Bronze is the material of the moment. The Pilot 42 HandWound Bronze by Archimede has a case made by Ickler, a specialist company in Pforzheim. The bronze has a brushed finish, and the case has a screw-down steel caseback with mineral crystal providing a view of the movement. It is water-resistant to 5 bar (50 metres. The watch is 42 mm in diameter and 9.8 mm thick.
The dial is the classic pilot’s watch type, black, with numerals, indices and hands coated with SuperLuminova. Hands are blued, adding a touch of colour under certain lighting conditions. The watch can be ordered with one of a range of leather strap colours, black, dark brown, mid brown, light brown. All have a bronze buckle, though the additional options include a folding clasp.
The movement is the ETA 6498, a hand-wound calibre with small seconds at 6 o’clock. At 36.6 mm diameter, it is a perfect fit for the case, and its thickness of just 4.5 mm helps keep the overall watch thickness down. Archimede don’t specify the balance speed: the 6498 runs at 18,000 vibrations per hour (2.5 Hertz) or 21,600 vph (3 Hertz). Power reserve is about 50 hours.
Archimede have done the same thing as IWC with their IWC Big Pilot’s Heritage Watch 48 IW510301. This piece also has a hand-wound movement with small seconds at 6 o’clock. This feature is not really part of the Type A pilot’s watch tradition, in which small seconds were shown by a central hand. But most pilot’s watches are reinterpretations, and the Archimede 42 is very attractive above all on the reverse.
The Pilot 42 HandWound Bronze by Archimede, reference UA7929-H2.1-BR, costs €920 inclusive of tax. It is available direct from the Archimede website. The same watch is available with steel case at €680.
