# AirNautic AN-24 Pilot...REVIEW!.....



## Dennis Smith

Hi all,










I used to own a Yantar AirNautic years ago, and I'm glad I finally contacted Mitch and purchased a new AirNautic AN-24 Pilot. 
I've owned the watch for a week now, and have used it extensively on some late, late night flights while teaching and evaluating some new guys on F-4949 NVGs (night vision goggles).
As you can see from my current 24 hour watch collection, orange seems to be a bit of a going trend (with the custom Omega orange hands on my U.G. AeroCompax). No...I don't think a Doxa's in my immediate future ;-)





































The watch has all the aesthetic beauty of the old Yantar, with some major improvements. The anti-reflective coating is applied to the underside of the flat sapphire crystal only (the Yantar has AR on top, and the slightest touch would disfigure the crystal). The size is slightly increased to 41.5mm X 11.75mm. I know the trend today is HUGENESS, but believe me, this watch wears BIG for its size. I have a tiny wrist, about 6.4 inches, and this watch is about max size for me. The reason it wears big is the perfect cylindrical case shape. No tapering, no rounded edges. The design of the case and dial mean this watch has a lot of wrist presence. Don't be worried it'll look too small.




























I love the dial...one of the best 24 hour dials ever designed. This modern iteration is vastly improved with copious amounts of Super Luminova. This shot from the company website shows how well it glows with a full charge. I find the watch is quite readable throughout the night.










I like the watch on two levels. It is very easy to read the hours or minutes and noon is on top. Secondly, I love the clean Roland Keller inspired design. The sharp 316 stainless steel cylinder and round hooded lugs are very pleasing to the eye. The proportions are very harmonious, reminding me of the "Golden Mean" tool I used in Architecture school while designing. It's like having functional modern art on your wrist.



















I currently have the watch on an old 20mm titanium Sinn bracelet which is very comfortable. The watch arrived on a deployant silicon strap, with an additional black leather strap. I'm more of a bracelet guy, and the 20mm hooded lugs allow for any strap or bracelet to fit well on this case. I appreciate the 100m/330feet water rating, which is the most I ever look for in a watch and is more than I need for my kayaking.

Another improvement is the date display, which is nicely "hidden" on the dial, but easy to find when you want to see it.





































This watch currently retails for $1,199. In my opinion that's a very good deal for this package. Mine runs within COSC specs.

I look forward to the upcoming 24 hour projects Mitch has on the burner, especially the LM2 AirNautic Pilot crossover with two timezones. I'm a huge fan of titanium :-d

Finally, I want to thank Mitch for giving 24 hour afficianados a lot to be excited about.


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## CSV

Nice review and nice watch.:-!


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## whifferdill

Nice review Dennis and an interesting watch - strangely, it looks from the photos ten times easier to read at night than in the day! I have to say, I find it a bit hard to tell the time at a glance from the pictures for the day shots, but the dial goes super clean and legible at night. 

Great to see the 24 hour watch alive and well. Looking forward to seeing other designs as they come.


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## Fawo

I totally agree with you whifferdill. Time checking in the dark is a bit easier than day time.

IMO, the hour hand is too long, when two hands close together, the hour numeral was blocked to tell the time as well as other reason will be width of the hands are too wide. You need to be completely accustomed to the positions of the hour in order to tell time.

I own Cosmonaute. Thinner hands with proportion length to diameter of the dial made its a better winner even with the slide ruler on the outer dial. It still take me a little bit of time to accustom to 24 hours when I first bought it. If I wasnt wearing the watch for more than a few weeks. I need to think and locate, where is the hour marker of the current time.

Im still on the fence thinking about the current design is the best of it all or not? Too many hourly markers and numerals. If i would bring the hourly circle further to the center of the dial (or even cancel the circle, just keeping the numerals), delete odd numerals and short strokes between hour. Shorter and thinner hands. This design will be a winner for me. 


Regards
Fawo


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## Dennis Smith

Good points, guys. You can see in my pics above with all three watches...The AeroCompax (custom Omega) hands are thick but end at the right moment, before the arabic numerals. The Airman hands are longer, but end with the little sticks that are easy to read around.
Either one of these would make the AirNautic easier to read, since the hands are both thick and long. 
It is easier reading the watch after wearing it. One thing I had to get used to was having the odd hours accented rahter than the even. Most 24 hour watches accent the even hours, which also happen to accent the major minutes hashes (five ten fifteen...)...making for a cleaner, simpler display.
You gotta love how easy the AN24 is to read at night, though


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## gmhutton

Dennis, thanks for the review under correct use conditions. Mitch seems like a great guy. i've approached him with a strange request, to remove the minute hand so i only have a single handed 24 hour, the only one made except for the stupidly expensive Jaquet Droz and he is more than happy to do this for me.
weird it might be, but having what you like is all part of collecting.


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## Afka

Since I am currently working on Yantar and AirNautic research, I stumbled upon this excellent report. Unfortunately the pictures were gone. I could find them in web vaults and here they are back now.

Here they are.


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## Ftumch

These are long OOP, unfortunately. Great LE.


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## Afka

Ftumch said:


> These are long OOP, unfortunately. Great LE.


That's right. But last items are on sale in auction bay by Ocean7 with warranty.


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## Ftumch

Afka said:


> That's right. But last items are on sale in auction bay by Ocean7 with warranty.


I saw, but this one is just perfect IMO. Hand-wound only, isn't it?


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## Afka

Ftumch said:


> I saw, but this one is just perfect IMO. Hand-wound only, isn't it?


Usually all AirNautic 24 are automatic watches. The AN-24 Pilot, pictured here above and with different color palette available on auctions. The AN-24 Submarine - similar, but with full lumed dial. Both, Pilot and Submarine were available with open lugs or closed Euro lugs.

The only exception is AN-24M (M for Manual) https://www.watchuseek.com/f5/airna...swiss-made-pilot-s-watch-aww-27-a-918740.html

AN-24M is different watch with another hand wind movement, another case etc. But similar dial and hands.


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## Ftumch

Afka said:


> Usually all AirNautic 24 are automatic watches...The only exception is AN-24M (M for Manual) https://www.watchuseek.com/f5/airna...swiss-made-pilot-s-watch-aww-27-a-918740.html


Thanks for clarifying. I didn't realise there were two models.


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## Dennis Smith

Afka said:


> Since I am currently working on Yantar and AirNautic research, I stumbled upon this excellent report. Unfortunately the pictures were gone. I could find them in web vaults and here they are back now.
> 
> Here they are.
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Thanks for replacing the images!


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