Pile Wonder is/was a French company that began life in Paris way back in 1914. Pile (peelay) means battery in French and their first products were saline batteries for both the French & German armies during the First World War. They went on to produce a variety of torches and batteries, as can be seen on the ‘cahier’ above. Cahier means ‘textbook’ in French, and these Pile Wonder Cahier seem to have been an innovative form of advertising, as we’re guessing they were given away to school kids.

Innovation continued and we reckon it was in the mid 1970s that the Wonder headtorch appeared, with its fairly unique method of converting an ordinary torch into a headlamp. The torch then became a battery pack for the headlamp. These headlamps were very popular in the mountains for a decade or so until better versions, particularly by Petzl, came along with LED bulbs and improved batteries. Pile Wonder ceased to exist in 1986.

We couldn’t resist buying this mint condition, boxed, Wonder off the internet. ‘Lampe de Poche avec Projecteur Frontal’ loosely translates as ‘Pocket Torch with Headlamp’.