A very special horological piece

[Grossisten]

Today on Instagram I came accross a photo of a Chronograph and its certificate. What was special about it, was that it was allegedly the graduation watch of Pierre Calame, the last of the founding family to head up Zodiac. The watch appears to have been created at the Technicum La Chaux de Fonds, a school located in a town only a ten minute drive from the Zodiac factory in Le Locle.

Pierre Calame was the great grandson of Zodiacs founder Ariste Calame - he took over around 1972 after his father Rene Calame, having already worked for the family business since the early sixties.

This fact made me wonder why he would only graduate as late as 1966 as the certificate indicates - but to my understanding Pierre Calame trained in a different discipline as well, so perhaps he took up watchmaking later while already working for Zodiac in a different capacity.

It appears to have been a pre-requisite for entering the family business that you knew your industry well, both his father and grandfather, Ariste junior, were educated at Le Locles watchmaking school (in the case of Ariste it was recently founded and lead by an important figure in the towns watchmaking culture/society, Jules Grossmann). Later management and marketing skills became perhaps more important in the watch industry, but the Calames insisted on the traditional approach as contemporary news articles indicate.

After reaching out to the owner of the watch I learned that it was bought from a grandchild of Pierre Calame, which vouches for its authenticity, I guess. The owner allowed me to share his pictures.