Category: Pilot Watches

Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph – The Minerva Style Made Accessible (SIHH 2018)

Looking at recent collections by Montblanc, one series of watches clearly created a strong interest amongst the collecting community. You name it; the Minerva-inspired Montblanc 1858 Chronograph Tachymetre and its superb (to say the least) hand-wound Monopusher movement. One not-so-superfluous problem though with these watches… Their prices. Well, if you like the Military- and vintage-inspired Minerva chronographs and if you have a normal budget, MB has the solution at the SIHH 2018: the Montblanc 1858 Automatic Chronograph.

8 years ago

Merry Christmas From Graham With a Dedicated Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art

Graham is not shy to create bold watches… If you know them already, you might be aware of the hyper-masculine and completely original Chronofighter watches, some large pilot-chronographs with a unique trigger device to activate the timing sessions. Even less common were the Vintage Nose Art Ltd. watches, showing on their dials some aviation-inspired pinups. And because the end of the year is coming, the brand has decided to bring something quite “à propos”, with the Graham Chronofighter Vintage Nose Art Merry Ltd…

8 years ago

Blue is the new Black – Oris Big Crown ProPilot Calibre 111 now with Blue Dial

We often hear that blue is new black… In recent years, we have seen dozens of watches evolving with the addition of blue dials, yet in sports watches, black is still quite the norm. Not for Oris! Just like they did recently with the Artelier Calibre 111, the brand introduces a blue version of its in-house version of the Big Crown ProPilot, a powerful (to say the least) aviation-inspired watch – which also happens to be one of the brand’s bestsellers in Switzerland (we knew they had some good tastes). Overview!

8 years ago

Review – The Hanhart Primus Black Ops Pilot, The German Pilot-Watch Modernized

Hanhart’s reputation in terms of Military/Pilot chronographs is not to be demonstrated anymore. The German “brand with the red button” (the brand’s signature feature since 1938) is indeed specialized in creating strong, powerful and slightly vintage-inspired chronographs (the Pioneer collection, reminiscent of 1940s pilots and naval officers watches). Yet, there’s another watch in the collection, one that, without losing the roots of the company, looks at future: the bold and aggressive Hanhart Primus. Today, we take a look at the latest version, the Black Ops Pilot, which also happens to be a limited edition (with pre-orders opened).

8 years ago

Back to Basics for Bell & Ross with the Vintage BR V1-92 Military

Back at Baselworld 2017, Bell & Ross pleased collectors by launching a new “Vintage” collection, which had quite some arguments: smaller in diameter, with slimmer cases, an overall redesigned shape, some cool details… A winning combination for many B&R lovers. Among the 3 watches presented (3-hand, 3-hand with rotatable bezel and chronograph), the model that probably stroke me most was the simpler HMS version, a no-nonsense utilitarian, small and reasonably priced watch. This Bell & Ross Vintage BR V1-92 today receives its “Military” badges, in a new (and super-cool) version.

8 years ago

Hands-On – Reservoir Watches, with Ultra-Cool Retrograde/Jumping Display

This was one of the cool finds at Baselword 2017. There’s some new kids on the block and they go by the name of Reservoir. Further to the presentation earlier this year, the brand is now launching on the market. Their timepieces provide their own cool, off-beat take on watchmaking, inspired by their fascination for all things mechanical and a nostalgia for the heyday of car culture and old measurement instruments: speedometers, tachometers, fuel, oil, temp, volt gauges, you name it!

8 years ago

Hands-On – Reservoir Watches, with Cool Retrograde/Jumping Display

This was one of the cool finds at Baselword 2017. There’s some new kids on the block and they go by the name of Reservoir. Further to the presentation earlier this year, the brand is now launching on the market. Their timepieces provide their own cool, off-beat take on watchmaking, inspired by their fascination for all things mechanical and a nostalgia for the heyday of car culture and old measurement instruments: speedometers, tachometers, fuel, oil, temp, volt gauges, you name it!

8 years ago

Hands-On – The IWC Pilot’s Watch MARK XVIII Edition “Antoine De Saint Exupéry”

Today, we are going hands on with a special edition of possibly one of the most legendary pilot’s watches of all time, or at the very least, one of the latest versions of it. Officially unveiled a few months ago, the IWC Pilot’s Watch MARK XVIII Edition “Antoine De Saint Exupéry” marks another addition to a long-line of military inspired models. It’s not a new watch as such, but rather part of an update to the existing Antoine De Saint Exupéry line, which includes two other models (a chronograph and a 36mm automatic ladies model). Like the standard Mark XVIII, it’s nicely sized at 40mm and features a third-party movement to keep the price down. Read on for the details and of course, some nice live photos.

8 years ago

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.

8 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.

8 years ago