Soon to retire 747 captain here... and Breitling man...
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Oh, I agree, initially, my first Breitling Navitimer (1966 or so) was a "status symbol" - My mother offered me that watch when I got my wings as pilot. But soon it became just a pilot tool. Stopwatch, of course, but I liked the slide rule to make conversions. I always kept it on GMT/Z time, anywhere I was. Never changed it to local time.
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I kept it for a long time, replaced it in 1980 or so, by a "Cosmonaute", same as Navitimer, except the 24 hrs dial which I did prefer, having one day found myself in Bahrain, getting ready for a flight 12 hrs too early in the lobby of hotel for pickup, and the rest of the crew in the bar, laughing at me... So from then-on, got the Cosmonaute, I kept GMT-Z time on the 24 hrs dial. Converting to local is easy for me, just a habit anyway. UTC minus 3 here, or plus 2 there...
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With nearly 20 years of service, that Cosmonaute got stolen in my hotel room... so I bought a new one, (1999 or so) - quite expensive by then - just about same, except little details, which is my current wristwatch. I remember that my wife always got upset at me, unable to read the time as I keep on being on UTC with a 24 hrs dial that most human would not be able to read.
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At times, some people in the street stop me, and say "have you got the time?" - and with a smile, I show them the time (to their confusion). I guess they must be thinking my watch is stopped, or out of order. Who cares...?
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Oh, I got other (less expensive watches) - the one I liked best was the "Seiko World Timer" digital, with time zones for around the world (except local time for Gander CYQX, as usual). I hate watches that show AM-PM - I insist on 24 hrs time, I learned to count "beyond 12" in school, like 13, 14, etc... That Seiko was extremely accurate (within 5 seconds over 30 days...?) and it died after some 20 years of service... been unable to find one full of dust in a store anywhere in the world...
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Now, next year, I retire from flying, but I will keep my Cosmonaute and leave it on Z time, my old habit and tradition. Maybe I will buy a $20 imitation Rolex when I will be at the beach in Brazil, typing my stupid ideas on Pprune.
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Everyone has a favorite watch... Mine is and has been Breitling, now by habit. I like the slide rule, mainly used for currency conversions when I go shopping in USA, Brazil or Europe. The chronograph function, I hardly ever use nowadays, except going to football games, when I hope that Argentina will beat Brazil's team... 1 to 0 - after 89 minutes.
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Worst is, I have a "reverse time clock" on the wall that you need to read in a mirror. And I also keep it on UTC... it is a conversation piece when people visit my office and memorabilia.
Happy contrails