Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Coquille d’œuf Chronograph by Lebois & Co, with Grand Feu Enamel Dial
The vintage-inspired chronograph gets a lovely handcrafted Grand Feu enamel dial.
The name Lebois & Co. might be familiar to some, for two reasons. One, because we’ve covered this brand quite extensively over the past few years, having a look at its initial releases – the Avangarde Date and the Venturist – and its rather successful Heritage Chronograph collection. Second, the name itself is far from new (founded in 1934) and has been brought back to life by Tom van Wijlick, a Dutch entrepreneur who’s also responsible for the comeback of the old brand Airain and its Type 20 and 21 pilot’s watches. Now focused entirely on its chronograph model, Lebois & Co. has delivered some appealing editions already, with the recent Black and Gold, or the salmon model here, but the latest version, a souscription model, pushes the concept even further with a grand feu enamel dial.
Lebois & Co. is one of these watchmaking companies that, like so many others, didn’t survive the arrival of quartz movements and ceased production in 1972. The property of the Dodane family, known mainly for the eponymous brand and its pilot’s watches for the French army, the brand remained dormant for almost 40 years, up until Van Wijlick brought it back with a Kickstarter campaign and the Avantgarde Date, a modern interpretation of a time-and-date watch. It was followed by the Venturist in 2018, a tool watch with a modern feel. But the model that truly brought back attention to the brand was the Heritage Chronograph, a vintage-inspired stopwatch built together with the community of fans. The result was pleasant, nicely built and defined where the brand was heading.
Now, in 2025, Lebois & Co. starts to imagine more high-end editions of its chronograph, and the first in line, a watch that will be offered in a limited yearly production, through a souscription process, is all about the dial… As for the base watch, nothing new to report. It is still the same handsome, nicely proportioned retro-styled chronograph we’ve come to know from its initial launch. This means a 39mm case made of steel, with brushed surfaces and nice polished bevels. With the ultra-domed sapphire crystal on top, it’s a bit thick (14.3mm), but that’s often the case with modern chronograph movements. An interesting element, the shape and finishing of the chronograph pushers, which show great attention to detail.
For this edition, which comes with a name that will be impossible to pronounce for non-French speakers, the decision was made to use a grand feu enamel dial. It is done in a warm, elegant colour named coquille d’œuf, which can be translated as eggshell (yes, it sounds fancier in French…) The dial is made by renowned dialmaker Donzé Cadrans, a Swiss specialist in this craft. It is composed of three separate parts (main dial and two sub-counters). The dial is fired at over 800?°C, and then, the curved, multi-level surface is printed by hand using enamel-based inks, then fired once more to permanently fuse the graphics into the enamel.
The result is a dial with a warm, slightly antique appeal. Lebois & Co. chose here to use black Breguet numerals and to frame the dial with a pulsation scale, giving it a vintage medical chronograph vibe. Time is indicated by a pair of blackened leaf-shaped hands and the chronograph is a classic bi-compax layout.
Under the sapphire back is the calibre LC-450, the hand-wound version of the La Joux-Perret L100 series column wheel chronograph movements. Using the base architecture of the 7750, it is equipped with a column wheel, runs at a frequency of 4Hz and stores about 60h of power reserve. The finishing is quite nicely done with blued column wheel and screws, perlage and Côtes de Genève.
Available through a souscription process, the production of the Lebois & Co Heritage Chronograph Atelier Coquille d’Oeuf is limited to just 25 pieces per year. The retail price will be EUR 9,800, with a deposit of EUR 2,940… Quite a step up from the 3,000 euros of the standard editions. For more details, please visit www.lebois.com.
10 responses
Too thick. This is a dress chronograph. As such, it should fit under a shirt sleeve. At 14.3mm it’s not going to do that, is it? So what’s the use case for this…?
Beautiful dial but seems like a steep price relative to the other Lebois & Co models
These people make some pretty watches, even if the prospects for assistance in future remain dubious. This one is priced out of their league, which probably means they are sunsetting the business already.
Buyer beware when considering purchasing from Wijlick and brands he’s associated with. Other than this watch’s outrageous pricing, especially for what is being offered, you may find that you don’t get it in the timeframe expected, and what you get may not be what you ordered. These may be things that other watch brands can be guilty of too, but in this case it’s been shown to be a pattern, rather than an exception.
@J. Quincy Magoo
Thank you for your comment. Since the same points keep coming back, I’ll briefly repeat what I’ve already written before so readers have the full picture.
In our very first batch of the Airain Type 20, a small number of watches (12 out of hundreds delivered) had issues. One customer, a friend of yours, received a defective watch, and later a clasp that didn’t meet expectations. We repaired the watch, provided complimentary straps and buckles, and throughout the entire process repeatedly offered the option of a full refund. That offer was never taken up.
Were the waiting times too long? Yes. Even for a pre-order project, they stretched further than they should have, and I fully acknowledge(d) that. We are not perfect (no one is) but we have learned from those early challenges, improved our processes, and we have never left a customer without a solution.
At this point, though, I don’t believe continuing an online back-and-forth is productive. My invitation remains the same: anyone, including you, with concerns is welcome to contact me directly (email but also phone), and I will always be available to discuss openly and resolve matters fairly.
Tom @ Lebois & Co
Greg, thanks for your comment. Happy you like our watches!
We are a small independent brand, and while this particular watch may sit at a higher price point, it’s definitely not the only direction we’re going. In fact, alongside this model we are actively working on new, more accessible pieces that will be introduced soon.
We’re certainly not “sunsetting”; on the contrary, we’re building our collections for the long term. More news will follow shortly.
Never had an issue with the brand. Wijlick has been great at comms and the watches are amazing in the flesh.
@JP
Thanks for raising this point. It’s a very fair question, and one that often doesn’t get enough attention—not only from blogs but also from us as brands. It’s similar to the discussion about diameter: it’s an important number, but you also need to take lug-to-lug into account to really understand how a watch will sit on the wrist. Diameter alone simply doesn’t tell the whole story.
As for the thickness: the listed 14.3 mm includes the highest point of the domed crystal. Without the crystal, the case measures 10.9 mm. Where the crystal actually starts to dome, the thickness is 11.2 mm. The caseback is tapered as well, which means the flanks start at just 8.1 mm. Unfortunately, I can’t share a side profile image here, but if you look at the high-res images on our website you’ll get a good idea of what I mean.
All in all, this watch is only 0.4 mm thicker than our standard Heritage Chronograph series, and that’s due to the dial thickness. So if you know how the Heritage Chronograph wears—or have seen photos online—you can expect essentially the same wrist presence, just 0.4 mm more.
Once I emailed them an inquiry. It took weeks to get a reply. Thank but no thanks.
Beautiful watch, but sadly out of my price range. Fortunately their other heritage chronographs with a similar aesthetic are more affordable (the black and gold in particular is very tempting).