Top 5 pilot watches

[Megalos]

αυτο για τον φιλο VC222 Κωνσταντινο

[Blackbird]

Δημητρη μου ελα παρε παλι ενα δωρακι ..ποιο πληρης φωτο

Τώρα εξηγήται.
Είναι ρολόι πιλοτηρίου.

[Megalos]

αυτο που λεμε pilot watch

[THANOS58]

Εδώ λοιπόν σας παραθέτω ένα άρθρο στα αγγλικά, το οποίο έγραψε ιπτάμενος και το βρήκα χρήσιμο και διαφωτιστικό. Αφορά στις επιλογές pilot watches...
Ιδού:

Pilot's watches:
The real choices of aviators.

Posted by Time Flies on September 30,1999
Copyright, 1999, G. J. Buhyoff

Good day to all,

I don't know what prompted my posting this viewpoint. It was likely several things. A little while back I and Grahame had a "go-round" about the "epitomy of an aviator's watch". Second, I have been amused for many years by watch companies playing on aviation history, imagery and romance, and pure marketing ploy. Third, there are repeated discussions here and on some of the sub-forums about "aviator's" watches. Fourth, I have collected vintage "aviation" pieces for over 30 years. And, finally, I am a pilot -- former military and currently a private pilot. SO, I can introspect about my own experiences, the experiences of the myriad of pilots I have associated with (or, in some cases, forced to associate with!) as well as bring my own insights about what little I know about the history of watches and their use by pilots -- both military and general aviation.

First, let me categorize pilot's watches into several categories.


Issued watches:
These are watches that were designed to be issued to pilots and aircrew. They are many. Of course, we are all familiar with the Mark series made by IWC, Omega, JLC and others. There are also the vast array of Hamiltons, Benrus, Longines and others which were also issued to aircrews, primarily from the second world war onward -- through about the Vietnam conflict. I was issued one of these myself But, only because I asked for it. They were not issued as a standard procedure. Most of these watches are basic l 2/24hour military timekeepers. The dials are basic and they were not chronographs. In fact, many navigators carried separate stopwatches for those navigational duties. The primary purpose for many of these watches was to provide aircrews with something to determine time since many people either did not own a watch or, if they did, it was not up to a standard timekeeping specification. Additionally, some of the designs, like the British Mark series, were design specified -- that is, they should perform within a certain accuracy or they should be able to be hacked. In fact, hacking ability, during the time period of WW 11 was actually something pretty special. Some of you may note that the Benrus watches issued then were called "Hacking watches". This feature was pretty important for navigational and other planning activities. But, other than being issued to aircrew and being able to display time within a set accuracy, there is nothing particularly special about them in terms of meeting an aviator's needs. Yes, the black face and easy readability were required by military personnel, but that feature really does not, in my mind, make an aviator's watch. A chronographic feature is something that was a virtual necessity then and still is today if I am flying a plane with only basic instrumentation. Again, that is why stopwatches were carried by aircrews. Those issue watches were most often not enough other than to get the aircrews to the ramp on time.


Watches with some aviation heritage:
Of course there is a heck of a bunch of these including the current Blancpains, IWC's, Breuget's Breitlings, Longines and so on. These are watches that utilize some basic design elements in either the dial, movement or case that have some link back to watches made by these companies that were made for aviators. In most cases, these watches are about as strongly linked to aviation as a hot dog is to the cow from which it was made. These are "designer watches". While they look like an aviation watch, many of them are not particularly suited for aviation use. The Mark XII with its delicate movement, small size and general lack of robustness and chronographic features would be an example. The Flieger Chrono by IWC would be more of a real aviation piece but, honestly, after having owned one, it is too small and difficult to read the subdials. Nice watch. But, again, a designer piece in my mind. I am not being critical of IWC. They are one of my all time favorite companies. I own IWC's. Breitlings on the whole are aimed at marketing "aviation romance", particularly to those who would maybe like to be like a pilot. Unfortunately, their strongest link to aviation is historical. However, as you will see later, they currently manufacture some pieces that present some possible real choices for an aviator.

I could go on for a long time detailing examples in this category, but that would serve little purpose. I think I have described this group well enough, and a large group of manufacturers and watches it is!


Watches actually selected by aviators:
These are watches that pilot's, navigators and aircrew actually purchased themselves (or had a hand in design) for use in performing aviation duties, including: getting the ramp on time (!); preflight planning; and, navigational chores. In fact, I call this group "watches with a real aviation heritage". Issue watches were issue watches -- they were not necessarily, and in most cases were not, what a pilot would really want. This is the group of watches I have refocused my collecting on -the watches with a real aviation heritage because pilots bought them since they provided design and function that was actually useful for the requirements, chores and duties of flying -- either military or general aviation. In most cases, each of these watches exemplified the latest timekeeping technology of the time. That is, mechanical chronographs was the best technology of the time period since you did not have to have or use a separate stopwatch.

Given this set of categories, I have ended up with a set of basic assumptions about "watches with a real aviation heritage". I f you subscribe to my assumptions and observations, then I list below a group of watches that were the real choices of aviators and also list a group that might well be the aviation collectibles of the future. Of course, there is the odd watch here and there from a variety of manufacturers that "do the same things", or meet the needs of an aviator. And, many aviators owned them. But, the list below are the watches I vote as being "real aviator's watches" These are watches, especially the Breitling's, Omega's and Rolex, that were owned by many, many aviators with whom I associated or flew with. These were the "common" extra-issue watches used. I owned(own) them myself and they were purchased to accomplish flying duties despite not having enough money at the time to really afford them!


Vintage

Longines Lindberg Hour Angle
Longines Weems
Breitling Navitimer
Breitling Cosmonaute
Omega Speedmaster Professional
Omega Flightmaster
Rolex GMT
Accutrons -- the 24 hour versions
Glycine Airman
I might note that three of the watches above in their current manufacture format are about as true to the original as can be despite some obvious updating of dials and some minor movement differences (we can nitpick this in terms of movements but I am basing my opinion on the use of certain basic movement used in at least one series manufactured under the model name by each of the manufacturers within that vintage time period). They are: Omega Speedmaster Professional (essentially the same watch), Breitling Cosmonaute (essentially the same watch as the 1963 version); and, the Rolex GMT (updated to GMT 11-- but you can still get the GMT). So, you can still purchase today a watch that aviators really did wear and use for flying duties.


Current aviation watches

Of course, the best technology for time keeping for aviators is not handled by mechanical watches. Modern avionics has eliminated the requirement to even wear a watch. But, like all good aviators, I like redundancy -- as many backups as I can pack into that airframe without adding significant weight or altering the weight and balance computations too much! So, modern wristpieces that I see as being really good choices for aviators would be: (I have selected these for their specifications and functions and certainly does not represent the complete set of possibilities)

Breitling B-l
Breitling Aerospace
Breitling Emergency (if legal in the U.S. -- have your fun if elsewhere)
Omega X-33
Omega Seamaster 120 Multifunction
Casio's by the dozen
Citizen's by the gross
A few thousand Seiko's and, gosh knows what else!
So, what are my conclusions? First, watches issued to aviators and the basic designs of most of those issued watches were not really, in many, if not most cases, watches designed just for aviation. The anti-magnetic and accuracy specifications were for a variety of military applications and not just aviation. And, in tact, these watches more often than not did not provide aviators with the functions they really needed. Second, many, many aviators purchased their own time pieces based upon their know needs and the watches I listed above were not anything like the ones issued. Finally, if you really are interested in getting a modern timepiece that really does a great job in the cockpit as a redundancy instrument look into the ones I have noted just above this paragraph and then you will "look like an aviator"! If ya wanna look like a pilot, go big, go digital/analog combination and go with modern technology such as quartz. If you like real aviation vintage, I might suggest looking into the watches selected by pilots such as the ones I also noted above.

I hope this might be fun to read. It was fun to write. You can argue with me until you are blue in the face. But, this is what I have observed over years of collecting and years of military and civilian flying. I invite additions to my real choices of aviator's category since I may have simply forgotten one or I need to know of an oversight. If it is an oversight, many thanks, and please tell me where I can act one!

Regards,
Greg

[eisenberg]

Θανο,μετεφερα το ποστ σου εδω.

Ειναι παντα πολυ ενδιαφερουσα η προσεγγιση ενος θεματος απο την πλευρα του επαγγελματια

[THANOS58]

Πράγματι, εντυπωσιάζει η επαγγελματική του προσέγγιση με ιστορικά στοιχεία, η οποία καταρρίπτει πολλές γνώμες που θέλουν ένα pilot να λέγεται έτσι γιατί σχεδιάστηκε απλά και μόνον με το γνωστό design, α'λα IWC... Οι πιλότοι είναι καταρχήν επαγγελματίες, και σαν τέτοιοι επιλέγουν πρώτα λειτουργικότητα, αξιοπιστία και εύκολη ανάγνωση στοιχείων. Θυμάμαι ότι ο πατέρας μου -αναφερόμενος σε εκείνην την εποχή βέβαια των spitfires και των hurricanes- μου έλεγε ότι τα "μπιχλιμπίδια" στο ρολόι δυσκολεύουν τον πιλότο, ειδικά στα καταδιωκτικά... Το μόνον που χρειάζεσαι είναι ένα λίαν ευανάγνωστο (φυσικά ευμέγεθες) σκυλί, που να μην χάνει λεπτό και να μην "μασάει" σε αλλαγές θερμοκρασιών και πιέσεων! Με βάση αυτήν την original κατάθεση λοιπόν, τουλάχιστον για τους εραστές των vintage καλουδιών, βγάλτε συμπέρασμα... Από εκεί και πέρα, έκαστος όπως του αρέσει και αναλόγως βαλαντίου...

[eisenberg]

Συμφωνω,οι πιλοτοι μαχητικων χρειαζονται ευαναγνωστα ρολογια ή χρονογραφους,γι αυτο και τα IWC,Stowa,Tutima,Hanhart κτλ με τα μεγαλα καθαρα καντραν.
Τα ''φορτωμενα'' Navitimer & Cosmonaute ειναι κατεξοχην ρολογια πιλοτου αλλα για την πολιτικη αεροπορια(& διαστημα)οχι για το στρατο.

[marios_ch]

από τα αγαπημένα μου θέματα...

μπράβο και πάλι Θάνο........

[Megalos]

ευχαριστουμε Θανο για το ενδιαφερον αρθρο που μας παρεθεσες ...
Θοδωρη ευχαριστω για την μεταφορα ...
πραγματι ενδιαφερον εχουν τα γνησια ρολογια για αεροπορους πιλοτους

[Georges]

Τώρα καταλαβαίνω γιατί έχεις αρχίσει και ψάχνεσαι τόσο Θανούλη...εύχομαι να βρεις σύντομα την πιλοτική Ιθάκη σου


Φιλικά Γιώργος