Watches

[Jobin]

Hey all,

What kind of watches do you like for flying? Digital vs Analogue, Battery vs Pendulum/Automatic, Metal vs Fabric, any special features that make things easy? I was thinking of getting a Seiko 5 SNK805K2 (a google image search will show you plenty of results, I would post an image but I haven't posted enough comments yet). I like that the minutes are larger on the outside and the hours are smaller on the inside as we mostly need to announce times as minutes of the hour. Haven't seen this discussed before, thought it could be a good topic.

Cheers,
Jo.

[Car RAMROD]

I expect many “interesting” replies about “pilot watches”- especially in relation to how big the watch needs to be!

Personal preference, 100%. What someone else likes may not suit you.
Some like smart watches and linking to their phones and setting their own time zones; but having to charge them often.
Some (like me) just prefer an analogue that I can read easily. I don’t have a battery powered light in it, and I’ve not once been worried by the lack of such a function.
Some like combo digital/analogue- one on local and one on GMT. I’m yet to find any digital watch (non-smart variety) where the user can create/name their own time zones outside of the pre-programmed ones.

You don’t “need” a fancy watch with flight computers built in. Nothing stopping you getting one, if that’s what you want.

A $100 Casio will do you just as well as an $8000 Brietling.
If you’ve got the cash to splash then by all means buy an expensive watch, there are some very nice ones available. But give thought to the environment you’ll be wearing it in. Potential fuel/oil spills on it (I prefer metal bands for this reason, wipes clean), banging it against something and damaging it, scratching the glass etc. Some people are not happy risking their expensive watches daily; others are.

[BigPapi]

My $9 digital Kmart watch works pretty well, it even shows UTC, wow!!

[compressor stall]

Any combo dual time watch with analogue hands and minutes for local time and digital inset for UTC.

The brand / price / colour / construction can be modified accordingly to suit your fashion sense, ego and anatomical features.

[Jeff05]

My hundred buck Casio shows UTC and local (world) time. That’s all I really want or need - something I can check at a glance (digital) and run my life by, as well as check local time when booking taxis etc. Flying deep nights it also helps answer that age old freight dog question: “what day is it?” as it clearly shows the date/day.

A very dear friend, sadly now passed, had a citizen Navihawk. Lovely watch, and I have to say the built in Nav whizz wheel was kind of cool for working out times when trundling round together in GA aircraft, and in that respect did more than my old Casio ever could.... but using the old 1.5 miles a minute for 90 knots, 2 miles a minute for 120 or 2.5 miles a minute for 150 was just as good, and it was just a novelty really.

[gerry111]

Originally Posted by Car RAMROD

A $100 Casio will do you just as well as an $8000 Brietling.

Does a Casio watch now cost $100? Last time I bought one it was lima ringgit.

[hunterboy]

I think the question you need to ask yourself is what do you need the watch for? If it is merely to tell the time, then a £10 Casio keeps better time than a 10K Rolex. Trust me, I know.
However, if you’re wearing it as a piece of jewellery, lifestyle statement, or a status symbol, then you may want to choose something else? Watches, clothing, personal grooming are all personal choices.

[VinRouge]

Originally Posted by hunterboy

I think the question you need to ask yourself is what do you need the watch for? If it is merely to tell the time, then a £10 Casio keeps better time than a 10K Rolex. Trust me, I know.
However, if you’re wearing it as a piece of jewellery, lifestyle statement, or a status symbol, then you may want to choose something else? Watches, clothing, personal grooming are all personal choices.

garmin fenix 5. GPS time adjustment, altitude alert, silent vibrating alert for shared crew rest facilities plus loads of extra exercise and health tracking (sleep in particluar) for when downroute. Built in maps and can create a trail or running route from the hotel in seconds. Battery lasts at least a week. SMS message and notifications from my phone meaning I can see when overtime has come in without looking at the phone. 299 dollars in Best Buy, fantastic value and much more practical than breitling and bremont (have 2 of each)

[redsnail]

IWatch. Before that, a G-watch style of thing that was solar powered.

[Jobin]

Some good thoughts here, yeah I know ultimately it's a personal choice. Currently I just use $10 Kmart watch which is perfectly fine. I'm thinking of upgrading though as it's getting a bit hard to read with all the scratches. Little insights like:

But give thought to the environment you’ll be wearing it in. Potential fuel/oil spills on it (I prefer metal bands for this reason, wipes clean), banging it against something and damaging it, scratching the glass etc.

Are super helpful and not something I'd not initially thought about.

Cheers,
Jo

[Ironpot]

I’ve got a seiko prospex divers - dual time. Dead simple and unbelievably accurate. However, it’s kinetic and will indicate low power if I don’t wear it for aprox 4 days - which happens more frequently just lately.

[Stickshift3000]

I use a cheap Casio digital, and keep a spare one in my flight bag.

[hunterboy]

Another point you may not have though of is that many places you may night stop in the future may not be places that you’d want to walk around with an expensive watch on. So it is worth always taking a cheap Casio for street use while leaving your decent watch in the hotel safe.

[krismiler]

Something that displays day as well as date, with the irregular hours we work I often find myself having to check which day of the week it is as I often wake up with no idea.

[Capn Bloggs]

Here you go:
https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...0&_sacat=31387

The top display can be changed to Month and Day, as per notams. World time zones, and Daylight Saving adjustment. Arm time independent of digital time.

Used mine for many years; does the job nicely. No sweep second hand; I use the one on the panel.

[havick]

G-Shock mudman used to be the goto for helicopter pilots.

Now the Apple Watch is the new goto given the customizable watch face with gps time etc

[thunderbird five]

The story goes:
This pilot opened his car door into passing traffic and the door of course gets completely torn off it's hinges.
Of course he's gone bananas when the other driver has pulled up on the roadside.
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY NEW BEAMER!! YOU'VE TORN THE DOOR COMPLETELY OFF!!!
"You're a pilot, aren't you?" the driver says.
"YES, SO WHAT OF IT! LOOK AT MY BEAMER, IT'S ROOTED!!
"Well" says the driver..." in all the excitement and fuss over your stupid BMW, you're completely oblivious to the fact that when I took your door off, your whole right arm went with it!
"OH MY GOD...... WHERE'S MY ROLEX???"

[Spode]

A Timex Ironman. Costs about $50 on Amazon and has the best backlighting for night flying of anything and has two timezones and a stopwatch.

or if you have a smart watch, get an app.

the other $7950 I saved by not buying a Breitling went to flying.

[Capn Bloggs]

On this occasion, Thunderbirds are not go...

[Konev]

Bought a Lorus kinetic divers wdatch in 2002, still wearing it. tells the tiome and date and it works.