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The Omega Speedmaster “Moonwatch” is the first watch that most of us think of when we think of the Space Race, but Bulova played a noteworthy role as well. In the 1960s and ’70s, the watchmaker was a frequent partner of NASA’s space programs, and personally gifted a one-of-a-kind, customized chronograph watch to Colonel Dave Scott, commander of the Apollo 15 mission, in 1971. Scott wore the timepiece, which had been specially engineered to withstand lunar conditions, as a backup after the crystal on his NASA-issued Speedmaster, according to records, had popped off. To commemorate the historic space mission, Bulova released the Lunar Pilot Chronograph, a mostly faithful re-creation of the spacefaring original. which was equipped with a chronograph function to track the duration of oxygen supplies, battery power, and other life-sustaining onboard systems. The case houses Bulova’s proprietary UHF (ultra high frequency) quartz caliber, beating at 262 Hz for an extremely high degree of timekeeping accuracy, losing just seconds per year, and a continuous sweep seconds hand for the stopwatch function, a rarity in quartz chronograph watches. Not a bad package for under $800.
Price: $2,045, Case Size: 40mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Manually wound H-51-Si
While Hamilton is known best in military circles for providing field watches for American troops during the World Wars, the brand also manufactured timepieces for British Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots in the 1970s. Those watches serve as the template for the recently launched Khaki Aviation Pioneer Mechanical Chrono, which sports a black dial with two parallel subdial counters for elapsed minutes and running seconds as well as period-accurate central hands with a white lacquer finish reminiscent of that on the original RAF models. The beige tone of the hour numerals and other markings echoes the look of aged radium luminous substance that would have been used on the watch’s vintage predecessors. Hamilton has equipped the watch with a manually winding movement, the H-51-Si, which is noteworthy for its antimagnetic silicon balance spring.
Price: $391, Case: 42mm, Lug Width: 26mm, Crystal: Mineral, Water-Resistance: 200m, Movement: Quartz Eco-Drive, Water-Resistance: 200m
The Citizen Promaster Nighthawk Black PVD sports a highly technical dial that takes its cues from instruments in the cockpits of U.S. military helicopters. The watch’s 42-mm case is made of black PVD-coated stainless steel and its black dial is packed with scales in contrasting white type that are of particular use to aviators and navigators, including the circular slide rule printed on the ion-plated rotating bezel. Two luminous central hands display the current time, while an airplane-tipped smaller hand shows the time in another time zone on a 24-hour scale; the date appears in a rectangular window at 3 o’clock. The movement inside the stealth-look case, Citizen’s quartz-powered Caliber B877, runs on the Japanese brand’s proprietary Eco-Drive technology, enabling constant recharging of power via any light source.
Price: $1,095, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 10.16mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW200-1
The Airboss takes its name from the officer on an aircraft carrier in charge of takeoff and landing time for the fighter jets. A classical-looking military pilots’ watch with a ruggedly functional look, produced by Victorinox, the company best known for giving the world the ubiquitous Swiss Army knife, it’s got a 24-hour inner ring on the dial, inside the traditional 12-hour scale (with the numeral 12 marked by the Swiss cross logo). The 42mm steel case is mounted on a contrast-stitched, ecologically tanned calf leather strap and its sapphire exhibition caseback offers a view of the Swiss automatic movement inside.
Price: $1,295, Case Size: 44mm, Case Height: 11.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Alpina Caliber AL-525
As per its name, Alpina’s Startimer Pilot Automatic Heritage is a modern reissue of a historical aviator’s model released by the brand in the early 20th Century. Its dial, in bright white or traditional black, hosts a 24-hour circle within the borders of its main ring of large, white Arabic hour numerals (with the 12 being displaced by the familiar aviation triangle motif and the 3” by a date window). At 44mm in steel, the case is sized for ideal cockpit legibility and frames a wide dial that’s easy to read at a glance. The applied hour markers are treated with a beige Super-LumiNova for an “aged” vintage look. Also evoking the past is the watch’s hinged hunter-style caseback, a throwback to the heyday of pocket watches that can be opened to steal a glance at the automatic AL-525 caliber inside, with its eye-catching blackened rotor.
Price: $1,420, Case Size: 44mm, Thickness; 11.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Lug to Lug: 53.2mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Automatic ETA 2893-2
Christopher Ward watches, designed at the young company’s HQ in Great Britain and manufactured in Switzerland, are known for their distinctive Anglophile aesthetics. The military-influenced C8 UTC Worldtimer is a prime example, taking its cues from the Smith’s Mark II A Clock, an instrument found in British Spitfire planes during World War II. The watch’s two crowns — one for winding and setting, the other for operating the rotating inner for the world-time function — feature an engraved motif echoing the look of airplane engine turbines. The two-piece dial, with stencil-type numerals at 12 and 6 o’clock and military pipette-style hands and red arrow-tipped GMT hand, allows the wearer to keep track of two time zones, while the outer city ring provides offers a glimpse of all the rest of the world’s time zones simultaneously.
Price: $1,650, Case size: 43mm, Thickness: 9.62mm, Lug to Lug: 50mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic ETA 2893-3
For its 160th anniversary in 2013, Tissot issued a modernized version of a world-time watch that it debuted in 1953, its centennial year. Suitable for both an actual pilot as well as a frequent international flyer, its distinctive design uses a stationary bezel with alternating, engraved hour numerals and markers for the local time on a 1-12 scale, and a 24-hour dial, with each of the 24 numerals corresponding to a city name, to indicate the time in every other time zone around the world once the local time has been set. The 43mm case is constructed from stainless steel, with a water resistance of 30 meters, and contains an ETA-based automatic caliber whose golden rotor can be glimpsed behind an exhibition caseback.
Price: $1,650, Case Size: 41mm, Thickness: 13mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic ETA Valjoux 2836, Crystal: Sapphire
Glashütte, Germany-based Tutima has found success in adapting the vintage aesthetics of the military pilots’ watches it produced in the 1940s into contemporary watches that are both sporty and stylish. The recently launched Tutima Flieger models with gradient slate-gray dials and tone-on-tone Horween leather straps offer an understated monochromatic look and are outfitted with a self-winding mechanical movement based on the Swiss-made ETA Valjoux 2836 and upgraded with a Tutima-made rotor.
Price: $410, Case Size: 39-42mm, Thickness: 11.55-11.75mm, Lug Width: 18-20mm, Lug to Lug: 46-50mm, Water Resistance: 50m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic Laco 21 (Miyota 821 base)
Founded in Pforzheim, Germany, in 1920, Laco (originally named “Lacher & Co.” after co-founder Frieda Lacher) was one of five watch manufacturers that made watches for the German air force during World War II. Today’s Laco collection pays tribute to those minimalist vintage aviation watches (aka “fliegers”) in their design, dimensions, and period-appropriate details. The Augsburg model featured here is a quintessential 1940s pilot’s watch, with big Arabic numerals, sword-shaped hour and minute hands and a long, thin, central seconds hand, all doused with C3 SuperLumiNova; a classical inverted orientation triangle with two dots at the top of the dial; a matte steel case with a large fluted onion crown; and a sturdy brown calf-leather strap with contrast stitching and old-school rivets. The self-winding movement inside the case comes from Japan.
Price: $2,400, Case Size: 37mm, Case Height: 11.7mm, Lug Width: 19mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Longines L888.4
Longines references its heritage as a provider of watches to adventurers and aviators of the early 20th century with the Spirit collection, which launched in 2020 with a design DNA derived from historical pilots’ watches. Originally issued in 40mm and 42mm sizes, the three-handed Spirit model is now available in a more understated 37mm size, with an elegant Champagne dial. Like its big brothers, it has an oversized fluted crown, a stepped bezel and minute-scale flange, large Arabic hour numerals and diamond-shaped indexes, and large, luminous baton hands — all elements drawn from early 20th-century Longines pilots watches. A date window occupies the 6 o’clock position; above it is the row of five stars that the brand has historically used to denote its highest-quality movements, along with the “Chronometer” text that speaks to its COSC-certified accuracy.
Price: $3,850 - $5,550, Case Size: 41mm, Case Thickness: 15mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Automatic Tudor Caliber MT5652
The Tudor Black Bay GMT takes the classical design of the GMT-Master from parent brand Rolex and gives it a very contemporary spin that is distinctly 21st-Century Tudor. Like its iconic predecessor, its bezel sports a bicolor 24-hour ring on which the wearer can read a second time zone thanks to the dial’s GMT hand; on the Tudor model, the famous bright red-and-blue “Pepsi” colorway of the bezel is slightly modified to a more muted indigo-and-burgundy combo that speaks to the design language of the Black Bay. The newest version features an opaline white dial with a galvanic finish that imparts to it a silvery-grained texture. The outlines of the dial’s hour indexes have been darkened to stand out more boldly. The 41mm steel case holds Tudor’s self-winding, manufacture Caliber MT5652, which boasts an antimagnetic silicon balance spring and a “weekend-proof” 70-hour power reserve. Like all Tudor in-house movements, it carries a chronometer certification by the Swiss testing agency COSC.
Price: $4,600, Case Size: 39mm, Case Height: 12mm, Lug to Lug: 46.9mm, Lug Width: 19mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Oris Caliber 400
With its 39mm ProPilot X collection, independent Swiss brand Oris has demonstrated that modern aviator-style watches can be more playful than utilitarian and still convey a serious sense of style. At Watches & Wonders 2023, Oris drove the message home with a smile-inducing version of the ProPilot X developed in cooperation with Disney’s Muppets franchise. The ProPilot X Kermit Edition features a bright green, three-hand dial with a smiling emoji of Kermit the Frog in the 6 o’clock date window; the character appears on the first day of every month — aka “Kermit Day” as per Oris — to remind the wearer to “not take life so seriously.” The titanium-cased watch bears all the ProPilot family’s stylish, aviation-inspired details, like the coin-edge textured motif on the sides, designed to resemble a jet’s turbines, and a large, fluted, screw-down crown. Like its predecessors in the 39mm ProPilot X series, the watch is equipped with the Oris’ in-house Caliber 400, which among its various features includes a 120-hour (5-day) power reserve, an antimagnetic structure, and a COSC chronometer certification.
Tudor Black Bay Chrono
Price: $4,995, Case Size: 43mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Bremont BE-36AE
What’s tougher than a watch that can survive ejection from a plane? UK-based Bremont introduced the first MBI in 2007 in partnership with Martin Baker (the “MB”), Britain’s leading manufacturer of ejection seats for military aircraft. MBII watches undergo a tortuous gauntlet of tests in the areas of shock, vibration, corrosion and climate, as well as being strapped to the wrist of a mannequin in an actual ejection-seat trial. The steel case is in Bremont’s three-part “Trip-Tick” construction and hardened in a special process that is also used to treat jet-engine turbines. The high-contrast black dial features white Arabic numerals and a “Danger” triangle marker at 6 o’clock. The Swiss-made automatic caliber inside is secured by a specially designed shock-resistant rubberized mounting and boasts a COSC chronometer certification.
Price: $4,300, Case Size: 42mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Sellita-based automatic BR-CAL.302, Crystal: Sapphire
Bell & Ross carved out its space in the pilot-watch arena with the launch of the BR 01, whose high-contrast, cockpit-clock dial design and austere square case proved both iconic and trend-setting. Spinning off from the BR 01 were the even more unconventional Flight Instrument editions, which took their visual cues from other aviation dashboard devices beyond clocks. Among the most eye-catching is the BR 03-92 Red Radar Ceramic, whose dial reproduces the scanning motion of a light beam on an onboard radar screen. Two ultra-light, concentric disks, in place of traditional hour and minute hands, rotate under a red-tinted sapphire crystal, hosting two miniature screen-printed planes — a passenger plane on the outer disk for the hours, a fighter plane on the central disk for the minutes, while a red-painted central analog hand sweeps over both disks to follow the seconds and complete the realistic approximation of a radar screen. Inside the matte-black ceramic case is the automatic BR-CAL.302, based on the tried-and-tested Sellita SW300 and offering a 38-hour power reserve.
Price: $6,400, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness; 10.5mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Lug to Lug: 52mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50m, Movement: Manually wound RGM Caliber 801
Swiss-trained American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy founded RGM in Lancaster County, PA, in 1992 and launched Caliber 801, the first high-end mechanical movement produced in the U.S.A. in more than 40 years, in 2008. That “Made in America” movement powers the RGM 801 Aircraft, designed as a tribute to vintage pocket watches and classical military aviation clocks, with hands and other dial details echoing those on a cockpit clock used in 1940s military aircraft like the F-4U Corsair and the F-6 Hellcat. From these antique instruments come the black dial with outer, military-style 24-hour numerical scale surrounding an inner 12-hour scale; the thin, diamond-tipped hands; the 6 o’clock subsidiary seconds display; and the use of fluorescent green and yellow details. The movement features many of its own visual tributes to America’s watchmaking heritage, like the distinctive “E. Howard” bridges and the pronounced winding click and polished winding wheels developed by the Illinois Watch Company.
Price: $11,500, Case Size: 42.5mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic El Primero 3652 Crystal: Sapphire
Zenith revamped its oldest product family, the Pilot (formerly the Pilot Type 20) in 2023. In keeping with current trends, Zenith has streamlined and downsized the watches in the collection, many of which were fairly enormous in diameter to echo the dimensions of their early 20th-century forebears. The new Zenith Pilots are more aviation-styled dress watches than historically inspired tool watches for the cockpit, with 40mm Automatics as well as this 42.5mm Big Date Flyback Chronograph, which contains the El Primero-based Caliber 3652. In addition to its high-frequency performance (36,600-vph, resulting in chronograph readings precise to 1/10-second) and the flyback functionality, the movement’s large date indicator, displayed prominently on the dial in twin windows, has a patented mechanism that advances and stabilizes both the date wheels in a fraction of second, allowing quick and easy advancing of the date numerals, much like the updating of flight times on an old-fashioned mechanical arrivals/departures board.
Price: $9,200, Case Size: 46mm, Case Height: 13.9mm, Lug Width: 24mm, Lug to Lug: 51.8mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Breitling Automatic Caliber B01
Breitling secured its leadership role in the field of aviation watches with the release of the Navitimer in 1952. Developed for the AOPA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association), the watch became a mainstay of commercial airline cockpits thanks to its innovative, bidirectional slide-rule bezel, which allowed pilots to make crucial flight calculations on the wrist. In 2010, Breitling started equipping the Navitimer with its in-house Caliber B01, which features an integrated column-wheel chronograph function and a substantial power reserve of 70 hours. The stainless steel case measures a robust 46mm in diameter, and the classical tricompax dial of the most recent versions even features the winged logo of the AOPA below the Breitling logo at 12 o’clock, a nod to the model's origins.
Price: $8,650, Reference: IW329301, Case Size: 43mm, Case Height: 13.6mm, Lug to Lug: 52mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: IWC Automatic Caliber 82100
IWC’s first Big Pilot’s watch, made for the German Air Force in 1940, basically defined the look of a classic military aviation watch and its return to the modern lineup in 2002 kicked off an entire family of Pilot’s timepieces that has taken center stage in the brand’s portfolio. In 2021, IWC engaged enthusiasts who've clamored for the Big Pilot’s style while lamenting its massive proportions (46mm, still smaller than the 53mm original) with the release of the Big Pilot 43, which not only offers a more universally wearable 43mm case size but also a quick-change construction that allows the wearer to switch easily between strap and bracelet options. The dial is also evocative of the historical model’s utilitarian simplicity, sporting large, luminous Arabic numerals, sword hands, and the hallmark inverted orientation triangle at 12 o’clock and eschewing the date window of previous models for an even purer symmetry. The movement, automatic Caliber 82100, features IWC’s highly efficient Pellaton winding system and carries a 60-hour power reserve. In another departure from previous Big Pilots, the BP 43’s movement is also on display behind a sapphire exhibition caseback.
Price: $5,250, Case Size: 40mm, Thickness: 10.9mm, Lug to Lug: 49mm, Lug Width: 20mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Crystal: Sapphire, Movement: Automatic IWC 32111
IWC’s historical footprint in the field of aviation watches goes beyond the one established in World War II with the Big Pilot. In 1948, Britain’s RAF commissioned from the Swiss maker a special timepiece for its members, built to exacting specifications called the Mark 11. Notable for its smaller dimensions, optimum legibility, and antimagnetic case, the Mark 11 remained standard issue for the RAF and other military aviation squads for decades. The Mark XX, introduced to the civilian market by IWC in 2022, is the modern successor to that historical trendsetter. It features a modest yet substantial case diameter of 40mm and a water-resistance of 100 meters secured by a sizable screw-down crown. The steel case’s finish is mostly matte brushed, and the dial (in either black or sunray blue) has the historical orientation triangle at 12 o’clock along with a ring of big, luminous Arabic hour numerals. Inside, behind a solid caseback, is IWC’s in-house automatic Caliber 32111, among whose impressive attributes are a 120-hour power reserve.
Specifications: Price: $14,900, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness: 15.2mm, Lug to Lug: 48mm, Water Resistance: 100m, Movement: Automatic Breguet Caliber 584Q/A, Crystal: Sapphire
The Breguet Type XX collection of luxuriously styled aviation watches pays tribute to the watchmaking Breguet family’s historical link to the advancement of flight, as forged by the founder’s great-grandson, Louis-Charles Breguet. The Type XXI 3815, which is outfitted with the manufacture Caliber 584Q/A, features a 42-mm case made of corrosion-resistant titanium, a sunburst dial with two subdials and large, luminous hour numerals in either green or orange for a decidedly contemporary aesthetic. In an unconventional layout, the dial’s chronograph readout is on the outer minute ring, indicated by two central hands, while its subdials are devoted to running seconds and a 24-hour time display. The automatic movement, with its gold rotor and silicon escapement, is visible behind a sapphire exhibition caseback.
Reference: AC02-12B40-63, Case Size: 42.5mm, Thickness: 13.7mm, Water Resistance: 30m, Movement: Blancpain automatic manufacture Caliber 3888, Crystal: Sapphire, Price: $18,500
Revived in 2019 as a limited edition in steel, the Blancpain Air Command traces its history to a prototype made for the French Ministry of Defence in the 1950s, and its successor that was produced in limited numbers for the U.S. Air Force shortly thereafter. In 2021, the vintage-flavored aviation watch joined Blancpain’s regular lineup in a satin-brushed case made of grade 23 titanium (a higher grade than those usually found in watchmaking) and a contemporary blue dial. Among the watch’s retro utilitarian elements are its ratcheted bidirectional bezel that enables a pilot to keep track of his fuel reserve in flight and a tachymeter scale for calculating air speeds. The flyback chronograph-equipped Caliber F385 inside holds a power reserve of 50 hours and is finished in a stark, mostly matte finish that differentiates it from Blancpain’s usual ornately decorated movements.
Price: $55,590, Case Size: 42mm, Thickness; 10.78mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 60m, Movement: Automatic 26-330 S C FUS
Patek Philippe’s Calatrava Travel Time, inspired by a piece in the luxury maison’s museum archives, channels the look of vintage cockpit timers while also offering a patented, aviator-friendly dual time function. An outlier in Patek’s mostly genteel collection of timepieces, it brings a patina of luxury to a classical tool watch template: its 42-mm case is made of white gold while its dial sports a navy blue color inspired by the body paint of 1930s fighter planes. The watch’s big, vintage-look Arabic numerals and syringe-style hands, and the topstitched calfskin strap styled like an old-fashioned pilot’s belt are all elements that hearken back to the early days of aviation watches. The cleverly designed “Travel Time” function can switch the local-time hand forward or backward in one-hour increments without affecting the running of the movement and thus the watch’s accuracy. Like all Patel Philippe watches, it boasts an in-house, highly decorated movement, Caliber 324 S C FUS, with a 21k gold rotor.
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I’d say the biggest misses in the list are watches from Dekla, a small manufacturer from Stuttgart, Germany. Their Type A and Type B Fliegers are each faithful to the traditional design and their “tactical” watches are modern interpretations of pilot watches.
Call me cheap, but, the LunarPilot Bulova is for it’s price pretty bloody good and very accurate. All the rest if you can afford them, good on you, but however for practical use a watch which is accurate to + or – 5 seconds a year and under US$ 500 is really quite jaw dropping.
Big miss here is the Omega X-33. Both the older an newer versions were bought by many of my Navy wing mates through squadron watch buys. It has all you need in dual time zones, Julian date, alarms and timers. Titanium is almost indestructible and took a beating on ship and in flight. My go to watch to this day.
I own both the Rolex GMT-II in two tone 18k gold and stainless and the Hamilton Khaki Pilot watch featured here. One was $14,500 and the other $500 yet I love them both equally. Looks wise, the Hamilton pilot is beautiful, classic, simple and elegant. I love winding up my watch in the morning. I save the GMT-II for special occasions. I fly Boeing 747s for a global cargo airline and you’d be surprised what a following both of these watches have in Asia. I get comments all of the time.