Orient Pilot RA-AC0H04Y10A
Marathon Pilot’s Navigator
Casio G-Shock Gravitymaster GR-B200
Bulova Lunar Pilot
Sangin Instruments Kinetic II
CWC RAF Pilot’s Quartz Chronograph
Hamilton Khaki Aviation Pilot Pioneer Mechanical
Citizen Promaster Skyhawk A-T JY8108-53E and JY8075-51E
Victorinox Airboss Mechanical
Price: $1,095, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 10.16mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200-1
The Airboss takes its name from the officer on an aircraft carrier in charge of takeoff and landing time for the fighter jets. A classical-looking military pilots’ watch with a ruggedly functional look, produced by Victorinox, the company best known for giving the world the ubiquitous Swiss Army knife, it’s got a 24-hour inner ring on the dial, inside the traditional 12-hour scale (with the numeral 12 marked by the Swiss cross logo). The 42mm steel case is mounted on a contrast-stitched, ecologically tanned calf leather strap and its sapphire exhibition caseback offers a view of the Swiss automatic movement inside.
Stowa Flieger Klassik 40
Christopher Ward C8 UTC Worldtimer
Price: $1,420, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness; 11.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Lug to Lug: 53.2mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic ETA 2893-2
Christopher Ward watches, designed at the young company’s HQ in Great Britain and manufactured in Switzerland, are known for their distinctive Anglophile aesthetics. The military-influenced C8 UTC Worldtimer is a prime example, taking its cues from the Smith’s Mark II A Clock, an instrument found in British Spitfire planes during World War II. The watch’s two crowns — one for winding and setting, the other for operating the rotating inner for the world-time function — feature an engraved motif echoing the look of airplane engine turbines. The two-piece dial, with stencil-type numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock and military pipette-style hands and red arrow-tipped GMT hand, allows the wearer to keep track of two time zones, while the outer city ring provides offers a glimpse of all the rest of the world’s time zones simultaneously.
Tissot Heritage Navigator Automatic 160th Anniversary
Tutima Flieger
Price: $1,650, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 13mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic ETA Valjoux 2836, Crystal: Sapphire
Glashütte, Germany-based Tutima has found success in adapting the vintage aesthetics of the military pilots’ watches it produced in the 1940s into contemporary watches that are both sporty and stylish. The recently launched Tutima Flieger models with gradient slate-gray dials and tone-on-tone Horween leather straps offer an understated monochromatic look and are outfitted with a self-winding mechanical movement based on the Swiss-made ETA Valjoux 2836 and upgraded with a Tutima-made rotor.
Mühle Glashütte Terrasport I
Seiko Astron SSH049
Sinn 105 UTC
Based on Sinn’s very popular 104 series, the new 105 collection provides a modernized update to a classic collection full of Sinn’s utilitarian design language. The new 105 uses Sinn’s well-known case shape and signature lugs, while providing a pop of orange and a highly legible dial and handset as well as GMT functionality by way of a charming orange hand and tegimented, PVD-coated bezel. Other than Sinn’s U50, this is one of the brand’s most notable releases in a long time and the one best suited for the return to travel that we're seeing in the waning days of the pandemic era.
Laco Pilot Watch Original Paderborn Erbstück
Junghans Meister Pilot
Oris Big Crown ProPilot Timer GMT
Longines Avigation BigEye
An everyday chronograph, the Longines Avigation BigEye features, you guessed it, a big eye (a large running seconds subdial). It’s also perhaps the most affordable column-wheel chronograph watch on the market, providing precise functionality and more positive operation that you can feel upon engaging the pushers. Column-wheel calibers require a high level of expertise to finish, and are for that reason commonly utilized by master watchmakers at A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet. In addition, the casual, military-inspired look and comfortable dimensions of the Longines Avigation BigEye makes it super wearable on the majority of the wrists out there for day-to-day use.
Tudor Black Bay GMT
In the same case dimension as the Black Bay Chrono, the Black Bay GMT houses the manufacture Caliber MT5652 with a date and GMT complication. When this model initially arrived in consumer’s hands, there were some mixed feelings due to a fault with the date wheel function in some watches. While Tudor has claimed that it has solved the issue in newer stock, some find the issue persists. However, if you’re in the market for an everyday GMT watch to track a second timezone as life and work go international, you’ve got to keep the Black Bay GMT in mind, especially for the price. The Tudor Black Bay GMT takes some of the special sauce from sister brand Rolex’s GMT Master II and translates it into Tudor’s design language. Frankly, it works really well and the price is more than fair.
Breitling Aerospace Evo Titanium
Tudor Black Bay Chrono
Though the Tudor Black Bay Chrono is technically more of a sport watch, it really shines as a functional everyday pilot’s watch, with a useful chronograph complication, which just sneaks in under $5,000 on the leather strap. Like some other Tudor Black Bay watches, the Black Bay Chrono does the trick where it measures big on paper but fits surprisingly well on many average-sized wrists. The main selling point of the Black Bay Chrono is its reliable column-wheel chronograph movement based on the Breitling B01. At the price, this is one of the more interesting chronographs you can find from a watchmaking standpoint, and the durable build would make a perfect companion in the cockpit.
Bremont MBII
Price: $4,995, Case Size: 43mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Bremont BE-36AE
What’s tougher than a watch that can survive ejection from a plane? UK-based Bremont introduced the first MBI in 2007 in partnership with Martin Baker (the “MB”), Britain’s leading manufacturer of ejection seats for military aircraft. MBII watches undergo a tortuous gauntlet of tests in the areas of shock, vibration, corrosion and climate, as well as being strapped to the wrist of a mannequin in an actual ejection-seat trial. The steel case is in Bremont’s three-part “Trip-Tick” construction and hardened in a special process that is also used to treat jet-engine turbines. The high-contrast black dial features white Arabic numerals and a “Danger” triangle marker at 6 o’clock. The Swiss-made automatic caliber inside is secured by a specially designed shock-resistant rubberized mounting and boasts a COSC chronometer certification.
Sinn EZM 10 TESTAF
RGM 801 Aircraft
Price: $6,400, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness; 10.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Lug to Lug: 52mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Manually wound RGM Caliber 801
Swiss-trained American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy founded RGM in Lancaster County, PA, in 1992 and launched Caliber 801, the first high-end mechanical movement produced in the U.S.A. in more than 40 years, in 2008. That “Made in America” movement powers the RGM 801 Aircraft, designed as a tribute to vintage pocket watches and classical military aviation clocks, with hands and other dial details echoing those on a cockpit clock used in 1940s military aircraft like the F-4U Corsair and the F-6 Hellcat. From these antique instruments come the black dial with outer, military-style 24-hour numerical scale surrounding an inner 12-hour scale; the thin, diamond-tipped hands; the 6 o’clock subsidiary seconds display; and the use of fluorescent green and yellow details. The movement features many of its own visual tributes to America’s watchmaking heritage, like the distinctive “E. Howard” bridges and the pronounced winding click and polished winding wheels developed by the Illinois Watch Company.
Zenith Type 20 Extra Special Bronze
Specifications: Price: $7,200, Case Size: 45mm, Thickness: 14.25mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Zenith Elite Caliber 679, Crystal: Sapphire
Zenith’s simply named Pilot collection is comprised of boldly designed, historically influenced pieces that take their cues from watches and dashboard clocks that the Swiss company produced in the early days of aviation. The watches feature extra-large cases, bulbous ratcheted crowns designed to be gripped by gloved hands, broad luminescent Arabic numerals, and period-appropriate cathedral hands. The Type 20 Extra Special features a simple three-hand arrangement, with timekeeping powered by Zenith’s Elite Caliber 679, a self-winding movement based on the Elite 680 (essentially a version of the El Primero minus the chronograph function) with a 50-hour power reserve. The hefty 45-mm case is made of bronze and features a solid titanium caseback with an engraving of a vintage plane.
Breitling Navitimer B01 43mm
Few brands can rival Breitling’s history in making watches for pilots, and even fewer watches can rival the Navitimer’s legitimacy as one of the premier watches for airborne operations. In fact, the Navitimer was so synonymous and perfect for flying that the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) adopted the Navitimer as its official watch. In terms of design, over the Navitimer’s decades-long existence, not much has changed. The latest version of the Navitimer now comes in various colors, but it still has the familiar three-register layout and that distinctive slide rule bezel that some pilots still rely on today for critical calculations. The biggest change is on the inside, as new Navitimers are now powered by Breitling’s in-house caliber B01 chronograph movement.
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Spitfire Titanium
Price: $9,500, Case Size: 43mm, Thickness: 14.4mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic IWC 82100
IWC introduced a smaller, more wearable 43-mm size to the Big Pilot collection in 2021, including a titanium-cased version in its popular sub-family, which takes its inspiration from the Mark 11 navigation watch IWC developed for the British Royal Air Force in 1948 (and named for the Supermarine Spitfire, a WWII-era British military plane used by the RAF). The matte-grey titanium case frames a black dial styled like that of a historical observation watch (outer zero-to-sixty minutes scale, inner 12-hour ring), which was designed for early 20th-century pilots to use it for celestial navigation. IWC’s manufacture Caliber 82100 ticks inside, shielded by a solid caseback and storing a 60-hour power reserve. Like all Big Pilot 43 watches (BP 43 in shorthand), the watch and its strap are equipped with IWC’s EasX-CHANGE system that allows the wearer to quickly and easily swap between straps (alternates are sold separately) without using tools.
Rolex GMT-Master II
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch IW501001
Breguet Type XXI 3815
Specifications: Price: $14,900, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 15.2mm, Lug to Lug: 48mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Breguet Caliber 584Q/A, Crystal: Sapphire
The Breguet Type XX collection of luxuriously styled aviation watches pays tribute to the watchmaking Breguet family’s historical link to the advancement of flight, as forged by the founder’s great-grandson, Louis-Charles Breguet. The Type XXI 3815, which is outfitted with the manufacture Caliber 584Q/A, features a 42-mm case made of corrosion-resistant titanium, a sunburst dial with two subdials and large, luminous hour numerals in either green or orange for a decidedly contemporary aesthetic. In an unconventional layout, the dial’s chronograph readout is on the outer minute ring, indicated by two central hands, while its subdials are devoted to running seconds and a 24-hour time display. The automatic movement, with its gold rotor and silicon escapement, is visible behind a sapphire exhibition caseback.
Blancpain Air Command
Reference: AC02-12B40-63, Case Size: 42.5mm, Thickness: 13.7mm, Water Resistance: 30m, Movement: Blancpain automatic manufacture Caliber 3888, Crystal: Sapphire, Price: $18,500
Revived in 2019 as a limited edition in steel, the Blancpain Air Command traces its history to a prototype made for the French Ministry of Defence in the 1950s, and its successor that was produced in limited numbers for the U.S. Air Force shortly thereafter. In 2021, the vintage-flavored aviation watch joined Blancpain’s regular lineup in a satin-brushed case made of grade 23 titanium (a higher grade than those usually found in watchmaking) and a contemporary blue dial. Among the watch’s retro utilitarian elements are its ratcheted bidirectional bezel that enables a pilot to keep track of his fuel reserve in flight and a tachymeter scale for calculating air speeds. The flyback chronograph-equipped Caliber F385 inside holds a power reserve of 50 hours and is finished in a stark, mostly matte finish that differentiates it from Blancpain’s usual ornately decorated movements.
Patek Philippe 5524G Calatrava Pilot Travel Time
Price: $55,590, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness; 10.78mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 60m, Movement: Automatic 26-330 S C FUS
Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Travel Time, inspired by a piece in the luxury maison’s museum archives, channels the look of vintage cockpit timers while also offering a patented, aviator-friendly dual time function. An outlier in Patek’s mostly genteel collection of timepieces, it brings a patina of luxury to a classical tool watch template: its 42-mm case is made of white gold while its dial sports a navy blue color inspired by the body paint of 1930s fighter planes. The watch’s big, vintage-look Arabic numerals and syringe-style hands, and the topstitched calfskin strap styled like an old-fashioned pilot’s belt are all elements that hearken back to the early days of aviation watches. The cleverly designed “Travel Time” function can switch the local-time hand forward or backward in one-hour increments without affecting the running of the movement and thus the watch’s accuracy. Like all Patel Philippe watches, it boasts an in-house, highly decorated movement, Caliber 324 S C FUS, with a 21k gold rotor.
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Call me cheap, but, the LunarPilot Bulova is for it’s price pretty bloody good and very accurate. All the rest if you can afford them, good on you, but however for practical use a watch which is accurate to + or – 5 seconds a year and under US$ 500 is really quite jaw dropping.
Big miss here is the Omega X-33. Both the older an newer versions were bought by many of my Navy wing mates through squadron watch buys. It has all you need in dual time zones, Julian date, alarms and timers. Titanium is almost indestructible and took a beating on ship and in flight. My go to watch to this day.
I own both the Rolex GMT-II in two tone 18k gold and stainless and the Hamilton Khaki Pilot watch featured here. One was $14,500 and the other $500 yet I love them both equally. Looks wise, the Hamilton pilot is beautiful, classic, simple and elegant. I love winding up my watch in the morning. I save the GMT-II for special occasions. I fly Boeing 747s for a global cargo airline and you’d be surprised what a following both of these watches have in Asia. I get comments all of the time.