This Patek Philippe Calatrava Pilot Ref. 5522A is an entry-level pilot’s watch from stainless steel and only available in the US
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
This IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Edition Tribute to Mark XI commemorates the 1948 IWC 6B/346 used by the RAF
The Breitling Chronoliner B04 Boutique Edition is big, blue and only available in one of Breitling’s 50 boutiques worldwide
The Breitling Avenger Hurricane Military is not only ultra-light and black, it is also very, very big. 50 millimeters is impressive
The Zenith Pilot Type 20 GMT Tribute to the Rolling Stones is the seventh Zenith paying a tribute to the Stones. And the last one…
This Longines Lindbergh Hour Angle Watch 90th Anniversary celebrates the first nonstop Atlantic crossing by aircraft, in 1927
A gender neutral pilot from Zenith: this is the Zenith Pilot Type 20 Extra Special 40 mm and it comes with some colorful dials
The Zenith Heritage Pilot Extra Special Chronograph is one of the most cool retro pilot watches we have seen in years
The Breitling Colt Skyracer is Breilting’s latest pilot model. It’s made from polymer with composite fibers to make it ultralight
The Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Horograph and Horolum are the latest models within the Instruments collection: of course square-shaped