Angelus chronograph 215 pump gilt

Established in Le Locle in 1891 by the Stolz brothers, Angelus at first assembled watches out of parts made by other manufacturers. But as the 20th century dawned, Angelus were designing and manufacturing their own movements entirely in-house. They won awards at international exhibitions almost every year from 1902 to 1926.

At the brink of the World War II, many brands contributed timepieces to the war effort, producing chronographs for many of the world’s militaries. And Angelus with its Chronograph Calibre 215 was one of them.
Starting in the late 1940s, Angelus began producing chronographs for the Hungarian Air Force.

In bright 38mm steel cases with sharp tapering lugs that sit well on the modern wrist, the Angelus Chronograph Calibre 215 is composed by dials that share a trait with other military chronos (for instance, the Gallet MultiChron Regulator and the Zenith A. Cairelli): legibility.
Black and galvanic gilt dial, with large irradiated Arabic numerals and lumed hands, the Angelus is designed to be read in the low light of an airplane cockpit.

Inside it beats the Calibre 215, which deserves to be ranked up there among the likes of the Valjoux 72 or Longines 13ZN in terms of legendary chronograph bauches. Robust, deceptively simple to look at, the Angelus Chronograph Calibre 215 does what’s required of it with a minimum of fuss if kept in good working order. And its notoriety didn’t end when Angelus went out of business in the 1960s.

Angelus is now a brand whose old time chronographs have been gaining a lot of momentum in vintage collecting circles. Like many worshipped brands, Angelus has a long and storied history of making watches–and making them well.