Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Génève 2019 – who is going to win? A selection of the most interesting watches at GPHG 2019, the “Watch Oscars”, which includes many exceptional timepieces and some new surprises.
Top ten new pilot’s watches at prices under €2,000, including new designs, re-editions of historic models, and pilot’s chronographs. All with the distinctive, easy-to-read style that hallmarks aviation watches.
Timepieces that reveal growing attention to the pilot’s watch category on the part of top brands, with re-editions of historic designs, and some very interesting new models. Prices from €2,000 up.
Hamilton are launching a reinterpretation of a watch manufactured for the Royal Air Force in 1973. The Pilot Pioneer is a classic pilot’s watch, with vintage black textured dial, white numerals, and beige SuperLumiNova on hands and hour markers. It will be available with a NATO strap or a leather strap, at a great price:…
Oris have released an 80th anniversary edition of their Big Crown Pointer Date watch that first appeared in 1938. Though intended for pilots, it has a classical dial, with the unusual pointer date feature. In the 2018 edition, the case is in bronze, with a fluted bezel that doesn’t rotate. The lovely green dial colour…
The latest Bell & Ross watch is inspired by cockpit instruments, but this piece has an original twist: the hours are shown not by a hand but by the central part of the dial that rotates along with the reference triangle marked on it. It required some thoughtful design to ensure that this component would…
Longines is a brand that dedicates constant attention to its large collection of historic pieces, and the Heritage Military is a good example of their skill in creating convincing new editions of memorable timepieces. It could be described as a pilot’s watch, though it doesn’t have much in common with the usual Type A B-Uhr…
The 2019 collection by IWC includes the Spitfire Automatic, which presents some significant differences with respect to its predecessor, the Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII (still in production). The most important feature is that it has an in-house movement, Calibre 32110, instead of the ETA 2892-A2. This has been achieved with only a small increase in…
The new Autavia watches by TAG Heuer are beautiful timepieces, 42 mm diameter, with bi-directional rotating bezel, a pilot’s watch aesthetic, and chronometer-precision movements which, though not entirely in-house, incorporate a new balance assembly. They are given an original appearance by the graded dial. They have interchangeable straps, bracelets and canvas NATO straps (supplied as…
Breguet has its Types XX, XXI, XXII, and Blancpain has the Air Command, a watch that, like the Breguet pilot’s watch, was a response to a French Ministry of Defence commission for a flyback chronograph. It was also offered to the United States Air Force, but it is likely that no official orders ensued, and…
The 5520P-001 Alarm Travel Time by Patek Philippe is unusual in its looks. It combines the classic pilot’s watch layout, with chunky numerals and hands providing good visibility by means of facets of luminescent paint, with the grand complications of a second time zone and a chiming alarm. The four large crowns – or rather,…
The Breitling Aviator 8 Automatic 41 Curtiss Warhawk is the latest version of the Navitimer 8 Automatic. In stainless steel with black DLC coating and an olive drab dial, it has a green canvas strap for an authentic military feel. Its functional simplicity reflects that of the classic pilot’s watches and cockpit panel instruments made…
There is a lot going on at Breitling. Georges Kern took over as CEO in September 2017, after 80% of the company had been purchased by London-based private equity group CVC Capital Partners. But Georges Kern didn’t arrive just as CEO: he also invested in the company, and so he is primarily an entrepreneur. His…
The J12 by Chanel is one of those watches born from a brilliant intuition by a single person – rather like Gérald Genta and the Royal Oak. It was designed by Jacques Helleu, artistic director at Chanel, who had previously masterminded Chanel’s entry into watchmaking with the Première in 1987. He created the J12 in…
Tufina is a watch brand that uses the description Made in Germany even though its movements are Chinese. Is this legitimate?
Attractive in its beige-black livery, the Bell & Ross Military Beige BR V2-92 is functional, with a bidirectional rotating bezel in anodized aluminium that enables events to be timed and countdowns to be set. The hour and minute hands have central fields filled with SuperLuminova. The automatic is (to my eyes) marred by the date…
Welcome back, Guinand Unmistakably tough. Unmistakably pilot’s. The Starfighter Pilot Chronograph watch by Guinand has a lot of attractive features and a ton of aviation DNA, with links to Helmut Sinn and the long tradition of German watchmaking. Its name Starfighter is a connection to the watches by Heuer and other brands that were supplied to…
Aerowatch’s new timepieces for Baselworld 2019 include this attractive pilot’s watch, named Grande Mécanique Aviateur and part of the brand’s Renaissance collection. It is 43 mm in diameter with a narrow bezel and so it is a statement piece on the wrist, though it looks reasonably slim. The matt black dial provides a backdrop for…
Meccaniche Veloci (the name translates as “fast engineering”) was founded in Milan in 2006, and its first model QuattroValvole (four valves) became its leitmotif, with four subdials for four time zones. In 2016 the company moved to Geneva. Today it makes a few thousand watches per year, with in-house movements. Automotive inspiration The Quattrovalvole CarboNero…
The Khaki Field Murph Auto is the watch that provides indirect confirmation for one of the most surprising claims made by Hamilton: that the appearances of their branded watches in films are not the classic product placements, because they don’t actually pay for them. They are simply approached by the producers by virtue of their…
Baume Iconic is the first automatic watch by the new brand Baume. All the other watches in Baume’s first collection are quartz. One of Baume’s unique selling point is the use of recycled materials, in particular aluminium for the watch case, and a strap made from recycled PET plastic. The Miyota 82D7 movement is made…
2019 brings with it a number of anniversaries that may spawn some celebration watches, such as 50 years from the moon landing, 50 years since the first automatic chronograph, 50 years since the Seiko Astron, the first quartz wristwatch, and 50 years since the first Concorde flight. A. Lange & Söhne celebrated its own special…
A touch of genius from Hermès. Many of the 35 brands presented new moon phase displays in this 50th anniversary year of the first moon landing, and one of the most original watches of this type was Arceau l’Heure de la Lune by Hermès. In this piece, probably based on an original concept by La…
IWC’s new pilot’s watches include this Automatic, one of the purest pilot’s watches made by IWC in recent years. It is very close to the Mark 11 watches supplied to the RAF in the late 1940s. The major differences are the presence of a date window, different dial markings, and above all the introduction of…
Before analysing the deluge of watches presented recently at the Geneva show SIHH, here is a post on a watch by San Francisco-based start-up Linjer. Another start-up? Another would-be watch brand? But Linjer is an example of what is happening in the mechanical watch industry. Up until a few years ago, mechanical watches were by…
