Re: WristWatch Selection
 

I've worn the same Seiko for years (never lost more than about a second a month!!) and keep a $10 Casio digital for the riskier neighbourhoods....

Re: WristWatch Selection
 

Maybe we should begin an 'own' watches gallery? :)

http://uk.geocities.com/[email protected]/Watches.JPG

On the left, my flying watch: my trusty Casio of 20 years, model DW 206, double time, stopwatch, and light... and been used all over the world flying and diving (200M water resistant). Just fantastic and noone wants to nick it! Original price about £22 from what I can remember.

On the right, my look smarter watch: really looks the business, chronograph (whatever that means) keeps the BEST time of any watch I have ever had, less than a second a month, stopwatch, date, water resistant to 50M, and tachymetre for those testing times measuring speed of service at the bar. And several women have spontaneously said 'Nice watch'... No, I am NOT kidding!! And that's good enough for me! Price £9.99 from Lidls.

The markups on designer watches are hideous; no need to spend lots of cash.

PS In a past life I used to teach scuba diving. If you are planning to buy a watch to use for diving too, make sure it is 200M water resistant. 50M is for shower, swimming; 100M is for skindiving; 200M is for airbreathing diving, not for deeper than 50M that requires mixed gas. Don't let a shop assistant tell you otherwise!

Re: WristWatch Selection
 

AerocatS2A

Interesting.

Mrs C has a thing for shoes, as do many women, and can't walk past too many shoe shops without just popping in for a quick look.

I suffer a similar trait, though my bent is watches, and hence often pop into jewlery stores and ask much the same question; "I'm looking for a world timer that will show CST or has analogue hands independant of the digital time".

The question seems quite succinct to me, but boy, do I get some vacant looks from the so called, sales people. Even the Watch & Clock shop in DRW says Citizen don't make what I want, which is pretty much what you have.

ps, not doubting you for a second, just relaying the hassles and attempts.

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Capt Claret,
The model I have is a Captain Sky. I used to live in Darwin so I'm familiar with the problem you've had with Citizen watches!

My wife worked at a jewellery store and bought it for me for a Xmas present. By sheer coincidence she happened to get the one Citizen watch which would be useful in the NT.

P.S. there is a work around for the other world timers with the intergrated digital/analogue display. One of the steps to setting up the watch is to set the analogue display to UTC, if you set it for 12:30 instead of 12:00 then the analogue will be a 1/2 hour advanced from the digital display. Then if you set the analogue for UTC + 9 it will show UTC + 9 1/2. Unfortunately that means that it will be a half hour out from all the other time zones as well.

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I felt the computer dials were pure bling so got the Torgoen T5 with the 4th large hand showing UTC. About $80 from Marv Golden. I don't recommend it: The problem is the 24hr hand is permanently geared to the 12hr hands, so whenever you adjust the latter at your new destination ( = often) you also have to reset the 24hr hand and that is far too fiddly. Maybe the Torgoen T4 (internal 24 bezel) is better?
There are some German-sourced watches similar style with 4 concentric hands branded Zeppelin, Junkers etc rather more exp but different.
http://www.torgoen.com/zulutime.htm
Lets know how you get on.

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well gerund, it is amazing in which threads your seem to pop up in...

if i saw you as my dive master i would demand to see your original certificate as i have heard it is amazing what one can do with a good colour copier these days!

does your time piece keep time in africa too, or has time also been stolen or broken by the locals?

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Quite frankly, the choice for pilots in quite obvious...get a Breitling.
Now, if you can't find a real one inexpensively (mine came from the FRA duty-free, aircrew/discontinued model discounts thrown in) then have a look at the knockoffs.
A friend just bought one in TIP, quite spiffy it is...and keeps better time than my real one does.:( :yuk:

Re: WristWatch Selection
 

.. gee, now I feel real inadequate ... always used the digital $5 dollar special for flying ... never had one which lost/gained more than a second or so a month ... and I never worried too much when I left them in hotels rushing for the early morning cab ....

Different matter in the olden days with clockwork machines .. but, with the digital things, does it really matter much anymore ? .. except for the girl one is trying to impress over the dinner table .. and, for that worthy need, one can pay a few dollars more for the fake high-end watch ... the girls probably could tell the difference but I never could ...

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I've been flying for 49 years now. I am still using the very first quartz Seiko that I ever saw. It is very accurate and I bought it in Masirah in 1975 for about £15.

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I have to agree with 411, I've had a Breitling Aerospace for 7 odd years, it's as tough as nails,doesn't show wear and tear very well and is fairly understated. It's got another time zone for work (if the clock in the plane isn't working).More importantly it has an alarm clock so when the hotel neglects to give you a wake up call, you will not have to suffer the embarassment of being the last one on the crew bus. I'm not sure about the fake stuff, I bought a Rorex in Beijing, it was very nice, but felt I was the fake.... by trying to fool people.

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I use the Torgoen T5 - had a T6 but it was so cluttered that it was just a pain.
The T5 has UTC and a nice, clear display.

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Don't buy a proper Rolex. Everyone will ask you if it's real so you might as well buy a pretend one and spend the rest on a Breitling. The Aerospace Chronometer is very good, although I daren't wear it for work.

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For a "Posh" watch have a Brietling Aerospace. But if I'd pissed away a fortune on a type rating I'd have a more useful Timex Expedition. Clear, un-amiguous dial, waterproof, lights up at night, good time keeping and £14.50 in Argos.

:cool:

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I used to use the Citizen Wingman. Only flaw was no light. This was a problem when I did night freight.

Now I wear a nice Casio Baby G Gms watch. It doesn't look mega obvious pilot watch. Metal band. Solar powered as well as battery. 2 time zones. Digital is separate from analogue. Got a light.
Tough and water resistant. It didn't cost the earth and no one wants to nick it.

I wanted to get the Tissot "Touch" but it was just a tad too wide for my wrist.

One guy at work just uses his heart rate monitor watch. Works just fine he reckons.

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For flying I still use the Seiko military I was issued and the Queen forgot to ask for it back - that's for flying. Although the stopwatch minute hand has at some point jumped forward one tick and I have to remember to delete a minute, otherwise it's still incredibly reliable and accurate. I wear it on a velcro strap, and my personal habit is to strap it onto something in the cockpit in front of me in the air. (I still wish they'd put a 1hr stopwatch instead of 30 minutes on the thing 'though).

For formal wear, I have several (sadly the Su27 one I got given by some Russian colleages broke), but my favourite is a one-off. containing a fragment of Dresden Cathedral - presented to me as a speaker at a Test Pilots conference in Bavaria about 1999. (Wyvern was there too as a speaker, but no idea if he still wears his.)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...eer/img004.jpghttp://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...eer/img005.jpg

Depending upon mood, I generally wear one or the other for the office.

G

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I use, as the other poster mentioned, a cheap Timex Expedition watch. It has an easy to read digital display, a great backlight (Indiglo), has a stopwatch, is waterproof, has 3 alarms settings, dual time zones, a countdown timer ... and most important it's accurate.

Is it just me, or do some people just wear a Brietling to make them appear like they are some sort of hot shot professional pilot!? Pfttt to that.

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Genghis,

There is a way of resetting the minute hand for your stopwatch, although it doesn't immediately spring to mind. It's some combination of button pushes. A Seiko dealer should be able to help.

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I shall go and ask, the battery went flat yesterday anyway, so I need to go and find a Seiko dealer for it's 3-yearly recharge.

G

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Why do you need a special wristwatch for flying? If you actually use it WHILE flying I'm interested to know for what? (besides just checking the actual time and figuring out if your girlfriend at home is still awake so you can call her...)

I do not have a wristwatch at all, but I feel still perfectly comfortable flying a jet...

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Personally I need a very clear, accurate and reliable watch with a stopwatch. Like many people, I wear that same watch much of the rest of the time also.

G