Pilot Watches

Admittedly, I like stuff.  Nice stuff.  Not disposable electronic crap, but quality stuff you could pass down to your great grandkids.  And being a pilot, watches are right at the top of the list of cool things I really like.  Pilots generally like their watches, if all the marketing and hype out there is any indication, and I'm certainly not above it.  I've always been very partial to mechanical watches as well.  The thought of all those tiny little parts, so finely crafted, oscillating with the wearer's movement, storing that energy, and ultimately, keeping perfect time, impresses the hell out of me.  Quite some years ago, I finally treated myself to my dream watch; an Omega Seamaster mechanical.  I do love the Omegas, and their Speedmaster Moon Watch has been worn on every NASA mission into space, but I wanted a rugged dive watch.  At first, I was a tad nervous wearing something so expensive on my wrist, but I soon got used to it, and it never came off.  That's real alligator....

That old girl has some 6000 hours of flying under her belt!  BUT, when I found out I'd be touring international, not always in the nicest of places, I didn't wish to risk the loss of my Omega, now worth three times the exorbitant price I paid twenty years ago, so I elected to go with a rugged G-Shock.  The G-Shock Pilot Watch is a neat piece of kit, but I truly can't read most of the smaller dials, a reason I've avoided those pilot watches with E6-B flight computers on them, and I have to get the manual out every time I do anything on it besides read the time, like updating the time zone every six weeks.  I just need the time.  Simple functionality, easy to read, batteries that don't run out, and tells the time, but looking stylish helps too.  Your aircraft is loaded with everything else you could possibly need, like stop watches to keep track of run down times, hold timings, etc..  Breitling makes some very fine pilot specific watches but don't really have anything that catches my eye. 

There are some very nice looking Bell and Ross watches from their Heritage collection, but they aren't cheap either.  I think the Sinn 856 UTC above (not my photo, nor my watch....yet) is functionally the perfect pilot watch, and very good looking too, but still too pricey to be worn in Africa. There are some pilots that don't really care much about their watches, sporting Timex and Casio, but I truly missed having some quality on my wrist.  I'm still waiting for my replacement Torgoen T16, the 771 Squadron Search and Rescue watch, but I was pining for another mechanical, one that wouldn't break the bank and make me nervous wearing it in back alleys of Mombasa.  Enter Hamilton.  Fine mechanical watches at a percentage of the Omega's cost, issued to the United States Armed forces since 1914, Hamilton's were wore on the first flights across North America by the airmail postal service, and even today, are the watch of choice of Air Zermatt and even Canada's own Snowbirds.  I went with their classic looking Khaki Field Watch below, the Officer Auto, and it's Africa bound in two weeks.  I love the styling, and that matters.  Can you think of anything that you look at more often than your wrist watch?  My great grandkids can have it someday too...

Edit:

Unfortunately I quite missed the rotating bezel of my Omega, and the water proof durability of a dive watch (having both a Hamilton and a Torgoen flood while snorkelling, admittedly both quickly replaced by the manufacturers at no cost, but being in third world countries for months at a time, you want something you can count on) so I've been sporting this very rugged Tissot SeaStar ever since.  Another mechanical watch waterproof to 1000 feet, it was gaining roughly 15 seconds a day but a free adjustment from Tissot and it's now as accurate as a quartz.  Rugged, not overly expensive, solid and hefty on the wrist, it's the perfect touring watch for someone like myself, and I love the look....been my standard wear from Milan to Istanbul to Mombasa to Dar and beyond.....

Edit - July 2016

That Tissot has been all over the globe, but I wanted to change things up a tad.  I wanted a tough simple high-quality watch, that wasn't overly flashy, nor attracted too much attention in some of the rougher places I work.  Enter my new Tudor Heritage Ranger, modelled after a 1967 model.  Hans Wilsdorf, the creator of Rolex in 1905, watched as the prices of his popular watches soared.  In 1926 he started the Tudor brand, to provide the same quality as Rolex, but without the overpriced name attached.  Patterned after Rolex's iconic Explorer, the Tudor Ranger was introduced in 1967, and this is a pretty accurate reissue.  It's a tough water proof dive watch with a screw in crown.  A Rolex heritage without the Rolex hype.  Kind of classy too.

And it looks very similar to the clock in the Super Puma!