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…
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…
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…
Here is a selection of some of the most interesting new pilot’s watches launched for 2018. They are in ascending price order.
Stoic World is a new project by Peter Speake-Marin, and one of its first watches is this classic pilot’s watch, with a self-winding Seiko movement, and a 38 mm case with a 100-metre water resistance rating. All at an affordable price: $390.
Santos was the first pilot’s watch, possibly the first watch with a square case, the first watch with exposed screws on the bezel, and the first watch to have a leather strap.
The watch named Vintage, reference H46, by Berthet is in the early aviator style, with large luminescent Art Deco style numerals, a hand-wound movement, and an attractive price.
The Flieger Verus 40 by Stowa is a stunning new interpretation of the Type A pilot’s watch pattern, proof that the application of good design can transform even the simplest format into an attractive and striking piece. How have the Stowa designers achieved this subtle transformation? By increasing the scale of the markings. They are a…
Zenith is one of the very few brands that has a real in-house tradition of early aviation watches. Louis Blériot crossed the Channel in 1909 with a Zenith watch on his wrist, and that piece has inspired a long series of classic pilot’s watches by the brand, all based on that original. Next year will…
The Glycine Airman 46 Automatic GMT was presented in 2017, the latest version of what has become a classic model for the brand. It looks more like a diving watch than an aviator, with its 24-hour bezel and hour and minute hands with a shape normally seen on divers watches. It has some unusual features,…