TAG-HEUR - but there's no point
 

Great threat - some brilliant examples of what not to buy.

I wear a TAG S/EL Chronograph, extremely accurate and easy to read however I wear it on my left wrist, which means to look at it in flight I need to apply throttle and collective friction - then I still cant see it as my glove covers the face, so I need to hold the cyclic with my knees and roll back my glove with my right hand (just too much effort) - basically it's pointless having a watch on your left wrist with gloves!

Just use the cockpit "accurate tiempiece" that's supplied as part of the aircraft.

PS - Before anyone says "roll the glove before flight" - doesn't stay there if you are flying PIC LHS with no door !

The watch is just to check for lunchtime, nap time, and quitting time. In flight, I have a GPS that shows me the time, accurate to a few microseconds, with just a glance. :rolleyes:

chopperchappie, put watch on top of glove.:ok:

Best Helicopter Pilot Watch
 

I am a Heli Pilot's Wife and would Really like to buy him a great starter watch for Christmas. I say starter watch because the one he would really like is thousands of dollars and that is not in our budget. I was wondering what all of you have found that you like. I have been researching, reading reviews and am curious to know from actual pilots what is a good watch. I have saved up $200 to spend, a little budget I know, but we are still in the instructor phase, so that is a lot right now.
Thanks for all your advise and help :)

What is your budget? What features do you want it to have? Do you want it to have a "second time zone" for GMT time? I use that function regular for filing flight plans and checking WX. Somehow I can't seem to keep track of the time difference, especially when just woken up. Lets face it, while flying you have the time available to you in the cockpit. While not flying, it probably is on your phone. When on the phone with flight service it always catches me off guard. So, do you want it to be functional in any other way then just time? A good watch to have: Omega seamaster GMT, Rolex submariner GMT. They are expensive. Good alternatives are: Steinhart GMT Ocean 1, Debauffre GMT Ocean 1, good quality and run about $600 and will last a long time and are almost equal quality as the 2 previous mentioned (gotta be careful here, lol). A little more pricy, around $1200, is the Milsub GMT (Dive). I believe swiss army has a similar version for $400 available. They are all classy designs, quality build and absolutely unneeded for a pilot, but hey, if you like watches, there is always an excuse to spend your money. I bought a Omega seamaster 50 year GMT and told my wife I needed it for work. She and as well the IRS believed it ! My god, I hope she never gets on here........Hope this helps.

Hubby Watch
 

My budget is about $200 maybe $250, one that looks great and sounds to me great is the Citizen Men's BJ7000-52E Eco-Drive Nighthawk Stainless Steel Watch it had the EB6 computer on it, and I know he uses that a lot in teaching and before flight. It sounds like a good watch to me, what do you think?

I wouldn't worry too much about the E6b thingy - they are hard to read! The Seiko one mentioned above would be a real good choice, or the Seiko military watch at $130-ish.

I use this one at about £200:

http://www.electrocution.com/IMG0770.jpg

The best luminous hands I've seen anywhere.

Phil

SHawker,

Great gesture, but I might suggest something else. Save the watch for when you guys can afford what he wants. In reality, all aircraft have a clock in them. Private pilots like all the gadgets---it is my experience that most commercial pilots could care less for a watch---I do not even own one, (apart from the one on page 5 of this thread). Once he moves on from instructing he probably only use the watch to determine how many more hours till dinner time/bar time/home time etc. For IFR he will use the aircraft clock, if he goes utility, he will land when done--time is relative.

Just to throw this out there...why not get him a good travel bag. He will no doubt end up with a job where is away from home at some point. I just got one of these:

Rolling Duffle

Best bag I ever took on the road with me so far. So where does he instruct... Bountiful? Was just thru there a few weeks back.

Shawker- Are you buying jewelry or functional efficiency?
I've worn Seiko and Citizen aviator-type watches, and enjoyed them.

For function, I like the Casio G-Shock G-7500. Dual time, sixty-leven alarms, stopwatch, countdown timer with repeat, silent vibrating alert/alarms (nice on the job, you can't hear anything outside your headset/helmet), backlight w/auto activate feature. Big, ugly, black plastic thingy that keeps pretty good time, batteries last years, and impressively durable- looks like an ugly new watch 5 years on. Also inexpensive, so I have 'nice' watches for civilized occasions.

This one is nice, plain and simple and about $200.

TORGOEN SWISS :: PROFESSIONAL PILOT WATCHES :: MODEL T10301

Chopper bag
 

Gordy.

This is a chopper pilots bag.

Chopper Bags - Dominant Leathergoods Australia Queensland Chopper Bags and Leather Items

Watch this
 

Which watch?

It's black and shiny, looking good from a distance -- sort of like the rest of my physical attributes.

The cash I saved by not buying top-of-the-line allowed me a little trip to Thailand where it was acquired..

:8

I must admit i'm a bit of a watch fiend and have a couple of breitlings including a 22 year old navtimer which i love, but i wear a Casio PAW1500T-7V every day for flying which is a fantastic watch with lots of practical functions including auto backlit illumination which I like and atomic/solar (solar meaning any light these days including a light bulb) which means no setting or batteries. Casio watches really do work well, are reliable and come in a variety of styles and prices. Take a look, if he likes lots of buttons etc, I'm sure casio won't disappoint.

I have the Omega Ploprof. It doesn't really do anything except weigh a lot. But I just wanted it. And I guess based on the previous post on this thread my dick must be very small. :(

OMEGA Watches: Seamaster Ploprof 1200 M - Steel on steel - 224.30.55.21.01.001

reply to above posts
 

I am not sure how to individually reply to each post so here is to all above:

Flight Bag: I got him one for his Birthday after he got his Private License. It is a sweet bag that is a backpack, so he can ride his motorcycle to work with it. He also can fit his overnight stuff in it, LapTop and headset in it. It was made for it :ok: He doesnt travel and probably won't in the line of Helicopter work he is going into. So, a bigger bag is probably not necessary at this point, but a GREAT suggestion Thanks. Oh, and I also got him a headset when he finished his CFII. Now I am left with a watch and sunglasses :)

On the Casio watches: He hates them, I know, I know, that is not nice, but it's his taste.
He doesn't want anything that is or looks cheap. He is an aviation mechanic and also is instructing and doing Helicopter Tours over Zion N. Park. He works for some wealthy clients airplanes and helicopters, so he wants a watch that looks very nice & professional. I think he likes the idea of the EB6 on it, even though he may never actuall use it :)

the Bretling (spelling?)
 

Actually his dream watch is a Bretling!! Someday when he has 2500 hours and a high paying job I can get him one!!

what ?? no mention of Oris.
I have a BC3 I used to wear flying, then one day landed, looked down and the strap had broken and it was flopped against my thigh - thank god the robbie didn't have much space between collective and seat as was no doors.

Thereafter I use a G-Shock for work, and save the Oris for dinner.

I'm surprised there's not more mention of the Oris, classic looks, clear face, and for an automatic swiss movement, relatively cheap in comparison to some of the bling on display here.

http://home.planet.nl/~hout0323/imag...OrisBC3-02.JPG

SHawker, For what it is worth....

You sound like a wonderful "significant other"....I suspect he knows it to and will be happy with whatever you get him......there is that age old saying about how to please a man:

"Get pizza, beer show up naked"

If it were me....I would be happy, then spend the rest of the money on a fun day doing something you both like...too many of us pilots spend so much time working we forget to enjoy the fun things in life.....

timex
 

timex ironman shock. velcro band fits over my wrist or glove. 50 bucks.

One of these

http://www.watchshop.com/profiler/th...1AVER-2009.jpg

£35 at Argos.