Category: Pilot Watches

Hands-On – Graham Chronofighter Vintage Pulsometer Ltd

The Chronofighter Vintage Collection made its debut in 2016. With this tasteful facelift, the brand’s signature trigger chronograph has been refined, and the case scaled down to 44mm, giving it a relatively subdued look (we said relatively… It is still a very bold watch). It features a redesigned start stop trigger, with a knurled onion crown and a mushroom shaped reset pusher. Graham have now added another model to this collection, further enhancing its vintage ‘flair’ with an attractive doctor’s watch, released in two steel limited editions of 250 pieces each, the Graham Chronofighter Vintage Pulsometer Ltd.

7 years ago

Hands-On – Dutch Brand EZA Watches Introduces a New Pilot Watch, the AirFighter

When you think about the right definition of a pilot watch, you know that the focus will be on resistance, durability, precision and of course, legibility. No need for fancy features and I would even say that the less fanfare you have, the best will be the watch. With this in mind, Dutch brand EZA Watches has conceived a brand new watch that ticks all the boxes mentioned above, the AirFighter. And just like their previous attempt, the Sealander, this new toolish AirFighter is a pretty good value-for-the-money deal.

7 years ago

Oris Launches the Big Crown ProPilot Worldtimer, With a Clever Bezel-Actuated Dual-Time Function

Over the past few years, Oris have wowed us with several practical, innovative timepieces that harness a utilitarian look, feel and features, with competitive prices. Think about the Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter for instance, a highly practical watch with a hard to ignore bang-for-buck attitude, or the 2013 Oris Aquis Depth Gauge, a simple yet clever development. Today, there is a new kid in town, with yet again a cool innovative element (even if its name tends to indicate another type of watch), The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Worldtimer, a very intuitive GMT watch.

7 years ago

Review – Graham Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art Ltd. – Aviation Pinups on your wrist

Being known as a brand far from conventions, Graham has specialized itself in creating aviation-inspired pieces, with quite a bold design. One can’t denied that these watches are “special”, yet not void of a clear coolness. As already having in the collection some vintage- and military-inspired pieces – see here – Graham has decided to add something that is part of fighting aircrafts’ history to the Chronofighter: “Nose Art“. Pinups on the wrist, with the new Graham Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art Ltd… And once again, it’s audacious.

7 years ago

Launching on Kickstarter – The Bold Aviation-Inspired CJR “Commander Series” Watch

Most of the Kickstarter brands that we cover here on Monochrome tend to have an interesting unique story behind them, even though practically every single one of them is a micro-brand with very little traction in the multi-billion-dollar watch industry. CJR watches, which was founded in 2013, has now come out with the newly released “Commander Series”. A watch with a name that matches perfectly in my opinion, as when you look at it, it will command your attention.

7 years ago

Introducing – IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Edition “Tribute to Mark XI”

IWC is on the vintage side since quite some months. After the introduction of an entirely new Ingenieur collection, based on the original 1960s style, or a 2017 Da Vinci Collection that is based on a 1980s design, the Schaffhausen-based brand is now operating on its praised Pilot’s Watch, with a new edition that is (sorry for such enthusiasm) simply a killer! Reasonably sized, perfectly legit, historically relevant, toolish… The kind of IWC we love. Here is the IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Edition “Tribute to Mark XI”, based on the 1948 RAF navigators watches.

7 years ago

Value Proposition – Review of the AVI-8 AV-4047, A Pilot Watch Inspired by The Hawker Harrier II

When you think of a pilot’s watch today, you’re likely thinking of a design style, not a purpose-built piece of aviation technology. In the past, a pilot’s watch had several unique features that aided both civilian and military flyers. The watch had to fit over the pilot’s jacket and be large enough to read at a glance, day or night. Some had larger crowns that could be manipulated while wearing gloves. Complications included things like chronographs and slide rules for tracking speed, fuel consumption, and navigation.

7 years ago

Up In The Air – Flying High With 5 Aviation Inspired Watches From Baselworld 2017

Legend has it that at the beginning of the 20th century, Louis Cartier designed a wristwatch for aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont because of the inconvenience of using a pocket watch while flying. The Santos was one of the earliest wristwatches and pilot watches. Born out of practicality, the watches intended for pilots have evolved – in fact, the original Santos had very little to do with a flight ‘tool’ watch.

7 years ago

Review – Orologi Calami CR42 Chronograph, A True Pilot’s Watch

While we see a huge number of small brands that operate off the beaten path, some stand out more than other. We can’t cover them all, and we are critical about which one we bring you, but every now and then we come across a project that is worth our (and guess yours) time. Today we investigate a brand dedicated to aviation founded on a lineage of three generations of pilots: Orologi Calami, and their CR42 Chronograph.

8 years ago

Nocturnal Camouflage – The New Bell & Ross BR03-92 Black Camo

After incursions in the world of sports cars (with the Aero-GT collection), in the Formula 1 field (with the BR-X1 RS16 or the brand new RS17 collection), after skull-inspired watches or even high-end watchmaking, Bell & Ross goes back to its beloved roots: military pieces. Stealth, dark, inspired by military-specifications, highly legible but still very much integrated in its environment, here is the new Bell & Ross BR03-92 Black Camo.

8 years ago