Pilot's watches
 

Hello there
I'm new to this forum and actually this is my first post.
I am interested in aviation and watches and I am asking the following questions to get the right answers from each of you. If you were to have the PERFECT PILOT's watch, what would be the caracteristics? For example, a chronometer watch, color that pleases the eye etc.
Please give me your opinions (any opinion that might help a pilot in getting the perfect watch) as I am doing a research on this subject.

Breitling
 

hola A340x
xxx
The definitive "pilot watch" is the Breitling "Cosmonaute"... I have one...
Excellent timepiece, very accurate, many pilot functions (slide rule) on it.
Unfortunately extremely expensive.
xxx
Welcome to the forum, by the way...
:)
Happy contrails

"to get the right answers from each of you. ".

What ! from all 162,772 of us ? :eek:

if you are a pilot...be careful..

sometimes examiners have found that a pilots abilities may vary inversionally proportional to the size of his watch....:}

Breitling are marvellous time pieces, but honestly, how many of you have actually used the twisty slide rule bit in anger, or pulled the ELT aerial out?

If Mickey Mouse still has two hands that go round at the regulated rate, the watch does a perfectly adequate job.:)

Breitling are marvellous time pieces, but honestly, how many of you have actually used the twisty slide rule bit in anger, or pulled the ELT aerial out?

If Mickey Mouse still has two hands that go round at the regulated rate, the watch does a perfectly adequate job

Agree 100%.....BUT


The definitive "pilot watch" is the Breitling "Cosmonaute"...

Agree 100% ...No BUTs,IFs, or MAYBEs :ok:

I'm not really sure what use a 'pilot's watch' is these days.
I cannot concieve of any real-world situation when I am flying where I would break into a sweat and think 'Thank God I have the circular slide rule, chronographic, day, date, month facilities of the Breitling Navitimer strapped to my wrist...!'

To be honest, I've had to wait so long to afford my Breitling, with my fading eyesight at the grand old age of 50, I can't read the b****y thing anyway...:)

haha!
that qoute made my day :}

:hmm:
It's a bit like that old joke which goes something along the lines of.
'Gosh Inspector, how can you tell that the dead man, lying out there stark naked, was a pilot'?
'Easy, big watch, small penis'.
;)

Personally, one finds that a Rolex green Submariner does the job quite well and for some very peculiar reason, women seem to prefer divers to flyers. Make ot that what you will!:p

IMHO

Get yourself a watch with a clean readout - a dark face with large, luminous numerals and hands that mark the hour, minutes and seconds.

If you plan on marking up your logbook with UTC, then it might be an idea to have that option on it as well.

Some like it added as another hour hand like on the Torgoen T5 (shown below)

http://www.uhren-shop.org/images/pro....01.08.S02.jpg

or you could go for the T6 which has a flight computer bezel (which, trust me, you will never use!)
This watch is just too busy for my liking.

This is a T6:
http://www.uhren-web.com/images/Torg...02.S02_200.jpg

They have also brought out a T8 - it's a nice concept but I'm still out on it.

T8:
http://www.outdoorwatch.com/ProductI...1.02.S05-s.jpg

You could also go all digital.
The Casio Pro Trek range are good and I use one with a World Time feature as I am jumping zones a lot.

To be honest, a "pilot's" watch is just a gimmick. Just go with what you like and what suits your style.

I am a victim for watches though......

I have a T5 for flying
A Pro Trek for outdoor sports
A Suunto for running
An old retro Casio G-Shock that I drag out when I'm being manly and building something.
And an Omega Planet Ocean for formal wear. (It was a gift. I could never justify one when the IR is still undone!)

Pilot's watch
 

Total bollo#ks. Had a navitimer many moons ago, too big. A timex stop watch, a spin wheel! What else do you else do you want? Try to use a "so called watch with a spin wheel (aka Navitimer) with one hand when you need it and try and note down your calcs. All you need is a simple stop watch and spin wheel.

:hmm:

These big Breitlings are all very well when worn by a First Officer. Once one becomes a Captain you have to change wrists so that the punters can see through the cockpit door that the man in charge is a real pilot as he tenderly plays with the power levers.:p

merlinxx,

like i say i am not sure if you are a pilot...but if you are like others have said, you have enough of your time spent in the flying process there is little time to play with your watch...in VFR flying for every 10 seconds head should be outside the cockpit for 8 and in for 2...little difficult to have time for your watch...

and if IFR...no time for your watch...except to check the time in both instances...

aviate...navigate...communicate...thats it...:ok:

nowhere in there do i see anything about watches......:eek:

ticktockticktock...:}

Thank you for all the replies, but what I would like to concetrate on would not be a watch thatt has already been created (Breitling), I'm more concetrating on something custom.
For example: Square or round?
Metal or rubber?
etc

My only requirements are for a big hand and a little hand, and accurate to 5 mins or so per day, so that I can note down reasonably accurate brake-brake times.

My Cosmonaute is quite honestly the most (imho) beautiful timepiece I have ever had the pleasure to own. Makes a Rolex or Omega look mundane (again, imho).

Overkill for bimbling about in a 172? Absolutely, but certainly gets the ladies attention at the bar!

It also has the brightest luminescence on the hands that I have ever seen - in a dark room, you can find a light switch by it, it will illuminate a patch on the wall at a distance of around 4-5 inches. Impressive (although I'm probably being exposed to untold radiation levels) -althought the wife can spot me trying to sneak in to bed after a night out with the lads thanks to the beacon effect!.


As regards a (new) custom watch and features you'd want added it depends.

If you're using the watch for actual flying - then 2 hands which tell the time, and possibly something which shows UTC. That's pretty much all you need.

If you're using the watch as jewellery, then you can add the (never used) slide rule etc.

I personally prefer round watches unless they're digital, and metal, unless they're part of the design - plastic always looks cheap which isn't any use for the 2nd option ;)

Ultimately - you don't need anything other than a basic clock as a pilot watch.

(Although the Breitling Co-pilot looks great, but only fits the Aerospaces).

Actually - what might be fun (although no pilot would probably ever wear one), would be a watch where the face was mocked up like an altimeter dial, with the date in the pressure setting window. I suppose you could do one with an airspeed indicator also.

It's an interesting topic 'Pilot watches', is it not true that the wrist watch was invented for Pilots, therefore all wrist watches by definition are 'Pilot watches?'
I can't remember which pioneering Pilot it was, I seem to recall the name 'Cartier' who made a wrist watch for 'Santos Dumont', he could not take his pocket watch out to check the time because he required both hands to control his machine? Thus Cartier invented the wrist watch, although several different names seem to claim the same invention!
Then again, I'm probably talking ball@cks :\

Ok then......if ideas are what you are looking for then I would say you should aim for:

A simply-styled, digital readout watch with a square face that gives me the time and date where I am, the time and date at my destination and UTC time - there is absolutely no need for the watch to have a flight computer, as I have said before, it will never be used.

I like clear numerals and while traditional "digital" style ones are ok, a newer "computer" style font would be nice. Like the clocks you see as screensavers on PDAs or an iPhone.

For example: (apologies for my design skills!)

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...inal/watch.jpg

I would also like it to have a stopwatch and a countdown.
Elapsed flight-time would also be nice (separate to the stopwatch).

Pro Trek have a nice feature where the backlight comes on in low light conditions when the watch is tilted towards your face - I would like the option to turn that off if necessary.

A recurring alarm would also be necessary - a nice loud one that actually has the ability to wake a very tired pilot.

(If you want ideas on good screen layouts, have a look at the latest generation of dive computers - not dive watches though.)
Thanks

Yep - like this design above, you should copyright that Farrell!

- Two or even three big digital time readouts - one for UTC, one for home time zone, and one for time zone you're presently in.
- Easy to read in all light conditions
- An alarm clock that'll wake the dead

And that's IT, nothing else. Less is more when it comes to watches.

You could do that with a Fossil Abacus PalmOS watch with a little app - same the battery life on them is terrible, but they're great for novelty value. You can still find them around for 30-40 quid.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Or maybe the Garmin Forerunner might be an interesting compromise? And it's got GPS (which might be handy for recording your track although no idea if it works at X,000 ft and +40kts seeing as you're unlikely to be running that fast).
http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/...CLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
or some kind of bastardisation along the shame theme?

Wonder if anyone should actually tell Breitling that pilots dont really make use of the fancy features in their expensive watches.....

Why? Nobody buys a Brietling for the features really - you buy it because it's a Breitling, and it looks fantastic.

I found the following features useful in my citizen skyhawk (old model not navihawk)

Stainless Steel (no sweaty rists)

Backlight.

Two alarms for those early reports.

UTC and 2 time zones (eg home and new destination)

A prominent digital display for an exact instant time for paperwork

But an analogue gauge just gives me a better overall picture when on a turnaround.

Stop watch for those things that you just wouldn't think of.

And finaly the slide rule....... one it can be an ice breaker "hay interesting watch you got there"

Or for those bar aviation conversations when you haven't memorised every conversion factor in the world and you want to explain how much fuel a chipmunk holds or how fast something goes in MPH.

The slide rule is a tiny bit poncey but since i dont have the 80's top gun Ray Bans i think im allowed this consession.

Bog standard Casio
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/st...jpg&imageText=
It cost me 8quid and does everything I need from a watch. Perfect for my job. :ok:

Fortis For Absolute Clarity
 

And their Pliot and Flieger ranges are better value than Breitling.

In no particular order:All but the last of these facilities are supported by the Breitling Aerospace.
DB

The Airwolf will get you the Alarm & Backlight too ;)

I used to have a citizen navihawk, but since that broke now have a Citizen Skyhawk:

http://www.citizenshop.co.uk/JR3080-51L%20S.jpg

Main reasons are:

• World times
• Several alarms
• Eco-drive (no need for new batteries)
• Slide rule (yes I do actually use it for calculations)
• Good deal from high street jewellers

Sorry...just stumbled in here from Rotorheads.

But now I'm here A340X...

Your design needs to sit well on the RIGHT wrist, because us helicopter boys can't see the left one...it being permanently slung low beside the left thigh as we heroically grip that collective thingy...you know, the one with the twisty bit on it that controls the noise level, and has all those impressive buttons on the end, that no-one tells you what they do.

Anyway...cavortingcatperson is quite right. Whatever it is, it's gotta look good on the RIGHT wrist, too.

Dan

PS...Check out FORTIS Watches. Nuff said!

47 years old Rolex Oyster Perpetual inherited from father. Never been serviced or repaired. Gains 1/2 minute/week. Style and class in one packet.

:eek:

Those who enjoy such exercises as flying over the North Pole will be delighted to know that Rolex have just reintroduced their Milgauss watch.
Given the price that the original ones make at auction, the new watch is quite a bargain at some £3,200.
One has to be a bit careful with older Rolex watches. Some of the older ones are irreplaceable and the value of them lies in small things. For example, a 1969 Rolex Submariner is no particular great shakes, but, were the word Submariner to be written in red, as a few of them were, it becomes much more collectible and hence valuable. Hence the reason why t'is is no longer, with regret, worn as a day to day watch.
There's another piece of timeless information, no doubt gone with the wind.;)

Farrell,

Did you purchase your Torgoen watches here in the UK or outside of the UK? I have searched all over the place trying to find a retailer that sells the T4 Zulu Time range, in particular, the T4.01.02.S02 model. Unfortunately I haven't had any success yet.

Thanks for any info.

Robert

I would like;
Round black face
Clear silver/gold numbers
Large silver/gold hands
Alarm
Accuracy +/- 4 seconds in 24 hours
stopwatch

When can you deliver?
:ok:

Fortis B42

3 Time zones and a stopwatch. All you'll ever need.

Arjay....

I bought them online when I was in the US.

I didn't hold onto the T4 for long because I found it to be too cluttered and impractical.

The T5 however, still goes with me on most flights.

Military Issue Navigators Watch
 

The watch I was issued with and still use and meets the majority of your needs is a Seiko. Bloody brilliant watch and as a Nav it does what you need - the pilots (who get talking baggage) only get a watch that tells the time. So, if you can find it this is what I class as the best pilots watch:

http://www.chronomaster.co.uk/B117_seiko_mil_1.JPG

Use velcro straps on it and just replace them every two years! LOL

Rolex Explorer Ii
 

The smart money is on a ROLEX EXPLORER II. Buy one slightly used, then use it for the next TEN YEARS, when you sell it, chances are the price will be the same or higher than when you bought it. Then buy another used Rolex and do it over and over again. Trust me, I've been doing this the past 15 years..and my best friend is a Watch dealer!

watchs define the man !

omega= wanna be james bond
brietling=wanna be richard branson or full of hot air like a balloon
seiko= still 18 and a mummys boy
casio= too cheap to shout at a bar
rolex=ancient trend setter living in the past
citizen divers= think they know where to find the g spot

the idea of big bulky gold watchs of extreme value dates back to when flyboys were shot down and needed something to trade,try a g shock ,plastic simple very unattractive but with the current pilot t&c yells ill take the hits just keep em coming.(have a laugh boys just some oz humor)