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OK I just read this entire thread. I’m brand new to watches: bare-wristed since high school. However this year I finally got my instrument rating, and as a reward, for my birthday got a nice GMT Pepsi.
As a pilot, I really like the idea of a mechanical object as one more redundant backup to the host of electronic aids we enjoy in the cockpit in today’s General Aviation.
But as I do my research, eg, this thread, I find there are two categories of ‘pilot’ watch: In one camp seems to be commemorative ‘pilot style’ watches reminiscent of a Spitfire or whatever, and then what I’d regard as true pilot tools.
I’m only interested in the ‘tool’ category. In addition to time and date, a pilot needs a stopwatch (AKA chronometer) for several reasons: switching fuel tanks, or timing intervals on an instrument approach. Secondly, I want GMT time. All aviation weather reports are reported in ‘Zulu’ (UTC) time. I don’t want to do lots of mental math when I see an inflight time stamp of 1420Z, I just want to glance at my watch and see ‘oh that report is 20 minutes old.’
So: can you help me winnow this down? Who makes both UTC and stopwatch in a self-winding, legacy-grade watch? I really wanted to love that Patek Calatrava Pilot, but... no chrono...
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