Pilot's watch

[Kalifornia]

Armitron is the Mesa of the watch industry.

 

[Ralph Cramden]

I have the Navtimer I got from my parents when I got my private ticket years ago. It was the AOPA pilot watch and cost $120 at the time. (Yes, I'm showing my age.) Here's the advert for it about halfway down this page: http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=25057 So, kept long enough, Navtimers do increase in value!

They also weigh a ton, keep horrible time and require winding as well as protection for the satellite dish sized crystal. Wish I could afford the Omega, it's a classy watch. I never wear the Swiss Frisbee anymore.

For general wear, the Citizen Skyhawk is pretty nice with the time zone shift capability. I wish it had a backlight like the cheap Casios and I rarely use the E6B functions (can't see 'em anymore).

You will never use the watch for anything but to tell time and as man jewelery, so get the best simple watch you can afford and enjoy it for what it is.

 

[BigLebowski]

Rolex GMT Master II. Awesome watch, and like Breitling they increase in value over time. (At least a little better than the 1% you'll get off of CD's these days)

 

[CessnaFan]

Ha! I can't see them now! Never could work one of those in the cockpit, but the ladies at the bar sure love it.

Omega - SpeedMaster.

Get an I-phone, find an app. As you age, you won't be able to see the numbers.

 

[mushroom]

I used to have a Breitling Colt GMT. It was perrtyy. I got tons of compliments on it, But it NEVER kept good time. It was an automatic. My dad didn't believe in buying an expensive quartz. It was off by minutes every week. It ticked me off (no pun intended). My dad (a watch collector), sent it to Grenchen Switz. (Breitling Factory) to have it looked at. They sent it back a month later and said they fine tuned it. It it STILL lost time. I just didn't understand 2200 for a watch that loses so much time. I never wear it anymore. I bought a Casio wavecepter on amazon for like 35 bucks. It's atomic. It updates every night at 1am. Freakin awesome. It's NEVER off. It has dual time display (diff. time zone). I love that especially for work (zulu time). Everyone I know who has a Breitling always complains it loses or gains time, but they keep it cause it's shiny and pretty. Again, I just think an expensive watch should be accurate.

And for the guy that said his Breitling increased a couple thousand in value, I call BS. They don't value that much. They stay pretty much the same, or a little more. Rolexes on the other hand do increase in value.

Mechanical watches are designed for the intricacy (think "complications") and marvel of their movements and design, not necessarily for accuracy. If you want accuracy, get a quartz watch or an atomic one as you have. I've had my steel GMT-II for several years and it gains about 4 seconds a day. So? It's still a great looking watch, keeps time in three time zones at the same time if I want it to, and is rugged. Hopefully I'll be able to give it to my kid when he's old enough and if he wants it.

On the matter of accuracy, think of it this way: there are 86,400 seconds in a day. Even if the watch loses 15 MINUTES a day (900 seconds), it is still 99% accurate. How accurate should a mechanical watch with hundreds of parts, often hand-made, be?

 

[DX Jake]

Mechanical watches are designed for the intricacy (think "complications") and marvel of their movements and design, not necessarily for accuracy. If you want accuracy, get a quartz watch or an atomic one as you have. I've had my steel GMT-II for several years and it gains about 4 seconds a day. So? It's still a great looking watch, keeps time in three time zones at the same time if I want it to, and is rugged. Hopefully I'll be able to give it to my kid when he's old enough and if he wants it.

On the matter of accuracy, think of it this way: there are 86,400 seconds in a day. Even if the watch loses 15 MINUTES a day (900 seconds), it is still 99% accurate. How accurate should a mechanical watch with hundreds of parts, often hand-made, be?

You make some good points, BUT:

A. I wish my Breitling only lost 4 seconds a day, it loses 2.5 minutes a day
B. 15 minutes a day is crazy... there's no way
C. I get the whole "movement thing", but you gotta admit, if you pay THAT MUCH for a WATCH, wouldn't one expect an accurate one!

 

[skygod75]

You make some good points, BUT:

A. I wish my Breitling only lost 4 seconds a day, it loses 2.5 minutes a day
B. 15 minutes a day is crazy... there's no way
C. I get the whole "movement thing", but you gotta admit, if you pay THAT MUCH for a WATCH, wouldn't one expect an accurate one!

If it's losing 2.5 minutes a day the movement might need to be regulated/adjusted. That is something that any competent watchmaker should be able to do. I've seem some botched up jobs out there.

A relatively "beneath the radar" brand that, IMO, is one of the better watches around is Ball Watch. I bought one off ebay and have been very happy with it.

http://www.ballwatchusa.com

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Mechanical watches were about it, until the 1970s. When quartz technology came about it blew the mechanical watch biz out of the water...

The mechanical or luxury watch industry went to makerting these watches as the marvel of hand made watches that for being so... kept great time....

If you want watch that keeps the best time, it is a quartz. If you want a piece of jewelry that tells pretty good time... go for an Omega, Breitling or Rolex. Until my IRAs are tapped out, I go for a quartz.....

 

[Salukipilot4590]

Fossil, millions of watches, most for under $75.

PROTIP: If you have a fossil outlet store nearby you can rack up on watches that look awesome but cost next to nothing while being some of the best made watches of all time, of all time!

 

[xjhawk]

Get a timepiece not a watch.

Good: Breitling Navitimer...$3,000

Better: IWC Big Pilot's Watch...$12,000

Best: Patek Philippe World Time...$48,000

where are you finding breitlings for that cheap? I once found a place that sold good knock offs for a few hundred but stopped making the Navitimer.

 

[Uncle Bunkle]

Or $20 for a nice Chinese clone I picked up in Shanghai.

Is that what they call them these days? Did she say "Me love you long time?"

 

[Grinder10]

Fossil, millions of watches, most for under $75.

PROTIP: If you have a fossil outlet store nearby you can rack up on watches that look awesome but cost next to nothing while being some of the best made watches of all time, of all time!

The hands fell off of the only Fossil I ever owned. You get what you pay for.

 

[Tristar]

The hands fell off of the only Fossil I ever owned. You get what you pay for.

Yeah, but according to my math, I can buy a new $60 Timex every year for the next 50 years before I hit the cost of a bargain basement Breitling. Given actuarial probabilities and the fact that I seem to get at least two years from a Timex, I probably won't ever equal the cost of the Breitling.

Oh yeah, and mine keeps time within a few seconds every few months.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

The hands fell off of the only Fossil I ever owned. You get what you pay for.

This is VERY true! I just need to mix it up between my 20 or so Fossils and the SkyHawk.

 

[Caveman]

Yeah, but according to my math, I can buy a new $60 Timex every year for the next 50 years before I hit the cost of a bargain basement Breitling. Given actuarial probabilities and the fact that I seem to get at least two years from a Timex, I probably won't ever equal the cost of the Breitling.

Oh yeah, and mine keeps time within a few seconds every few months.

You don't have to spend that much for a Breitling. I bought mine for well under $2k, it keeps time to within a 3-4 seconds per year and when I pass it on to my grandson it will be worth more than what I paid for it. For the record I didn't buy it as an investment nor to create a family heirloom. I just wanted it and I could afford it. Some guys spend their disposable income on Beemers and single malt scotch. I spend mine on fine watches and titanium bicycles. To each his own.....