La maison du sextant

[Poa]

I've encountered at least two different sextants of this brand ("La maison du sextant") online, but i can't find any information on them.

The company that built them was probably based in Lésigny. Are they good sextants? What models exist? When were they produced and how much were they?

Thanks.

[El Pinguino]

They look like a quality item
https://www.debaecque.fr/lot/120892/...tant-sextant-d
I had never given it any thought but I doubt the French Navy would have used Plaths.

Aside - I owned a Dutch sextant for a short time - 'Observatuer' or some such. It had a horrible - IMO - filter system so passed it along.

[Poa]

I now believe "La Maison du sextant" was a repair shop and they merely put their label on various sextants they inspected or repaired. That would explain why you can't really find anything about them.


Here is an example of an ERNY 2000 sextant with their name on it:

[El Pinguino]

Some questions asked on your behalf - and some answers.

https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?thr.../#post-8091422

[SeanPatrick]

I agree with the posters on the forum El Pinguino linked to. As soon as I saw the photos of the "La Maison", I thought "That's an Astra."

Before he passed, I spoke to Ken Gebhart about the similarity of other sextants I'd seen to the Astra. Such as the Cassens and Plath CPSailing Sextant. Ken said that some other manufacturers sold sextants made at the Chang Zhou Celestaire factory, but with their own branding.

I had also remarked about the different scope and Ken replied that "The rubber eyecup is German."

And here's another interesting thing Ken had to say about the Astra:

Originally Posted by Ken Gebhart

The sextant [in the movie All is Lost] was an Astra IIIB. I know because we sold it to the producer, who bought another for himself. We thought it interesting that he opened the box just as we had sent it. You would have thought he would have at least looked to see what it was like before shooting the scene.

By the way ... I just discovered this snazzy sextant for sale over at the C&P website. Man, she looks fast!