Pilot watches

[Bobz78]

Hi,

i have a mk2 c60 which i love but im after a pilot style watch. What would you recommend either cw or other brands

[H0rati0]

C8 Power Reserve, no question. Unbeatable bargain - I do confess a certain bias admittedly...so DYOR

Prefer the Hirsch Liberty to the stock CW strap though.

[Galton321]

It depends what is meant by a pilot watch. For traditional ones based on wartime pilot watches try Archimedes Watches and Laco. But there are lots of others. Almost most of the established companies do one but generally in a more modern style, such as Oris. Bremont specialise in aviation theme watches if you have very deep pockets. Steinhart at the less expensive end do aviation watches. Yema a French company offer aviation theme watches. I like the Flygraf which now has an in-house movement. I am also taken with the Spacegraf chrono with a quartz movement used by French astronauts. The Breitlings, IWC are obviously big on aviation theme watches but again for those with a deep pocket. Pity CWL no longer have the C8 pilot watches which I liked. The original C10 pilot Mk1 is still my favourite.

[Amor Vincit Omnia]

Pity CWL no longer have the C8 pilot watches which I liked. The original C10 pilot Mk1 is still my favourite.

You still get the very occasional C8 in Sales Corner. I can never remember the C10 being that popular, so it seems a pretty rare bird.

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

Excellent résumé Galton.

CW have had an extensive Aviation range over the years, being their number two seller, as a range, to Dive watches.

Have a dip into the CWArchives as there are plenty of styles to choose from.

Guy

Sent from my Xperia 5 using Tapatalk

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

Pity CWL no longer have the C8 pilot watches which I liked. The original C10 pilot Mk1 is still my favourite.

You still get the very occasional C8 in Sales Corner. I can never remember the C10 being that popular, so it seems a pretty rare bird.

I saw a C5A on eBay a few days ago. Looked tempting.

Guy

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[nathanclarinet]

Steinhart have a good and wide range of pilot watches. I have a NAV B Chrono 2 in DLC - great watch. I used to have a C8 MK1 which went to another forum member - great watch. I also have an IWC Pilots chrono le petit prince edition. I like pilot watches Plenty of options out there so good luck in the hunt!

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

A selection of Aviators, from my collection.






























Quite a variety of styles.

Guy

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[Galton321]

I too like pilot watches but don't have quite your range. Like the way you have the different brands and styles covered. Liked Hanhart and Dodane from afar. Nice to see you have one of each in your collection.

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

I too like pilot watches but don't have quite your range. Like the way you have the different brands and styles covered. Liked Hanhard and Dodane from afar. Nice to see you have one of each in your collection.

Thank you.

I've surprised myself that half of them are Chronographs.

Guy

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[Fat-Sam]

I’d never been a fan of pilot watches but started to like them recently- all these were bought between Feb and Jul this year.

The Laco isn’t a pilot watch- it’s a u boat watch apparently but really impressed me with the quality for the money (around £500 new) and I may get one again. The Sinn was cool but personally for the money (£1200) I was a tad underwhelmed, especially compared to CW. The Glycine was really cool and I wish I kept that one- it was something different with the 24h dial and I grabbed it for about £250 via a Joma sale which was phenomenal for the money.

Having recently travelled to Pforzheim in Germany I’d be tempted to go for a flieger from Stowa or Laco (the latter to do price points with the Miyota models around £300 and the selitta/eta about double that. (Edited a few times for spelling/grammar but can’t work out how to remove the double picture of the Sinn as the link only shows once, sorry!)

Glycine airman- Great quality for the money

Sinn104abe

Sinn 104abe

Sinn104abe

Not a pilot watch but I like it and shows the quality of a Laco

[jrpippen]

Hows this.

[time_lizard]

A pilot watch is pretty much a functional watch, a bit like an instrument on the instument panel. Hence they are well readable with large (Arabic) numbers, black or white high contrast dial face, luminescent hands and numbers to be readable at night. A today's pilot watch also has a turnable bezel (luminescent) for measuring time intervals.
A good example is the Damasko DA47, although already in the higher price region. The Damasko is remarkable, as it has a white dial that is completely luminescent at night.
These watches often come as Chronographs, a stopwatch feature which produces a more technical and complex dial with subdials. Something that stimulates the heartbeat of the pilot watch afficionado

There is also a quite a selection that take on the WWII theme. Those pilot watches emphasised a minute scale, an example is the Laco Bielefeld shown. They were used for navigation (counting minutes) and to time mission events (i.e. bombing).
Another example for WWII mission use is the American Hamilton G.C.T. 4992B that I was lucky to acquire recently. This one has a 24-hour scale you find especially with military watches. It was the master clock onboard an American airship used to synchronise the time onboard and, together with siblings in the whole squadron, during the mission. G.C.T. is "Greenwich Civil Time", used as mission standard also in the US.

Damasko DA47

Damasko DA47 at night

Hamilton G.C.T. 4992B Pocket Watch

Laco Bielefeld 42

[time_lizard]

A selection of Aviators, from my collection.

Hello Bahnstormer, I am particularly keen on this orange wristband for my new Glycine Airman as well. Would match perfect and give it the right push of attention, as mine is in vintage brass style with cream clock face.
Looked all over eBay, but to now avail. Any hint where to get this??
Photo post guarateed

[Bahnstormer_vRS]

A selection of Aviators, from my collection.

Hello Bahnstormer, I am particularly keen on this orange wristband for my new Glycine Airman as well. Would match perfect and give it the right push of attention, as mine is in vintage brass style with cream clock face.
Looked all over eBay, but to now avail. Any hint where to get this??
Photo post guaranteed

Its a Veryan NATO by Zuludiver from Watchgecko.

Guy