A pax asks about aviator watches
 

I have often heard that professional pilots are recognisable by their big fancy watches. I had a look at the internet under 'pilot watches' and the main difference I can see is that they have two hour hands so you can set two time zones, as long as they aren't non-integer time zone differences like India. I can see the point of that. But many of them are rated for use far underwater (10 bar or more). Surely if your aircraft is underwater you have more problems that telling what the time is?

During my latter flying days, I used a simple Timex watch which had only two hand and a dial with large numbers. When you pressed the winder, it lit up so you could read it in the dark. It cost me GBP 20 and kept perfect time. I always kept it on GMT and just did the mental arithmetic for local time. No one was likely to want to pinch it when wandering around eastern souks and bazaars, and it was always easy to use even though a little more difficult in India!!

In India, turn the watch upside down. It gives you closely approximate GMT (not much use when the UK is on BST, as it will be next week, until October). That's the reason for the offset time zone. The British Raj still rules over Indian Time.

As recently as the 1980s, I'd know Indians who would take their watches off and turn them upside down to know when they could telex the UK and expect an instant reply.

Thank you for flying PPRuNe Airways, and please adjust your watches to local time. We will shortly be landing in Antarctica. The time zone is dependent on the base you are situated in. The NZ and Italian bases are adjacent, and are on different sides of the International Date Line.

I’ve always worn a relatively simple, small diameter, analogue Citizen Eco-drive with a titanium case. My wife bought it for my birthday probably thirty years ago. Two or three years ago it became erratic because it was no longer charging efficiently and I changed the capacitor type battery myself. It’s perfect in that I have no need for a second time zone. I was given a Breitling with a second zone display by a previous employer as a thank you, but I’ve hardly ever used it. It’s too heavy and the claws on the bezel caught in my sleeve and pulled threads.

I don't need a special watch either, I was just interested in these pilots' watches. If pilots don't buy them who does? Poseurs?

The best pilot watch is one that is easy to read. There is not point in having a watch face so busy that you can't figure out what time it is! Beyond that, add features you will use which do not detract from the forgoing. I like a rotating bezel, which I will often use for fuel timing, and a stop watch ti be used as needed. I like water resistant, as I fly seaplanes, and getting wet happens occasionally. Other than that, the less I look like a pilot poser, that happier I am about it!

I think you are about the only one who benefits from all the fancy features. Rotating bezels, and water resistant. Like Chelsea Tractors. which are just about never taken off-road, I'd guess that most of the people who buy these watches never aviate, except when they have someone up front to do it for them.

Perhaps there was a time when a case could be made for a fancy pilot watch like a chronograph when you needed to time non-precision approach final segments or ground speed from DME (without trying to rememeber how many times the second hand had gone around while you were distracted by other stuff). But the state of automation these days precludes the need for any of that.

Some people just like watches and the complicated variations on a theme. Everybody likes something...some people like watches.

I have a simple mechanical one with a day/date function. I'm retired and am not always sure whether it's Monday or Thursday.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

Similar to what Pilot DAR wrote, rotating bezel very handy for timing flight time in old aircraft without VDO such as Chipmunk.
Same aircraft era,stopwatch for timing instrument approach legs in non precision approach, although for that I just bought a cheap electronic stopwatch/timer.

As mentioned above - The Citizen Eco-Drive, I had a basic “Divers” model is a great piece of engineering.

I now use an Apple Watch. Large conventional face with a small UTC digital readout. As I travel it adjusts to the local time, and self adjusts to the second. I can get emails/messages/phone calls on it. (Great for swimming laps while “on call”.) I’m sure I’m using 1/10th of its capability- but it’s still “Dick Tracy” to me.

I’m not a big fan, rather have the above Eco-Drive, but the features of the modern smart watch - including always being accurate, are hard to pass up.
No traditional watch will call an ambulance, including location, if I’m lying unconscious next to a Mountain Bike in the desert!

A lot of ATPLs replying in this Pax&SLF forum. In language that us pore pax barely understand. I didn't realise so many ATPLs read here.

Will we see any of you at the next Bash? There's one shortly, and another in July.

I'm not a pilot, but I do have a GMT watch. I used to travel a lot, and unlike Bergerie1, I'm hopeless at time arithmetic. I found it useful to have local time and home time on my wrist. Water resistant is good, so you don't have to take it off when you're swimming. Fortunately never had occasion to test the waterproof credentials while in an aeroplane.

I also have a smart watch that my son gave me. I try it from time to time, and appreciate some of the functionality such as message alerts, pedometer, Spotify, weather etc, but it never feels like a "real" watch. In this day of smart watches, I think that mechanical watches have become (even more than they were) jewellery.

I used to use a Citizen aviators watch. Poor persons Breitling. The whizz wheel was useful when my eyes were young. It was rather large on my small wrist. When I did a type rating in Dubai over 20 years ago, shouted myself a very nice half digital half analogue solar powered watch Gmax thing. Wore it for years, tough as nails. Ended up with an Apple iwatch. It was perfect.
Now retired.

For those from outside the UK a 'Chelsea Tractor' is the local name for a large SUV or 4x4 that is only driven in a town. Chelsea being the name of an affluent part of inner London.

Indeed. In Sydney they're Mosman Tractors, in Melbourne they're Toorak Tractors...

Omega Drivers' Watch
 

How about an Omega Drivers' Watch? To be worn so that the dial is on the inside of the wrist and turned 90 degrees for easy reading!

No more scratching the face when opening the throttle in the Chipmunk (or Spitfire!)


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....1c65f7d352.jpg
My 50 year old Omega Drivers' Watch. Still keeping excellent time!

I’m a ATPL holder, albeit now retired. I haven’t specifically checked the individual forums for a very long time; I only ever use the “New posts” tab. If something interesting pops up, I’ll sometimes join in, as I did here.

Language that pore (?) pax barely understand…?

Analogue = it’s got hands.

:E

'non-precision approach final segments or ground speed from DME'. I know that DME means Distance Measuring Equipment but the rest is a foreign language to us pax. Landing a hang-glider: flare out and put your feet on the ground, sometimes with a bit of a scamper. Is the scamper a non-precision approach?

I once heard that a pilot's experience is inversely proportional the the complexity of his or her's watch! Mine tells the time and date and I don't look at the date much.....

Not having a go at the experienced folks here but at certain wealthy student pilot types!

Not a pilot but have had a Submariner since 1987 only watch, though original lost during a service and replaced by manufacturer and I got to keep the Anchor if you know you know 😉

Cheers
Mr Mac