REACH for the SKIES
THE meaning of value is hard to pin down. You’ve got perceived value versus actual value, for starters, and then the problem that one man’s tripe is another man’s caviar. One of the few things we can all agree on though, is that there is value in usefulness.
Usefulness is reassuringly tangible. A car is useful. A microwave can come in very handy. Usefulness is the reason men go into B&Q for a roll of masking tape and come out with a power tool.
So it is with a watch. Ultimately, a watch is an instrument we use to tell the time, the date and the runniness of an egg. This has always been the case. The first clocks were used to determine the movements of the sun and the earth. They were followed by marine chronometres used to position a ship on the high seas, and then by watches worn on the wrists of those magnificent men in their flying machines.
As it happens, your wristwatch owes a lot to the pilots of the early 20th century. Cartier is often credited with popularising the wristwatch after creating the Santos for Brazilian pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1904. Louis Blériot, the first man to cross the English Channel in a plane in 1909, entrusted timekeeping duties to a Zenith for his momentous journey.
LEGIBLE, ROBUST, ICONIC
Then came the wars and the battle for the skies. Pilots, gloved and understandably preoccupied, had little time for fumbling about with pocket watches. The wristwatch was the useful solution and pilots on both sides were issued with trusty, legible, robust models from all manner of iconic watch brands – IWC, Longines, Hamilton, Omega, Stowa and Elgin among them.
Returning from battle still wearing their bomber jackets and wristwatches, pilots were not only heroic figures, they were trendsetters. By the end of World War II the wristwatch had become fashionable – cool before cool existed.
Not much has changed now. A pilot’s watch is still cool. Masculine, versatile, dependable, charming – a pilot’s watch is the gentleman’s watch for all seasons.
Common traits among pilot’s watches include large, open dials with clear markings penned with maximum legibility in mind. A chronograph (stopwatch) function is a practical addition, particularly if your plane’s electrics are prone to sudden lapses of concentration, and a true pilot’s watch comes equipped with an oversized winding crown, originally designed to cater for lessened dexterity when wearing gloves in a bi-plane.
The upshot of all this is that a pilot’s watch makes a great everyday timepiece. The style just works, for starters.
“Because of their legibility pilot’s watches generally have a lovely classical look to them and that makes them ideal for wearing in the office or at the weekend,” says Giles English, co-founder of the high-flying British watch brand Bremont, which makes a number of very sought-after pilot’s watches. “A lot of aviation watches have black dials and these tend not to clash with different outfits,” he says.
This is a good year to be in the market for a pilot’s watch. At January’s SIHH watch fair in Geneva, IWC launched a raft of new pieces in its Pilot’s Watch collection, including five models bearing the TOP GUN logo.
Before you unleash the peroxide and help yourself to a pile of white towels, worth remembering these are not named after the naff 1986 film. In fact, like the film, they are named after the Naval Fighter Weapons School based at Miramar in California.
First among equals is the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar, with its metallic grey ceramic titanium case, military inspired green textile strap and – for the watch nerds – IWC’s own in-house movement. Yours for £9,750.
Zenith recently reminded the world it is the only watch brand with licence to put the word “pilot” on the dial of a watch with its much talked-about Pilot Chronograph. So positive was the reception that it has promised to extend the range – but new models remain under wraps until spring.
Newness aside, the choice of pilot’s watch, as with any other watch, still comes down to budget. Breguet’s Type XXII, based on an original made for the French Navy’s airborne division in the 1950s, has a 1/20th of a second chronograph and a price tag of £13,300. Rolex’s iconic GMT Master II, famously designed in cahoots with 1950s Pan Am pilots looking for a watch that would help them deal with jetlag, currently retails for £5,250.
CALCULATIONS
Breitling’s Navitimer 01 [pictured left] comes complete with a circular slide rule bezel for those last gasp calculations and costs £6,390 – the newest version carries Breitling’s first ever proprietary movement, the superb Calibre 01. Or you can slip on Glycine’s Airman SST06 – named after the mothballed 1960s Boeing Super Sonic Transport passenger plane – with its three time zones for £2,995.
Bell & Ross, the stylish French brand whose watches are inspired by aeroplane cockpit instruments, is best known for its flagship square-cased pilot’s watches including the statement-making BR 01-92 [pictured right], a steel three-handed watch you could read with your eyes closed, for £2,650. And not forgetting the aforementioned Bremont, whose SOLO has a case hardened to an impenetrable 2,000 Vickers, and costs £2,550.
Sinn, a German company with (predictably) a strong reputation for its technical approach, has a huge range of ‘Instrument Chronographs’, like the Flieger Chronograph 103 A Sa – a handsome piece with an automatic movement that will set you back a very reasonable £1,465.
LADEN WITH TRICKERY
Hamilton’s newly announced Khaki Aviation X-Patrol marks the brand’s 120th anniversary and comes laden with trickery, including a double bezel that serves as a multiple conversion tool. Its automatic chronograph movement has a hefty 60-hour power reserve and will serve you well for £1,350. And Stowa sells its simple, honest Flieger collection of mechanical pilot’s watches on its own website from just €580.
Part of these watches’ charm is that none of them is what you might call an “obvious choice”. And just as important, because a pilot’s watch is clean-cut and built to last, it’s the kind of watch a future father-in-law would be glad to see a chap wearing. Which could prove very useful in itself.
Robin Swithinbank is editor of the luxury watch magazine Calibre.