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A pilot watch (mechanical, of course)

I bought this watch around 1984 when I started my PPL and I’m still using it after 35 years! It wasn’t terribly expensive even then, so good value. The digital display is set to show UTC and the rotating bezel can be used to measure interval times.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Sold by Ryanair, I still find it cool

Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

I recently acquired a Garmin D2 watch, actually not thinking a lot about it when I bought it other than it was very affordable.

Well, it has grown on my since I own it. While the GPS stuff on it is quite a toy and run down your battery quite fast, in normal mode this watch has surprised me by going a good 3 weeks without requiring any recharge. Also it is quite nice to wear with it’s leather bracelet and has a display I can even read when my glasses are comandeered again by my daughter :)

I’ve been thinking of what to do with my Breitling, as a) it costs loads of money to keep going and b) I don’t approve of Breitlings complete abandoning of aviation. I used to tell myself that some of the 500 Euros it costs to change the battery goes into their aviation activities but that is gone now. So when the battery started to go flat again, I wondered if anyone would change it for me. In the end, my trusted watchmaker in Bulgaria did the job in 15 minutes and for 20 lv (10 Euros). Seeing how careful he worked on this watch, he’ll get the job again and I’ll keep the watch for now.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

As mentioned previously Breitling seems to have dropped out of its “relationship” with aviation (does anyone know why?) and they have gone flat out for the bling market

I am told they still make their ELT watches (they did eventually produce a 121.5+406MHz version) but only to special order.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I think that’s a “Breitling for Bentley” watch (so, automotive theme), which is a separate brand, which you won’t even find on https://www.breitling.com/, but on https://www.breitlingforbentley.com/

Most of the Breitling brand seems to still be travel/aviation-themed in its commercial/advertisement presentations (except for the diver watches, obviously).

ELLX

Peter wrote:

As mentioned previously Breitling seems to have dropped out of its “relationship” with aviation (does anyone know why?) and they have gone flat out for the bling market

I kind of feel sorry for people who feel a need to flaunt their wealth by wearing £25k watches.

ESKC (Uppsala/Sundbro), Sweden

Watches go way higher than this…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

@Capitaine’s post about the Sturmanskie got me curious and I ended up with this little specimen. It actually keeps time quite well.

@peter looks like there is a mechanical stopwatch with tritium hands after all! I just stumbled upon https://www.marathonwatch.com/collections/over-1500/products/search-rescue-pilots-automatic-chronograph-csar?variant=13423288614954

Last Edited by wleferrand at 13 Nov 19:57

I bought this about 5 years ago and it’s half mechanical ie has a self winding mechanism.
So no battery.
It cost about £50.
Just checked the accuracy over 5 days with the time pips from the same radio – no second drift whatsoever.
Ignore the strap, it did not come with the watch it’s just any old strap.
I have worn the watch every day since purchase.
The watch has never stopped.
No maintenance needed

Archer2
EGKA, United Kingdom
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