23. Roger Tallon

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C.23 Roger Tallon

Tallon, coming from a country where interest in design has always been dominated by 'art décoratif', is one of the first and foremost important industrial designers in postwar France. His agency worked on hundreds of totally different projects which gave Design Programmes S.A. (ADSA) an outstanding and worldwide reputation in a relatively short period. Now ADSA is a subsidiary company of Euro RSCG.

1929	Born on the 6th of March in Paris.
1947-1952	Studies Electrical Engineering in Paris.
1951-1953	Works as a designer for Studio Avas, Paris.
1953-1962	Freelance designer. Works for Catarpillar (machines), General Motors (refrigerators) etc.
1955	Designs the 'Taon', a motor cycle for Derny-Motors.
1957	Teaches the first course ever to be taught in France in Industrial Design at the 'Ecole des Arts Appliqués' in Paris.
1967	Works on the Mexico City Underground for CIMT. Produces his first sketches for the corporate identity system of the TGV (the French high speed train).
1972	Develops a lighting system 'Pin Spot' for ERCO, Germany and ski boots for Salomon.
1973	Establishes the design agency 'Design Programmes S.A.' featuring himself as industrial designer, Pierre Paulin as interior designer and specialist infurniture (Artifort), and Michel Schreiber as fashion designer.
1974	A new series of watches, 'Mach 2000', is developed for Lip, France.
1975	Designs the unusually futuristic 'Corail' train.
1982	A series of watches for Certina, Switzerland, is developed.
1984	Formation of Architectural Design SA and partners (ADSA).
1992	Designs for the Eurotunnel project.

In 1974 he designed the following Lip watches, which were retailed from 1975 onwards:

The Mach 2000 series.

1	A mechanical stop-watch with the three coloured balls, red, blue and yellow, with a Valjoux 7734 movement. This watch by Tallon is the most sought after by collectors. However, it is not the rarest. (Ref.no. 43756)
2	The same as 1, with three black balls. (Ref.no. 43820)
3	The 'Electronic' watch, with a black button and a Lip R148 movement. (Ref.no. 43770)
4/5	A grey 'Quartz Electronic' (Ref.no. 43802 = 43867) with a metal bracelet to match and (Ref.no. 43826 (= 43872) with a leather strap. All with a Lip R033 movement. This was the first French quartz watch and was available from September 1975 onwards.
6	Automatic rectangular blue watch, blue rubber strap and blue button. Durowe 7225 movement. (Ref.no. 43789)
7	Automatic rectangular grey watch with a grey or white rubber strap and dark grey button. Very rare. Durowe 7225 movement. (Ref.no. 43798)
8	Automatic rectangular black watch, black rubber strap and red or black button. Durowe 7225 movement. (Ref.no. 43765)
9/10	Small grey rectangular watch with grey button with leather strap, (Ref.no. 433410) or with grey metal bracelet (Ref.no. 43331) and a Lip R50 movement.
11	Ladies' small black rectangular watch with an electronic Lip R50 movement, a black rubber strap and black or red button. (Ref.no. 43304)
12/13	Black coloured light emitting diode watch (LED) with a Novus (National Semiconductor USA) 300 WM01 quartz three functions module. With a rectangular case (Ref.no. 43888) or with an asymmetrical shaped case. (Ref.no. 43887) Beautifully designed, very rare watches.

The Lip Ecusson Line.
Ladies' asymmetrical watches in the most wonderful colours with a Lip T13 movement. While the first edition with a wide strap was not very successful, Lip made a new edition with a smaller strap. See page 72.

14/15	Black watch with a wide orange strap (Ref.no. 43310) or a small black strap. (Ref.no. 43336)
16/17	Maroon coloured watch with a wide maroon strap (Ref.no. 43311) or a small maroon strap. (Ref.no. 43337).
18/19	Green watch with a wide green strap (Ref.no. 43312) or a small green strap (Ref.no. 43338)
20/21	Dark blue watch with a fuchsia coloured wide strap (Ref.no. 43313) or with a small fuchsia strap. (Ref.no. 43339)
22/23	Unpolished chromium plated watch with wide white strap, (Ref.no. 43314) or small white strap. (Ref.no. 43340)

A series of six watches.
Men's rectangular watches and ladies' square watches with the crown on the upper side between the brown leather strap and the watch case, both with a Lip R50 movement.

24/25	A man's brown watch, dull chromium plated (Ref.no. 43838) or gold plated. (Ref.no. 43849)
26/27	A man's white watch, dull chromium plated (Ref.no. 43843) or gold plated. (Ref.no. 48839)
28	A ladies' brown watch, dull chromium plated. (Ref.no. 43404)
29	A ladies' white watch, gold plated. (Ref.no. 43403)

Three square LED watches.
With a Novus WM 04 quartz four functions module. Released in 1975.

30/32

Brushed chromium plated (Ref.no. 438960) sand blasted dull chromium plated (Ref.no. 43905), and brushed gold plated. (Ref.no. 43897) Sold from 1976 onwards.

The DS New Line.
In 1982 Roger Tallon designed two series of square shaped quartz watches with metal bracelet for Certina: The DS New Line. The Certina DS Line was first released in 1958. The DS New Line was launched at the Basle Fair of 1983. All these new models have four small screws in the corners. Later on, an endless variety without the four screws in the corner was produced. The reference numbers of the ladies' watches start with 1827100 and have a movement Ref.no. Certina 182 or ESA 956.121. The numbers of the men's watches start with 1847000 or 1847100 and have a movement Ref.no. Certina 184 or ESA 955.412. They are all based on the one design by Roger Tallon and differ only slightly.

33/39	The D.S. N1 series comprises seven men's watches with a round shaped crystal.
40/55	The D.S. N2 series consists of eight men's and eight ladies' watches. They have a square shaped crystal.

Prototype.

56	Tallon also created a beautiful LED watch for Braun, which unfortunately didn't reach the production stage.

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