PPL nav timepiece
Join Date: May 2013
Location: have I forgotten or am I lost?
Age: 71
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if you want a watch to actually fly with.....
glance at the watch for just a second and look away. can you work out what the time was? in bad turbulence a seconds glance may be all you get so a watch face you cant read quickly is useless.
digital number faces are also pretty useless because you can't look at the estimated time enroute on your gps then look at the face and work out what the time will be when you arrive. say you'll be there in 15 minutes. it is quite easy to look at the watch, work out where 90 degrees ahead of the minute hand will be and have your answer.
the lumibrite face on many lorus watches is worth having as well. when you have the aircraft all tucked away in the hangar and you need the tacho hours the lumibrite face will light it up enough to read the figures off.
also any of the battery quartz watches will be 5 times more accurate than a mechanical movement. if they go slow or become erratic just put in a new battery.
pilots who actually use their watches often have the simplest watches.
glance at the watch for just a second and look away. can you work out what the time was? in bad turbulence a seconds glance may be all you get so a watch face you cant read quickly is useless.
digital number faces are also pretty useless because you can't look at the estimated time enroute on your gps then look at the face and work out what the time will be when you arrive. say you'll be there in 15 minutes. it is quite easy to look at the watch, work out where 90 degrees ahead of the minute hand will be and have your answer.
the lumibrite face on many lorus watches is worth having as well. when you have the aircraft all tucked away in the hangar and you need the tacho hours the lumibrite face will light it up enough to read the figures off.
also any of the battery quartz watches will be 5 times more accurate than a mechanical movement. if they go slow or become erratic just put in a new battery.
pilots who actually use their watches often have the simplest watches.
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Middle England
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I've never got on with stopwatches. I seem to drop them or reset them when I'm flying. I have found a cheap digital watch with nice big numbers on it which works really well for me. If you have a Decathlon near you, go and have a look. I recently bought a black Geonaute watch from there for about 8 quid. It has a chrono and big numbers and not much else (other than a strap). You have to hold the reset button down for a few seconds before the chrono resets itself, which is godsend if you are reaching behind the seat for a chart (which seems to happen all too often)
Join Date: Sep 2006
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Like what dubbleyew eight says. An anologue watch with a clear uncluttered dial, If you glance at it for a second or less you can "see" the time & remember the hands positions. A digital you have to "read" & understand a bunch of constantly changing numbers, which is a lot more difficult. However, I got a cheap £12 digital stopwatch which I made a clip for & it is fixed to the panel in front of me if I do need to time something & mostly is set to the time of day. At least a digital stopwatch will tell you that it has been, frinstance, 5 minutes 50 sec & not a guess at how many times has the thing been round the dial, unless you squint at the very small dial telling you revs.
The only timepiece that I use anymore is a cheap kitchen timer with a really loud buzzer. I set it to buzz when it is time to change fuel tanks.
Join Date: Nov 2010
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: London
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Funnily enough, my first watch in the late 1970's was a Mickey Mouse one and it was a gift so free! It was unfortunately destroyed when I decided to test if it was waterproof by putting it under the tap (it was not - I have developed some common sense in the intervening years I think/hope).
Many interesting options to consider here. I was wondering about a bezel as it does seem quite an efficient way to set the time. On the other hand - given my current stage in the nav, I may end up faffing with the bezel, get the time wrong, wander off course etc.
Analogue and simple does seem more intuitive, a big time piece / chronograph like the Russian may work well. Just trying to keep the budget. I fully agree that you get what you pay for if it is super cheap, but equally want to make sure that it is something that I will get some decent use and do the job.
So... at this point, I am going to see how the nav exercise goes this weekend (if the weather... will... cooperate...). A friend is lending me his timer so will see how that works out and will then put some money down next week. Not sure if it is more complicated to work the wizz wheel or choose a nav timer
. Thank you all for your good advice, very much appreciated.
Many interesting options to consider here. I was wondering about a bezel as it does seem quite an efficient way to set the time. On the other hand - given my current stage in the nav, I may end up faffing with the bezel, get the time wrong, wander off course etc.
Analogue and simple does seem more intuitive, a big time piece / chronograph like the Russian may work well. Just trying to keep the budget. I fully agree that you get what you pay for if it is super cheap, but equally want to make sure that it is something that I will get some decent use and do the job.
So... at this point, I am going to see how the nav exercise goes this weekend (if the weather... will... cooperate...). A friend is lending me his timer so will see how that works out and will then put some money down next week. Not sure if it is more complicated to work the wizz wheel or choose a nav timer
. Thank you all for your good advice, very much appreciated.
Join Date: May 2001
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I may end up faffing with the bezel, get the time wrong, wander off course etc.
Turn onto heading note down the time then get sorted out and stable on route a FREDA check then work out the next time over waypoint then into the work cycle.
KISS is definitely the way forward.
Join Date: Feb 2003
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I have a Citizen Skyhawk AT and a Pebble. I love both but neither is ideal for flying - the Citizen is too complex (all I use airborne is the main dial though at least switching from UTC to BST and back is child's play, though I do use the bezel occasionally for a quick calculation while planning) and the Pebble I regard as a Beta watch ie not reliable enough in flight yet. The latter has great possibilities though - my normal watchface is based on the Torgeon and has the same clarity, plus the watch lights up if you shake it.
Tim
Tim
Join Date: May 2013
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this is not a problem you would see in england ....but on the other side of the world there is a huge difference between local time and gmt. 8 hours for me.
I fly cross country with a watch on each wrist. The unusual wrist has the watch in GMT. that way when the radio tells you a gmt you dont have to force a preoccupied noggin to work out how far from 'now' it is.
I fly cross country with a watch on each wrist. The unusual wrist has the watch in GMT. that way when the radio tells you a gmt you dont have to force a preoccupied noggin to work out how far from 'now' it is.
