the three of them, meant that there had to be something good.

The Watch That Hooked Me

Walking over to the display area for Breitling and Gallet, you are introduced to the entire lineup, which was nice because I could see an example from each part of the lineup. I checked out a few pieces and was really liking what I was seeing, but I decided that I was not in it for a chronograph for the day. At first, the thought crossed my mind that I was going to be going with something different that day.

Then a Flying Officer 40 on bracelet was pulled out. It had a blue dial with a white ring. I liked the design a lot. The world time functionality was something I did not have in my collection. Then an orange-dial variation was pulled out. I was hooked. The orange is not the overly bright orange that screams “LOOK AT ME NOW!” but is a more muted orange that looks like it could fairly easily blend in. It has a green world time ring, which just pairs so damn well. I told Aidan that is the color I would go for if I went with it.

We then proceeded to look at some other watches they had in stock, and now, looking back on it, I feel a bit bad because I feel like I wasted some of his time. As we looked at the second watch, my heart and brain were screaming at me to just get the Gallet. After a short time and a few more watches being looked at, I finally made the call. I picked up a Gallet Flying Officer Automatic 40 on the bracelet with the orange dial and green world time ring.

As we were getting ready to go and finish out the deal, I was made aware that Gallet offers their own quick-change straps and was shown the cool setup they have to be able to visualize each band on the watch. I picked up one of the brown suede versions, as I thought it would look best, and as many of my readers are aware, I am a strap guy. I change the straps and bracelets out on my watches almost every day. We headed up to the counter and were getting ready to finish the deal. They sized the bracelet for me, and this was the point where something about this watch felt more special than a vast majority that I buy. I could not take my eyes off it, and the more I just looked at it, the more I started to like this piece.

A Special Shout-Out

I have to give a special shout-out to the folks at Husar Tic-Tock Shop. I made a major mistake when I left my house to come do this deal. I grabbed the boxes without verifying that both of the watches were in the boxes and left. It is a little under an hour for me to get to their location. When we were checking out and finishing up the trade is when we found that the Longines I was trading in was not actually in the box. I felt like an idiot and like an ass for making such a rookie mistake.

They were very understanding and didn’t make me feel like an idiot over it and were beyond cool about it, which is very much appreciated because I know I personally feel beyond embarrassed when something like this happens. After all of this, we still got the deal done. I got them the Longines, they got me the Gallet, and it was simple to complete.

I also want to give Aidan an extra shout-out, as I know I can be a pain in the rear, be very indecisive, ask a million questions about things, and overtalk. He handled this like a champ and made the whole process run smoothly, answered every question I had about the brand and model, and made sure I had the opportunity to really check everything out in detail. So, to the entire team, thank you for being such cool people.

First Impressions on the Wrist

After leaving with the watch and wearing it on the drive home, I kept just staring at it with a giant smile on my face. Normally, I am a pretty boring dark black or dark blue dial guy, but the green and orange just draw you, as the wearer, to keep checking it out. The black indices are a nice offset that makes it very legible and easy to read.

The weight of the watch is excellent. It does not feel overly heavy just to be overly heavy. It is very thin at under 11mm. Mix weight, thickness, and a 40mm case diameter together, and you have a very comfortable watch. The bracelet feels well-built and is comfortable to wear. It is not one of the annoying rattle-style bracelets that come on some watches in this price point. On the clasp, you have a tool-less micro-adjustment, which makes fine-tuning the sizing easy. Featuring a 20mm lug width, it is a perfect option for a variety of straps. When I got home, I tested it with various different straps to see how it would look. I threw it on a leather rally-style strap to wear it to the event later on that night.

The Nerdy Part

Doing the nerdy thing, I threw it on the timegrapher while I was doing strap checking. The watch came in showing that it is running at an average of +1 second per day in five positions. While the Gallet 17 movement is not chronometer-certified, it sure appears to be running within that spec. The Gallet 17 is a Sellita SW200-2 that Gallet modifies and regulates to their desired specs.

Watchtober Fest and the First 24 Hours

I wore the watch for the rest of the day and to the event that evening, and it was great. There were a lot of people I spoke with who were interested in the brand and were asking questions about how I liked it so far. This watch had more attention than most of my other watches I have worn to similar events, which is cool to see that there is a genuine interest in the broader watch community.

As of the time of writing this article, I have now spent my initial 24-hour period with the watch and have so far been impressed with it. I have been trying to find something I do not like about the watch, and I have not really been able to find something yet, but that could change in the long-term review of things. Only time will truly tell. With that all being said, I am very excited to play with this watch and see how it shakes out in the long term.

So, Can a Sketchy Dude Do It on a Budget?

To answer the question of whether the sketchy dude on a budget will be able to still have a piece of Breitling with Gallet: from the initial testing, it sure seems like that is a possibility, but again, only time will tell.