The Hanhart Pioneer Flieger One NightBlue is inspired by the classic Hanhart 417 pilot watch from the 1950s
Pilot
A pilot is a watch type that is tailored to the needs of aircraft pilots. Although the reality was that pilots only needed a watch with hours, minutes and seconds to do their calculations for time and distance. But no one did, as all those calculation functions are on the standard manual flight computers and calculators. Unless they were flying something that looked more like a bike.
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However, at some point watchmakers mixed the functions of standard manual flight computers and calculators into a watch. Except for the cross wind plot calculator. To make them readable these watches were bigger than regular watches. Nevertheless, all the extra functions on the watch were already in a plane. These days, when electronic systems were introduced on planes, built into flight management systems, pilot watches became even more unnecessary. Still, pilot watches, with all the heroic stories, precision certificates and the complicated dials and bezels attract a lot of people.
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Pilot watches
The IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 36 Brown Dial is a small pilot which might attract women as well as it measures 36 millimeters in diameter
The Breitling Super Avenger 01 Boutique Edition looks like it can survive any apocalypse. And it probably will…
The Hanhart Primus Black Ops Pilot is a hefty tool watch with matching measurements: 44 mm diameter and 15 mm thick
A re-issue of the first pilot wristwatch by Oris ever, from 1917: this is the Oris Big Crown 1917 Limited Edition
IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry
The Mark XVIII and the French pilot and author leads to the IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry
A new pilot chronograph to honor a heroic French pilot: the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Worldtimer is an update of the 1997 model, now with rotating bezel to set a second time zone
Another time piece inspired by vintage watches. This Longines Avigation BigEye takes us back to pilot chronographs from the 1930s
Pinups were used on planes to to boost military moral. The Graham Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art Ltd has them on the dial