# What exactly is a Pilot Watch?



## thisisallen (Jul 17, 2009)

Is there any specific criteria for a watch to be called a Pilot Watch? I see many watches that are called Pilot watches but some are simple watches while others are chronographs and some others have slide rules, LCD/LED readouts, etc., etc.


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## Tictocdoc (Sep 28, 2009)

Wow good question Ive been meaning to ask it myself, cant wait to see what the other guys will post here. 
From what Ive gathered while lurking the forum for a while now...
Pilot watches were ones that were specifically issued to pilots during WWII most notably those in the German Air force "Luftwaffe". These watches were made to be easy to read at a glance and accurate. They were also meant to be worn over the pilots jacket and thus ended up with a diameter of over 50mm and a simple dial design, that could be easily read at a glance. And a large crown that could be operated while wearing gloves. There were some variations of this theme, like watches specifically designed for the navigators,and many countries issued watches to their pilots. Back in those days it really was a useful tool and not just a cool accessory to have, their survival depended on the accuracy and reliability of their analog instruments to aid in their navigation and to keep track of certain things like speed and fuel, the watches ended up as a sort of Back up. These guys were the real deal, going up against their rival combatants and their survival or victories depended mostly on their skills and sheer brazenness "(Balls in today's language)".

Today Pilot watch seems more like a design style than an actual specialized tool critical for pilots. Some common features are sharply angled hands, Slide Rule, simple to read dial, or on the opposite end a crowded dial with lots of tinny numbers and such things that would theoretically be useful to a pilot today. ie... the Hamilton X-wind which has two independently operated bezels (with very small numbers) which can be used to calculate a crosswind. But I cant imagine a pilot coming down for a landing, lining up with the runway and then, droping everything and start fiddling with his watch at the last minute. GMT function has also been incorporated into pilot watches and helps keep track of a second time zone.

Here's my "Pilot"


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## Pilot2 (May 1, 2011)

Great question. My thoughts are that its a watch that is quickly, and easily readable in day and night. Many believe they need to be chronographs, but to me that isn't the case. I started out using chronos in the cockpit and found them fine, but unnecessary. In fact, I prefer a single dial, rugged watch like the Fortis B-42 Cosmonaut Day/Date (not chrono), or a dive watch like the Sinn U1 or Fortis Marinemaster. At this point I prefer the simplicity of the non-Chronos, as I typically don't use the stopwatch functions in flight, although they can come in handy for fuel burn/switching tanks, timing legs, etc.

Watches I consider "pilot's watches" that I own and wear when flying are:

Chronos:

Omega Speedmaster Professional
Sinn 103 St Sa
Poljot Shturmanskie
Breitling Chronomat (old style)

(non-Chrono)

Fortis B-42 Cosmonaut Day/Date
Fortis Cosmonaut (Diver) Day/Date
Sinn U1
Omega Seamaster
Marathon GSAR
Marathon Navigators Watch (quartz)

So you see, as long as its readable, rugged and reliable, its good to go. Is it a pilot's watch or is it a watch a pilot would wear? Your call.


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## sixty9ners (Apr 27, 2009)

I guess it depends. Decades ago, a pilot's watch was what the above posters described them to be: issued to the military pilots, accurate, easy to read and reliable. They were also used by navigators in almost the same numbers as pilots. Their leather straps were also non-traditional in the sense that they were generally on closed-loop straps with rivets. Why closed loop? For ease of wearing over a flight jacket's insulated sleeves. Today, I think a pilot's watch is the GMT. I fly around quite a bit (as a passenger only) and a good majority of the pilots I see wear the Rolex GMT, mostly the Pepsi. Well, today's commercial pilots cross quite a umber of time zones in a week thus the GMT function will come in handy. 
Check out the Laco forum. Lots of info there.
Hope this helps.


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## Spit161 (Oct 9, 2009)

_Technically_ it is as simple as :
Any watch worn by a pilot, is a pilots watch.

However,
As a pilot myself, I wear all sorts of watches - mainly a G-Shock and a Seiko Black Monster. They are legible watches, that are tough, so won't break if I bang them whilst doing the pre-flight checks. 
I hardly find myself using a chrono, as there is no real need, but they can be nice to have.

cheers.


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## JoeTritium (Apr 23, 2011)

I think the WWII issued to pilots, would define a pilot watch. here's mine.:-!


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## mike120 (Aug 1, 2010)

Man... Thats a tough one. Mainly because I have worn all of my watches at one time or another while at the controls, and I think you could hardly call my SKX007 a "Pilots Watch". I would agree with the classical definition of something issued to pilots, which is really and simple.


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## Spit161 (Oct 9, 2009)

mike120 said:


> Man... Thats a tough one. Mainly because I have worn all of my watches at one time or another while at the controls.


What do you fly, Mike?

cheers.


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## thisisallen (Jul 17, 2009)

This is an interesting story; a pilot's review of how he appreciates and uses his Omega X-33 when flying.

A Pilot's Impressions of the Omega X-33 - TimeZone


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## Pilot2 (May 1, 2011)

I also think the GMT complication is nice to have, and one of the few additions that are really useable while flying. Doing the math in your head gets old sometimes. . I almost pulled the trigger on a Fortis GMT recently but opted for a simple MK II Blackwater, which I am anxious to get.


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## Precise (Mar 27, 2011)

I applaud many of the answers above. The words pilot or aviator are often attached by marketeers to hype a watch. My favorite style of watch is often called a "flieger" and is well illustrated in joe tritium's post. I attach a photo of mine, which is described here:

https://www.watchuseek.com/f7/tourby-42mm-aviator-my-grail-flieger-559120.html

It's a style preference and has little relevance to flying. Incidentally, I used to fly sailplanes. Any watch was adequate.

I also wrote a few critical words (especially about chronos) here:

https://www.watchuseek.com/f7/pilot-watch-definition-526252-post3857520.html

Regards,

Alan


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## Redleader (Oct 13, 2009)

There are many misconceptions. Every picture so far on this thread is of a Navigators watch not a pilots watch.

Dependant on the type of flying operation and aircraft flown the crew may need or want different things.

A private pilot flying a light aircraft with basic instruments may want a chronograph and may also find an E6B (circular slide rule) for simple flight planning useful - eg. typical Breitling style watch. However most mechanical chronographs are too small to read easily in flight and a larger time source in front of you rather than on your wrist is far more convenient. A GMT reference is handy as all flight plans and weather reports are in GMT (regardless of which country you are in). Special accuracy is irrelevant as long as the watch is not more than 15-20 seconds out. Even if a watch looses or gains 20 seconds during a flight the resultant navigation error would still be of little consequence and lost amongst other errors such as varying winds.

A pilot flying a faster and more complex aircraft does not need a chronograph. High-tech aircraft tend to come equipped with what's needed for the job so have onboard timers for the occasions when a chono is needed. However, this is less often than you might think as he will never navigate by flying a known heading for a set amount of time (dead reckoning). Wind effects and instrument accuracy mean that the actual flight path will always be at least a couple of degrees off course - and for every degree of error an aircraft will be one nautical mile off course for every sixty nautical miles flown. Fast aircraft can cover 60 miles very quickly and could be lost after a few hours of flight (and in busy airspace mid-air collisions would then become common). Long distance flights also have to take into account the need to fly great circles (requiring a continuously changing heading that gives the shortest point to point distance) rather than rhumb lines (a single heading that usually results in a curved flight path due to the planet being round). E6B sliderules on watches can be a useful convenience for private pilots where accuracy is of less importance but their small size means commercial pilots of larger aircraft need something capable of more functions and precision so they use the onboard flight computers and have a calculator and usually a full size sliderule. A GMT reference is a very useful convenience for a commercial pilot for the same reasons a private pilot might want it - when planning flights, checking weather and when airborne all times are GMT (now called UTC). Once landed and off duty in a new time zone they can set their watch to local time but this is of secondary importance as any watch can be reset. The best GMT references are in 24 hours and designed so that the hand or digits are not disturbed when the normal digits or hands are reset to local time (eg. Rolex GMT2/Exp2, Omegas and IWCs - though not Breitling which annoyingly has a far less convenient quickset 24 hour hand). The reality is that a pilot of a commercial aircraft could manage quite happily without any watch, what he uses is purely down to convenience and preference. No special accuracy is required for commercial flying as a few seconds accuracy makes no difference - the watch is not being used for navigation. Although lacking GMT functions, divers watches make great pilots watches are they are robust enough to survive the inevitable bangs and scrapes and waterproof enough to survive a shower/pool so do not get forgotten in some far flung hotel.

The WW2 German watches that are now so often touted as "pilots watches" - (complete nonsense) are in fact all Navigators watches (Navigators are sometimes called Observers). These were designed to be as accurate as possible because the technology of the time meant that the aircraft had to navigate using a sextant and the stars (called astronavigation or celestial navigation). One crew member on board (the navigator) worked very hard taking constant sightings of stars or planets at precise, set times and making the mathematical calculations needed to determine the aircrafts position. The pilot would not have needed any watch at all and would have followed the navigators instructions. Single crew aircraft at the time (ie. no navigator, just a pilot) could not use this method as it is so labour intensive and had to fly in formation with the larger aircraft or fly shorter distances and by day (or be guided by a radar controller on the ground if in range). The very accurate time was required to calculate the aircrafts longitude - 1 second or error might mean a position being wrong by 2-3 miles making bomb dropping or getting home very difficult at night. The watches were large because small movements are harder to make as accurate and magnetic shielding was needed as materials used for the movements components were more susceptible to magnetic fields than current ones (and the aircraft contained many electrical components that leaked fields). The watches also had a diamond shaped crown to allow easy resetting of the time during the flight - time signals were transmitted over the radio from even more accurate ground clocks. The watches were not permanently fitted in the aircraft as Navigators kept a meticulous logbook of the corrections required for their own watch and if assigned to another aircraft needed to take that particular watch with them. As these watches were so critical to the success of the mission they would never have been worn when off the aircraft - too much risk of damage or changes/increases in error rate.

The simple IWC watches issued to the RAF were also Navigators watches (hence the simplicity and lack of features which might have affected accuracy). Some of these became general issue watches when they lost their accuracy with age. Later RAF Navigators received chronographs - when astronavigation was less used as chronographs can easily be used for timing fuel burns and intercepts.

The reality is that "pilots watch" is simply a marketing term.


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## Crusader (Apr 30, 2005)

Excellent summary, Redleader, especially about the crucial difference between pilots' and navigational watches.

As an aside, the German pilots were issued (or are seen to be wearing in many pictures) early chronographs (Hanhart or Tutima).

Prior to WWII, pilot watches used to be small-second time-only watches with a rotatable bezel, so measuring time intervals seems to be a recurring theme on pilots watches, although allied airmen managed to defeat the Luftwaffe without such - the 6B/159 (UK) and A-11 (US) aviation watches did not have either feature.

One small correction: the German B-Uhren did not have special antimagnetic protection, and not even shock protection. Their American counterpart, by the way, was not the A-11 wristwatch but a pocketwatch carried in a spring-loaded metal container. 

Please note the comparatively diminutive size of most pilot's watches (once the oversized B-Uhren are not grouped among them) - Weems, 6B/159, A-11, GGW-113 etc. Apparently avoiding bangs was more important to generations of aviators than a large dial. ;-)


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## lotsofstufftogo (Mar 27, 2008)

Heres my Steinhart Nav B II Uhr 44mm Navigators watch, boy thats a mouthful to say lol.


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## Pilot2 (May 1, 2011)

Redleader said:


> There are many misconceptions. Every picture so far on this thread is of a Navigators watch not a pilots watch.
> 
> The reality is that "pilots watch" is simply a marketing term.


That pretty much says it all right there, much more concisely than I could.


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## nimbushopper (Nov 3, 2007)

I agree with just about everyone here. In its simplist form a pilot's watch must be easy to read in all light conditions, which usually equates to a black face and white hands and some kind of lume. For me, this does it best.


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## mike120 (Aug 1, 2010)

Spit161 said:


> What do you fly, Mike?
> 
> cheers.


A 172SP with steam gauges and no autopilot :-!. Stick and rudder all the way!!!


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## senna89wc12 (Feb 27, 2009)

For me a pilot watch must have an easy to read dial and also the central second hand. Lots of watches have these two elements. Here are some of my favorites:









The Stowa Flieger is a classic. It has the heritage and it's watch that defines minimalism: time telling as its only function.









The Time Factors Speedbird III is a more contemporary example of a pilot watch. It has the date function which adds a bit practicality for daily use.









Essentially, the Damasko DA36 is not really a pilot watch, but it has a very legible dial and the classic triangle at the 12 o'clock position. I consider this a modern pilot watch.


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## Spit161 (Oct 9, 2009)

mike120 said:


> A 172SP with steam gauges and no autopilot :-!. Stick and rudder all the way!!!


I fly 152 that is like that. Proper flying!

cheers.


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## DanielG (Dec 11, 2007)

Whatever's on my wrist is a pilot's watch.

What's funny is I much prefer day of the week and date on my watch but that has little to nothing to do with flying.

The only thing I really want while flying is a sweep second hand. I've flown too many circle red X (can fly but with restrictions) that state, "Restricted to flight with pilot with watch with sweep second hand." I carry the head of a small E6B in my knee board so I don't need that on my wrist and I can barely read a watch based one in any case with all the vibration. The second hand is for all sorts of stuff, holding patterns, time, distance, heading stuff, etc.

I like big, easy to see and with a sweep second hand. Most else is entirely up for debate.


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## Crusader (Apr 30, 2005)

DanielG said:


> Whatever's on my wrist is a pilot's watch.
> 
> What's funny is I much prefer day of the week and date on my watch but that has little to nothing to do with flying.
> 
> ...


In fact, a sweep second hand on the aircraft clock is about the only requirement the FAA has for cockpit clocks ... that's why I am puzzled by the popularity of pilot watches with small seconds. After the 1930s, aviation watches were the first to adopt, or even require, the central second hand, a trand that would later permeate most of the watch world (except for pocket and dress watches).


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## Spit161 (Oct 9, 2009)

Crusader said:


> In fact, a sweep second hand on the aircraft clock is about the only requirement the FAA has for cockpit clocks ... that's why I am puzzled by the popularity of pilot watches with small seconds.


I agree. 
It always puzzles me, also.. However, I believe it also states, "A sweep seconds hands, or digital display."

cheers.


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