Pilot's Watch

[rushca01]

I have a new reason for a new watch! I just started taking private flying lessons (in a 2017 Cirrus SR20 ) and ground school classes to get my private pilots license. When I finish I want to reward myself with a new watch. Give some suggestions please.

[Old Expat Beast]

Oris Big Crown ProPilot ... Date or Day-Date.

[goog53]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Oris Big Crown ProPilot ... Date or Day-Date.

Adam knows his stuff. Great Suggestion! This is cool too https://monochrome-watches.com/oris-...ld-2017-price/

[Dan Pierce]

Love the legibility. Not a pilot but do travel a lot.

Congrats on your wings!

Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Aero GMT, micro tubes make it great to night flying.


Sinn 757 UTC, do it all, tough as nails, tool watch.


Fortis Square Chronograph.


Custom TST Pilot Diver.


The king of them all, Rolex GMT II.

dP

[arcadelt]

Like everything, first question is how much do you want to spend? Not knowing that, here are two suggestions:

Vintage Breitling Navitimer from 1956



Current Breitling Navitimer

[KarlS]

Iwc

[eonflux]

If you want to keep it simple, and maximize legibility, than an IWC Big Pilot would work

One of their Pilot Chronographs if you need a stopwatch

For a GMT, hard to beat a Rolex BLNR!

[Lew Archer]

Breitling Navitimer or Aerospace.

Rolex GMT or Airking.

Omega Speedmaster Professional or the new 1957 Speedmaster, recently released, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Speedmaster.





Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[scarlet knight]

IMG_7375.jpg

[rushca01]

Never really thought of the GMT as a pilots watch, travel watch yes. Sinn has the tool look down, I don't like the dehumidifier canister though, how where do you get those serviced. IWC was my first thought but I'm liking the Oris too. I have a speedy already. BLNR seems like a logical choice because why not stick with Rolex.

[nick c]

Breitling Colt

[GB-man]

Navitimer!

[corn18]

First choice is a G-Shock. I wore one of these in the cockpit for 20 years and still wear one.



Second choice would be this bespoke A-13A. It is modeled after the 8 day mechanical clock you will find in nearly every cockpit:



Here's a link to order one:

http://www.a-13a.com/shop/en/

I love my IWC Top Gun as well:



The Bremont line is also very cool for pilots:

[brandrea]

IWC Big Pilot 5004

[rushca01]

Forgot about bremont! My brother has a bremont.

[Maxfli]

Originally Posted by rushca01

Never really thought of the GMT as a pilots watch, travel watch yes.

Not a "pilot style" watch, a la IWC, Stowa, et al., but, if memory serves, a watch developed by Rolex specifically FOR pilots...I think Pan Am (remember them?) pilots.

[slorollin]

Rolex, Breitling, Longines, Oris, Laco, Glycine all have long histories with aviation. Look at them all, pick one, buy it, then buy another.

And yes, GMTs were originally developed for aviation by Rolex for Pan Am.

[nauticajoe]

IWC BP 5009. Just acquired mine a month ago. Love it.

Happy hunting!

[august1410]

Seiko SNA-411

I've done all I can to destroy this watch and can't do it.

[530ExplorerII]

This is my collection of "pilot" watches. I started with the Citizen Nighthawk, because I thought the E6B features were cool, but I quickly realized that my iPhone was much more useful for these calcs and I could never remember how to use the E6B without the manual. I could also barely make out my most used feature, which was the second time zone.

To give you a good recommendation, it will depend on the missions you're most likely to fly and the equipment you already have. The first plane I took lessons in had steam gauges and no GPS, so the Garmin D2 was essential for me. I still use it on long cross countries and always set it to track nearest airports on the GPS. It's nice because I can just look down and always know the direction I'm going to turn if that engine quits. Once that field expires (out of gliding range), I pick my next.

My aircraft now has better equipment, so I don't use the D2 as much. I mainly need the GMT feature set to Zulu time and most of my flying is IFR so I'm copying down clearances and checking weather against Zulu time. For me, I generally fly with the Explorer II these days, or if I'm headed to a meeting, the BLNR.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!!

Pilot Watches.jpg

[530ExplorerII]

The Breitling Emergency is also on my bucket list, but could never justify the cost for how little I'd use it.

https://www.breitling.com/en/emergency/

[Bluside]

Flying lessons are fun. Best of luck to you. I got my PPL back in 1973.

I don't know if there really is such a thing as a Pilot watch anymore. (Besides advertising as one) All the airplanes have great clocks and GPS types of stuff.

That being said, my choice is a Rolex GMT II. It's a forever watch.

[derekstlmo]

Breitling aerospace or navtimer

[McLovin]

Breguet Type XX or XXI

[530ExplorerII]

Originally Posted by Bluside

That being said, my choice is a Rolex GMT II. It's a forever watch.

Without a doubt. It's an absolute must-have for any pilot.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wb55]

Depending on budget I would go for the GMT. Either BLNR if going 6 digit or Pepsi if 5, black if 4...

[gabrielc]

the big pilot

[arcadelt]

Here's another one

[scarlet knight]

IMG_7559.jpg

[subtona]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Oris Big Crown ProPilot ... Date or Day-Date.

That's a great looking watch Adam.