# Airman Double 24 09 Review



## Alistoro (Feb 16, 2013)

*Introduction *
I've been interested in Glycine for quite some time now and whilst popular in continental Europe, I've yet to met someone who wears one here in the UK. Fortunately, I am lucky enough to live very close to an approved dealer in Bristol and I've been keeping an eye on their stock for a while.

I absolutely love the airman and believe that it is the de-facto watch for those wanting to track multiple time zones, whatever version you chose. Personally, I'm all about the purist's version. I love the simplicity of the 24hr dial and it makes perfect sense when reading a 2nd, or even a 3rd/4th time zone, without having to guess whether it's am or pm and it precludes the need for further indicators or sub-dials.

Something else that can't be denied is the Airman's rich heritage. It was first conceived back in 1953 after consultation with military and civilian aviators. To put that into perspective, it was the same year that the Rolex sponsored Hillary and Tenzing team wore an Explorer to the summit of Mount Everest!

*The D24 09*
The D24 09 really spoke to me when I first saw it. The combination of the orange arabics which contrast against the flat black dial but match the beautiful soft orange leather strap really caught my eye. Then there's that beautifully curved and brushed/polished case and oversized crowns. It all works brilliantly. Seeing one in the flesh at my local AD prompted an Internet trawl. But, I was bitterly disappointed. There were no English reviews out there and I could only find a handful of decent pictures of the watch (and mostly of the yellow version). Those on the official website are frankly abysmal and give no real indication of how the watch looks under natural light or on the wrist. So, I decided to put that right...

*The Accessories*
The watch comes in an attractive bevelled wooden presentation box which slips inside a protective white box monogrammed with the Glycine logo. 
The box is quite substantial and is good quality. I'm not sure what type of wood is used but it is quite grainy to the touch and finished off in a clear matt lacquer. In terms of relative quality, I can only compare it to my other watch cases and I can say that it easily beats Rolex's effort who only seem to be able to muster a rather thinly constructed wood/leatherette affair (pretty nasty really considering the price of their watches). Panerai, on the other hand are on another level. Their boxes are finished in pear wood with an almost craftsmanship quality. Glycine are not quite at that level, but it's plenty good enough at the price point and would sit proudly on any bedside table.

Also in the box is an additional strap, in black leather and watch tool. I was lucky enough to be given an additional orange leather strap with an extra set of bars. The watch tool has a flat-headed screwdriver end and is made by Burgeon. As you would imagine, it fits the lug screws perfectly. Glycine has taken the trouble to have their name laser etched onto the tool which is a nice touch. A monogrammed polishing cloth that comes in its own clear plastic envelope finishes off the accessories list. Actually, I also received a nice companion book too. It is a limited edition hardback entitled _Glycine Airman, a 24 hour timeline of flight_, by André Stikkers. It's a narrative of the history of the Airman models and contains some wonderful pictures of the early examples and has a reference section furnished with all of their models right up to the Base 22, issued in 2010. It's a great read and highly recommended if you're into the Airman and want to discover a little more.

There is not much in the way of accompanying documentation though. Glycine provides a thin card slip containing an international guarantee and a separate instruction leaflet for operating the watch. Both are printed onto rather cheap paper and show evidence of cost saving. These items are also slightly too large to fit into the presentation box which is unfortunate really, and for me, greatly increases their chances of getting lost.

*The Watch*
The case is quite large at 44mm, excluding crowns and is 12mm thick. It's finished in finely polished and brushed stainless steel, which is beautifully curved towards the case back. The case style looks the same as the Airman 17 and in my opinion is much better than the Base 22, which has flatter lugs and possibly less curvature in the case. The curved theme continues around the end of the lugs and in the domed screws at the end of the bars. Each case is also individually engraved with its identifying number within the series. Mine is No. 78 of 300. ;-)

The watch has three large crowns at 2, 3 and 4 o'clock. Looking closely the crown at 4 o'clock is slightly smaller that the other two, but all are finished with the Glycine logo and are deeply knurled. Finally, each crown needs to be unscrewed to access its function(s).

The sapphire crystal is completely flat and level with the bezel. Glycine seem to have used one coat of AR to reduce any unwanted reflections.

The 24hr bi-directional bezel has a brushed finish and black engraved arabics indicating the even hours and triangles indicating the odds. The engraving is very sharp and evenly filled with paint. One thing to note is that the bezel tapers to a thin coin edge that only just provides enough grip to operate it once the 4 o'clock crown clamp is released. This isn't helped by a bezel that is quite stiff, but the action is smooth and not at all grainy.

The face is matt black with painted orange arabics positioned in a ring inside the lumed hour indicators. The hours preceding 10 feature a leading zero, which I think helps preserve symmetry in the central area of the face and works well. A date window sits in the classic 3 o'clock position. Lumed bars mark the even hours and lumed circles mark the odd hours. The lume is pretty bright and is even and emits a nice green glow lasting well into the night. According to the Glycine website the lume is Super-luminova. Lumed triangles mark 12hrs and 24hrs, which incidentally are at the classic 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock positions, respectively - it's a purists watch after all!

Initially, I found the lumed markers detract the finely painted non-lumed minute markers, which made them hard to read. At first all I could glean from a quick glance at the watch was the time to the nearest 2.5mins! Meistersinger anyone? As I became used to the dial this problem went away and now I am able to decrypt a whole raft of information at a modest glance.

Moving outwards from the lumed indices there is an inner rotating bezel finished with a glossy brushed look and this gives the face some welcomed depth. It also provides a nice step up from the dial to the outer bezel, which I think the watch really needs. The main hour hand is thick and arrow shaped with a fine pointed and fully lumed tip. It also has a short non-lumed pointed tail, which serves to give you the hour in a 12hr format when the main hour hand reads anything between noon and midnight. Clever.

The minute hand is quite thick but nicely proportioned with a very fine non-lumed tip. Owing to its length it does obscure the date window for a couple of minutes every hour, but I'm happy to live with this because the hands are so nicely balanced with the dial. The second hand is a ball and stick design with a nice blob of lumed paint in the ball. Again, lume quality and evenness is very good. No obvious signs of over paint or debris here.

I think Glycine has got the length of the hands absolutely spot on in this model. If you look at where the tip of the hour hand falls it is right on the edge of the orange arabics where it should be. The same goes for the minute and second hands too. They fall right over the middle of their indices making the watch easier to read. I think the likes of Rolex with their revised Explorer 1 and its ridiculously short hands could learn a thing or two here.

The second hour hand has two markers, each of slightly different length. The orange tipped marker has a black shaft and is exactly the same length as the main hour hand. Painting the shaft black help to focus attention on the orange triangle and leads the eye to the orange arabics where the (T2) hour is read. At the other end of the arm is the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] hour hand and its head and shaft are painted red. Both are not lumed. T3 is read by reading the red hour hand against the inner rotating bezel. I guess T4, represented by the outer bezel could be read by aligning the hour with either the main hour hand or using the red hand. Personally, I use the main hour hand.

The crown at the 2 o'clock position operates the inner bi-directional bezel (T3). As soon as the crown is unwound it pops out and immediately engages the bezel with a nice smooth mechanical feel. You can definitely feel a direct connection with the cogs that drive the bezel. The main crown has three positions. Simply unscrewed it allows the movement to be wound. There is very little resistance felt when winding and I'm not sure whether this is a trait of the movement or not but it makes it difficult to know when the watch is fully wound. This is in contrast to my Explorer which feels subtly different when winding a fully wound spring or the Panerai who's crown abruptly stops when it is fully wound. There is perhaps a little too much play in the crown too. This might be due to the length of the shaft it is connected to and the shear size of the crown, but these two factors cheapen the feel of the watch ever so slightly.

The main crown is quite stiff too so you need to pull firmly but carefully to move it into its second position. Turned clockwise allows for the setting of the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] hour hand (and thus T3, as its connected to the T2 hour hand). The two hands jump forwards in steps of one hour until the desired T2 hour is reached. When turned anti-clockwise the quick-set date can be changed. Moved into it's 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] position allows the main hands to be set. One thing to remember though is that as the main hands move so do T2 and T3 hour hands so it is always best to set local time first before adjusting the other time zones.

The sapphire display back shows off a rhodium plated ETA 2893-2 movement but other than the balance wheel there's not a great deal to see here. Some pearlage has been applied to the central part of the movement and the visible screws have been blued. The rotor is also engraved in bold with the watch's model and manufacturer, but I would have preferred to have seen the rotor engraved with classic airplane motif featured on other Airman models. It's also a shame that Glycine couldn't have found a slightly larger movement to fill out the case a little more. It's only a small gripe and I know that a bespoke movement would have likely pushed the cost up by 50% or so. On balance it's a compromise I'm willing to accept. Glycine are not specific about the grade of movement but I am lead to believe that they use elaboré, which is regulated in three positions and should perform within +/- 7 s/d day. Mine runs consistently at +5 s/d when worn all day and left face up overnight, which I am very happy with.

The straps are 24mm wide at the lugs with a 2mm taper to the buckle and are finished off in a nice rounded point at the end. 'Airman' is stamped on one side of the strap. They are superbly made and lined in Nubuck and whilst initially quite rigid the leather is lovely and soft so molds quickly to the wrist. The straps have two keepers, one is fixed with a stamped logo and one floating. Stitching is orange on the orange strap and medium grey on the black leather strap. The buckle is finely polished and oversized. Whilst quite large and thick the straps are pretty comfortable and being rounded, the buckle doesn't have a tendency to catch.

On the wrist the watch wears quite large, but not like the 44mm Panerai does. That's a watch I'm always conscious of when on the wrist and it absolutely refuses to go under a shirt cuff. This means that it's constantly exposed and I'm always paranoid of dinging it. With the Airman D24 09 the case thickness and flat crystal help here and it will fit under a cuff whilst remaining relatively comfortable (just). I think the bezel helps protect the crystal too, where the Panerai's remains precariously exposed. There's no denying it though, you know when you're wearing the D24 09; with its 44mm case size, large crowns, 24mm strap and oversized buckle. It is all beautifully proportioned though and like everything - you get used to it and to the watch's credit it never feels uncomfortable.


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## dinexus (Nov 18, 2012)

Beautiful photos, and a great write-up to boot! Thanks for sharing!


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## Aquavit (May 2, 2012)

Thanks for the review, I love the dial on this watch - so much information yet so easliy read and a nice balanced look to it. 

Agree with you on the length of the hands (and the Explorer comparison), Glycine have done a great job on this. With so many hands, if they'd got it wrong, it would be a permanent niggle!

And yes, a larger movement would have been good, but how many watches do we say that about?

But, my word, it's big!


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## occamsrazor (Aug 14, 2012)

Nice review, thanks. Personally I like the Airman D24 SST style the most, though sadly way above my budget.


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## Voice of Reason (Apr 1, 2013)

Thank you for this extremely helpful review. Appealing watch. Can you say the lug-to-lug size? From the photos I'd estimate about 55mm, which is well into wrist overhang territory for many of us, myself included.


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## Alistoro (Feb 16, 2013)

I'll have to come back to you. But for now, my wrists are 6.75" and the watch sits comfortably for me...


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## Alistoro (Feb 16, 2013)

Lug-to-lug the watch measures 50mm, believe it or not


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## Voice of Reason (Apr 1, 2013)

Alistoro said:


> Lug-to-lug the watch measures 50mm, believe it or not


:-! Pleasantly surprised. Thanks.


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## LH2 (Oct 25, 2009)

Holy multiple time zones Batman! Thanks for a great write up on a very cool model not often seen.

Agree it is strange that the warranty card is too large to fit in the box. I discovered this when my Airman arrived too.

The Airman case seems to wear smaller than you'd think too. A good thing for those of us with 7" wrists or smaller.


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## por44 (Dec 21, 2007)

Neat shots! The Airman series IMO is Glycine's best.


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## occamsrazor (Aug 14, 2012)

Excellent review, thanks, love these D24s both this and the SST.


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## franzy (Jul 18, 2010)

Great write up! A really unique and functional piece. Congratulations.


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## jamsie (Mar 14, 2010)

Realize this is an OLD thread, though it proved fantastic in detail before picking up my Airman, was able to order one of these limited 300 from an AD. Great job Alistoro


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## Emre (May 16, 2012)

Lucky you, which model did you get? Post pics pls when it arrives.


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## jamsie (Mar 14, 2010)

#261 reporting in....Double 24 09 true24hr Airman limited yellow


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## arcadelt (Apr 25, 2010)

jamsie said:


> #261 reporting in....Double 24 09 true24hr Airman limited yellow


I've said it before elsewhere, but I love it on that blue strap.


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## jamsie (Mar 14, 2010)

One more.....


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## RidingDonkeys (May 1, 2015)

(adds to wishlist)

Sent by carrier pigeons to a guy with a teletype...


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## RidingDonkeys (May 1, 2015)

Mission accomplished. I've got one on the way from an AD in Asia. I hear a rumor that the Glycine distributor in Italy is still sitting on one. Just saying...


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## Emre (May 16, 2012)

congrats and looking forward your review


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## RidingDonkeys (May 1, 2015)

So mine showed up yesterday. Albeit, there are a few differences in packaging from the one reviewed here. Mine came in a box with no additional straps or tool. I thought this to be odd, but then found that several folks had reported similar stories on the forums. My orange strap also doesn't have the Airman stamped in the side. It has it on the keepers, and all the appropriate markings are on the back of the strap too. I welcome this variation, as having a logo stamped on the outside of my strap wasn't too appealing to me.

The watch is impressive. In less than an hour's wear, I was able to tell the time quickly and efficiently. This is quite the feat for what looked like a very confusing dial at first. While it is a busy dial, Glycine got it right with the length of the hands and the colors. This is too easy.

The strap is a bit too stiff for my liking. I've got a few more 24mm straps inbound, but until then I'll be wearing the stock orange strap. We'll see how it breaks in while I'm waiting for a few perlon and nato options. I bought this primarily as a tool watch, so it may well spend most of its life on a nylon or rubber strap anyway.

What amazes me most about this watch is how small it wears. For 44mm, the lugs really are only 50mm. They turn down sharply at the ends, so it wears quite small and close to the wrist. While it won't fit under some barrel cuffs, it will tuck under an Army uniform nicely. It definitely has some wrist presence though. It just looks different, and it has already caught a bit of attention from non-WIS types. I can't say that I've ever had a watch like this, and I'm not sure how I feel about that aspect of it. I tend to buy more classic, low-key pieces. Even my high end pieces only get noticed by the WIS crowd, and that's even a maybe. We'll see over time if this is just a coincidence or if it really draws attention.


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## MEzz (Jan 22, 2012)

you should try it on a darker brown strap ( gratuitous pic with its brethren), I think it fits better


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## miscellaneousmicron (Mar 4, 2015)

Great looking watch and the cool factor is undeniable, good write up too, thanks for sharing. Not the biggest fan of the Panerai style buckle, but that would be an easy fix.


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## MarcWinNJ (Jan 3, 2009)

MEzz said:


> you should try it on a darker brown strap ( gratuitous pic with its brethren), I think it fits better
> View attachment 8858234


The dark strap looks nice. When I acquired mine I ordered an OEM mustard color strap and from what they tell me it was the last one in the USA. Love the watch !!


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## RidingDonkeys (May 1, 2015)

Has anyone found a mesh bracelet that will accommodate the larger diameter bars used in this model? I see Staib bracelets only accommodate up to 1.8mm diameter spring bars. I believe the ones on the Double 24 are a good bit thicker.


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## Robotaz (Jan 18, 2012)

RidingDonkeys said:


> So mine showed up yesterday. Albeit, there are a few differences in packaging from the one reviewed here. Mine came in a box with no additional straps or tool. I thought this to be odd, but then found that several folks had reported similar stories on the forums. My orange strap also doesn't have the Airman stamped in the side. It has it on the keepers, and all the appropriate markings are on the back of the strap too. I welcome this variation, as having a logo stamped on the outside of my strap wasn't too appealing to me.
> 
> The watch is impressive. In less than an hour's wear, I was able to tell the time quickly and efficiently. This is quite the feat for what looked like a very confusing dial at first. While it is a busy dial, Glycine got it right with the length of the hands and the colors. This is too easy.
> 
> ...


Congrats on the killer watch.

Those straps just need to be rolled up near the lugs to loosen them up. 2-3 minutes and they feel great.


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