The invention relates to an inductive proximity detector comprising an oscillating circuit excited with resonance by a generator and comprising a detection coil sensitive to a metal target to be detected, wherein the oscillating circuit comprises a reference coil arranged to present a mutual inductance with respect to the metal target to be detected that is substantially lower than that of the detection coil with respect to the metal target, the oscillating circuit comprises a switch able to assume two positions to connect each coil alternately, the detector comprises processing means connected to the coils making it possible to determine the presence or absence of the metal target close to the detector.