Brand Directory: Lebois & Co

Lebois & Co was founded in 1934 by Raymond Dodane who was a third generation of a watchmaking family. Based in Besançon, France where they designed and manufactured the watches. In 1940 an Italian aircraft manufacturer Caproni gifted a number of chronographs to Swiss Air Force pilots, after the war the company was bought by Italian importers who used Dodane and other Swiss manufacturers to manufacture their watches.

Sadly as a result of the Quartz revolution, they closed the business in 1972. Fortunately, in 2014 Tom Van Wylick and his wife Eveline came across a picture of an attractive chronograph in a Christie’s auction catalogue, after doing some research they approached the Dodane family with an idea of resurrecting the brand, and the family was only too happy for this to happen and with the help of 150 investors Lebois & Co was refounded. 

Avantgarde Date watch was offered through Kickstarter and was highly successful reaching 126% of its funding, the following year saw the second batch relaunch of the Avantgarde and in 2018 a third batch relaunch each more successful than the last, it was decided to offer investors and collectors the change to own shares raising 500,000 Euros. 

In 2016 a new brand logo was created incorporating the shield from the Van Wylick coats of arms which dates back to 1550.

In 2020 they acquired the rights for Airain after talking with the French owner's Dodane family. Now the two brands live under Compagnie des Montres Lebois & Cie just as it was in 1934.

In 2021 Lebois & Co’s Heritage Chronograph was a re-issue of their 1940s chronograph,  drawing help from their community of watch collectors, it has received certification from the new TIMELAB’s - Observatoire Chronométrique (OC+) certification, which is a more comprehensive set of testing compared to the accepted COSC Certification.