Goldenlutin
261
The "Olympic" chronographs by GP started in 1936...
Jul 30, 2014,15:32 PM
The Olympic "story" began for GP in 1936 with the "Mimolympic" watch which was sold both under the GP brand and Mimo (http://www.invenitetfecit.com/modeles/chronographes-sans-compteur3.html). This is the only (and last) time GP used something you could call an in-house movement in the Olympic chronographs. To be exact, the Mimolympic was not even a real chrono but rather a fly-back you could not stop ("montre stop" in French).
The later GP chronographs and especially the Olimpic models are just/only re-branded Excelsior Park watches. Apparently Excelsior Park did not only supplied the movements (not at all modified by or for GP) but the complete watch, including the design of the case, dial, hands, etc. That is the reason why you can find the exact same Olimpico models branded Excelsior Park also. Excelsior Park did further provide the same models to Gallet for the American market. Therefore you can find the same model / design under 3 different brands all produced by Excelsior Park. As a collector it is interesting to collect the same model under the different brand names.
By the way, the most common but nonetheless the most interesting Olimpico model is, IMHO, the later Olimpico version with the turning bezel.
As a final note: Collecting old GP Olimpico chronographs is a bite like collecting (re-branded) Excelsior Park chronographs
Best regards,
Goldenlutin