Watches

[ILLINI]

I've always thought it would be pretty cool to have one of those nice big "aviation" watches like a Breitling but could never afford it. Yeah I know, only dork pilots wear those things. Anyway, I have a friend that works in fine jewlery and can get me a Citizen Skyhawk Titanium Chrongraph for cost, and we all know how much watches are marked up! I was wondering what some of you thought of this particular watch. It uses Citizen's Eco-Drive technology so you never have to replace a battery. Are you happy with yours? Did you wish you spent your money on something else?

I'm currenly wearing a Fossil watch which I love, but it's really hard to pass up a deal like the one i'm being offered!

 

[414Flyer]

Re: $50 Timex

A shiny chrome watch it not going to make you better pilot. As long as you know what time it is, who cares if you have a computer attached to your wrist or a simple $50 Timex.

Oh nonsense. We all know that ones pilot ability is directly proportional to the size of ones watch

 

[bobbysamd]

Expensive watches on the cheap

I agree, the size and cost of a watch indeed makes you a better pilot.

Don't forget, you can always purchase pre-owned. You can make a real killing if you shop. I bought my Chase-Durer pre-owned. Maybe the previous owner wore it a couple of times. I was told he didn't like such a heavy watch. In any event, I got a virtually brand-new watch for $300 off list. It runs perfectly.

Just be sure you buy from a reputable dealer and not from some guy selling "Rolexes" out of a briefcase. There are a ton of counterfeits out there.

 

[a36pilot]

breitling

i'm a flight instructor and wear a breitling b-1 model. it is little expensive but i believe it is worth it.
i love swiss watch.

www.breitling.com

 

[CCDiscoB]

Timex is good for beginners. But once you're in the bigs, you need a watch. A real watch. Call it dorky, whatever. I got news for you, some of the sunglasses you "cool dudes" are still wearing aren't cutting it either. I saw a nice pair of vintage 1980's Cats Eyes the other day. That dude was styling.

You can sit and wonder if your Captain is cheap, or look at his Timex and remove all doubt.

 

[Capn Lucky]

Breitlings do nothing for you in the airplane except possibly irritate a captain. I generally wear a cheap watch with a large face at work and save the expensive stuff for later. The one advantage that a breitling has is an inner scale that converts from minutes to tenths of hours. I'm sure you can find the same in a less expensive model.

Steve

 

[bobbysamd]

Breitling

Way to go, A36 Pilot!

Just a little watch knowledge. Many of the mechanical chronographs use a Valjoux 7750 movement. Some Breitlings use the 7750 as a base movement. This is a more-or-less generic chrono movement. Some manufacturers use them straight out of the box or tweak them with alloy mainsprings that are less resistant to weather changes and are therefore more accurate. It's a pretty good movement. Some of the less-expensive mechanical chronographs, such as Limes, use this movement. If so, you might be able to save some money and not pay a lot for a name.

Many companies take this movement and modify it, which is fine.

I cannot emphasize enough that you should do plenty of shopping and negotiating before putting down your money for a watch.

Happy shopping.

PS-The Breitling website to which A36 Pilot refers, www.breitling.com , has some neat Connie pix.

 

[bigsky]

I have the Breitling B-1 also. A really great design and the back of the watch is shaped like big turbo fans. My only complaint was the 350 dollars It cost to get a new battery and to have it re-water proofed by breitling.
I dont worry about it too much in a larger airplane but Thought it would be nice to have the elt/emmergency watch-especially if you are doing alot of flying in remote areas out by yourself.

 

[bobbysamd]

Luminox Stealth watch review

I'm reviving this thread because every so often people discuss pilot watches. I believe I have found a strong contender for the perfect pilot watch. Not only is this watch distinctive and different, but it is extremely practical and a great value for the price.

I recently purchased a Luminox Stealth 3402 watch. Here are pictures. I found this link at random because I wanted to provide pictures of the front and back of the watch.

Military people might recognize this watch from military issue. Actually, Luminox watches are a derivative of military-issue watches, such as the one pictured here.

Professional watch reviewers make a big deal about the box in which a watch is packed. They seem to equate a watch's quality with its box. That's ridiculous. Just the same, I may as well be no different than a professional reviewer. The Luminox Stealth watch is packed in a box covered with a black material with an embossed, extruded "Luminox" logo in stainless steel on top. Cool box, actually.

The Luminox Stealth watch is stainless steel with a special black plating to look like an F-117. It is about 45 mm wide. It is somewhat heavier than many watches, but is not uncomfortable at all. Very good quality for the price. In fact, I have a small wrist and I can barely tell I am wearing the watch. I have the stainless steel bracelet, which is well-made with a double-lock clasp. It fastens in place with a good, distinctive "click." The bracelet has a link to fold out to wear the watch over a jacket or outerwear.

The watch has a quartz movement. Accuracy is a given with quartz watches. I've had my Stealth a little over a month and it has gained three seconds. Now, many watch purists scoff at quartz movements and prefer traditional mechanical movements. That's fine. I also have mechanical watches and love them all, but I'm talking about a watch that, I think, pilots will find extremely useful and practical.

The major aspect of this watch for pilots is its readibility. The hands and numbers are white on a black background. Very easy to read. Very (cool) military-looking. The most outstanding aspect of the watch, and what really sold me, is its luminescence. In other words, the hands and hour markers really do glow in the dark - at all times! It is absolutely amazing. I won't say the watch lights up the room at night - that would be absurd - but you can certainly see the face at night from a distance. I always wished that I had a watch that really glowed brightly in the dark when I was flying. The Luminox Stealth fills the bill in that regard big time.

The outside bezel can be turned to read time in a second time zone. Determine how many hours ahead or behind you want to read the time and set it over the "12." Then, read the time in the desired second zone directly with the hour hand.

I recommend the Luminox Stealth highly if you want a "pilot" watch that is extremely readable under all light conditions, accurate, and different. Luminox is very available online and prices vary greatly. Do plenty of shopping. This watch should cost no more than $275, including shipping, if you shop wisely.

 

[supsup]

watches

I'm not a big watch guy myself. My wife bought me a breitling for our 1st anniversary a couple of years ago. She must have felt guilty because of the astronomical difference between her wedding ring and my $150 wedding band. Being the cheap, conservative person i am it took me about two weeks to even take it out of the box. Breitling sends out a cool catalog and a box of chocolates every x-mas. I would have never bought it for myself. Whenever i wear it it seems to make me fly better, YEAH RIGHT.

supsup

 

[bobbysamd]

Breitlings

Breitlings are cool pilot watches, actually, with a rich tradition.

Wear it well, my friend.

 

[TriStar_drvr]

Timex Expedition works well for me. I use it just like the thread starter does. I put local time on the analog hands and I haven't missed a showtime yet. I put home time in time zone 1 in the digital window and I haven't made the mistake of calling my wife at 3:00 AM from some foreign country. Finally I put UTC in the second time zone in the digital window, and it comes in handy when filling out all of out UTC based paperwork. I compare the time to the GPS clock or get a time hack on the HF and it hasn't wavered in over a year.

It only cost me $25 at Target, so I don't care if it gets lost, broken, or stolen (a possibility in some of the places I go to). Finally, it doesn't scream pilot like a lot of the big expensive watches do. I'm proud of what I do, but I don't feel I have to advertise to the world what my occupation is when I'm off duty.

 

[Eagleflip]

I've got to vote with Medivacer on this one--the Citizen Navihawk has everything I need (with one exception).

The three alarms don't really mean much, but the digital time zones in addition to the normal analog display offer a good way of figuring out the what's and when's during transcon flights.

A big feature for me is the ability to switch instantly between a different time zone (in the digital section) and the analog. For example, when we fly to Long Beach from JFK, all I have to do to reset to local time is hit a couple of buttons and voila--Long Beach time on the analog display. Yeah, I know...simple pleasures for simple minds.

That way I know EXACTLY when we overflew the sound-sensitive houses at the end of the runway.

I don't use the E6B function much, but it is a handy way to figure out approximations to division problems and fuel burns. Plus, doing math on the watch freaks out most Captains and gives you something to talk about over the vast expanses of South Dakota and New Mexico. You also have a chrono and timer function, along with the standard calendar display.

Interestingly, I see this watch on a bunch of wrists at work, so I would only bet that it is a popluar watch amongst the masses; not too many folks on the board have evidently seen it, though.

The only drawback--no light. The hands are illuminated by a bit of luminous paint, but then again the Airbus cockpit is lit pretty well...

 

[Drifter]

Every good pilot should go out and buy the biggest watch they can find. Who cares what the features are? Because hey... big watches are cool and everybody will know that you are a superpilot without having to ask.
Ahh.. just kidding.
I vote for the Timex Expedition. I break and lose watches all the time so they are cheap to replace. Get one of those velcro wrist-straps too. They are worth it.

 

[dmspilot00]

Re: Luminox Stealth watch review

I've worn Timex watches for several years now. They always break on me. My first one was a simple analog and it randomly decided to stop working from time to time and then jump back to life. A new one I got -- the kind with the analog+digital window, died (the watch itself, not the battery) after 2 months and I was given a replacement. After about 1.5 years, that one stopped working, who knows why that time. I did love the combo of the analog and digital, and was obsessive-compulsive about having the seconds synchronized. Anyway I'm back to the original watch I've had for like four years and it has been working (miraculously) since the newer one died.

The most outstanding aspect of the watch, and what really sold me, is its luminescence. In other words, the hands and hour markers really do glow in the dark - at all times!

Hm, I'm not a fan of wearing radioactive materials on my wrist, but to each his own.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Timex and Omega

I am a huge fan of Swiss watches and own over half a dozen of them, but I don't and won't wear them to work. I wear a Timex. A Timex Expedition. It's my second in nine years, the old one having been retired because it had no backlight... The new one has the indiglo feature, so it's perfect for my needs. It also happens to be accurate to about 15 seconds per month, which when considering the outrageous lies we concoct for our in-times at the aerodrome, is close enough by far.

Good thing I didn't know that a "Timex is for beginners" and "not a real watch" when I got my second type rating... Otherwise, I might have been nervous that the check airman would have seen right through me.

So with all this talk about Breitlings, I can't believe there's been no mention of Omega. You want a REAL pilot watch? Get the Omega "Moon Watch". This is the only watch that's ever been on the moon, and still one of the very few approved for space flight by NASA. Breitling, Rolex, you name it, none of them are more rugged and accurate than the mechanical Omegas. If it was good enough to keep time on Apollo 13 when every other clock was out of service, it's good enough for you, too, no matter WHAT you fly.

Then again, you have to wind them every two days, they don't light up, and they cost over 2 grand when purchased from a legitimate source.

 

[ShawnC]

Re: Timex and Omega

they cost over 2 grand when purchased from a legitimate source.

You mean that my $20 Rolex that I bought in China Town wasn't legitimate?

 

[bobbysamd]

Omega

Good point, I.P. Freley, Omegas are good watches. I have a Seamaster chrono that I wore for years.

It's amazing where you can purchase fine watches these days. E.g., Costco! Several weeks ago, I saw a couple of Omega models at the Costco near us. I couldn't believe it! Anyway, here's a
link to the Costco watch page.

Once again, do lots of shopping and negotiating. Good luck with your choices.

 

[dav8or]

Check out Fortis

I will have a Breitling when I can finally decide on which one I like best, but I have also been looking at Fortis watch too.


Check them out

www.fortiswatch.com/

 

[azpilot]

This is a pretty good site for watches. You can spend as much or as little as you like. They have a huge selection.

http://www.hmewatch.com/cgi-bin/Web_store/web_store.cgi

Check Marvgolden.com as well. They have the Citizen's Blue Angel Watch for $75 less than HME. It pays to shop around. I agree with most others that a Timex Expedition will do just fine though.