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Quest for the perfect Pilot Watch. A headache project.

242K views 1K replies 227 participants last post by  paolorange 
#1 · (Edited)
Dear all I would like to share with you my quest for the "perfect pilot watch" that is giving me quite of a headache.

I have been flying for fun since I was 18 and I had the luck to have very nice watches at my wrist, but unfortunately none of them were close to my own idea of The Perfect Pilot Watch: the aircraft clock A-13A. Basically I was looking for a no frills, large, easy to read dial, central minute counter for my VFR navigation, no tiny sub-dials, no date….a tool working well in a cockpit, not a watch to show to your friends at the bar.
So after many years (and many drawings) I've finally decided to design my own watch, for my personal usage.







Updated now,

what I like so far:
· The double coated sapphire is excellent and glare is not an issue
· I've tried to put the largest, most visible dial into a 42 mm case and to my eyes it works fine
· I'm happy of the general layout and it's just Ok while flying.
· Kevlar Cordura strap works very well.

what I do not like:
· The movement Eta 251.264 is far away from the first movement I took into consideration years ago, the Lemania 5100. I will never understand why they dismissed that.
· Setting crown looks too tall and looks "wrong"
· The counterweight of the two central counters look huge. Unfortunately I guess there is very little to do here since the manufacturer specifies for them an extremely low allowable unbalance. Basically their center of mass shall be on their shaft, period. Central counters hands have been the most time consuming problem for far.
· The shade of black of the hands look more matt then the black of the dial and I'm not sure I like it
· The case back engraving doesn't please me that much. I'm thinking about a much deeper engraving.

Pilots and watch enthusiasts please share your opinions and suggestions with me.
Be careful up there!
 
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#6 · (Edited)
Thank you, that's very encouraging.
A new set of hands is on the away just to see if their black matches better with the dial. I've designed a new setting crow and I'm also thinking to have it engraved with a small symbol. I choose the Greek letter "Alpha" since it represents the angle of attach, the most iconic physic/aviation symbol ... I hope Omega won't take that too badly :):).

Yes, as Ceanag said, I've tried to stick to the C-4699E Mil Spec as much as I could with minor modifications to better fit a wrist watch case.
Too bad I couldn't possibly duplicate the shape of the central minute counter. :-(

 
#10 ·
Love pilot watches, and I really like the direction of this one. Appreciate the dedication to get the details just right. I'm interested. Keep this thread active.
 
#11 ·
Wow. You've actually managed to make an exciting, fresh design in a sea of pilot watches. Let's get this thing Kickstarted already!

I think the movement choice is totally fine. Keeps the cost down unless you're looking to compete with IWC, Omega etc.

If you don't like the counterweight for the hands (I actually really do!) may I suggests something like the IWC 3717 center seconds. It's a great design that is not quite as bold while accomplishing the same goal.


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#16 ·
.... may I suggests something like the IWC 3717 center seconds. It's a great design that is not quite as bold while accomplishing the same goal.
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I find the 3717 central second shape incredibly elegant too. The problem I had (it almost made my project fail) is the extremely low mass and unbalance ratio that the two central counters must have in order to pass the NIHS shock test. Here below you can see the manufacturer's requirement from ETA Manufacturing Information pdf

Both hands shall meet a maximum unbalance of 0,057microNm AND the total mass of the hands (including paint and superluminova) shall not exceed 15 micrograms. This translates into a maximum offset of the center of gravity of the hands from the their center of rotation of only 0.38 mm! So both hands need to be fully counterweighted and made in aluminum instead of brass. It has been my largest headache.

In answer to Turbojoly and Gerry question in "Timepiece in the cockpit:pics thread", I've started this project with the aim to make my own watch. I had quite a lot of requests to make a small lot but very honestly I made no evaluation on the matter and honestly I even didn't make any cost analysis. It was not the purpose of my project. Having said that, I think I will first finalize the design (new hands, new crown, new back case...) just to see how close I can get to my original idea, then we'll see.

For whom not familiar with the Aircraft Clock A-13A, you can find it on the bottom right corner of this F-16 cockpit pic.
 
#17 · (Edited)
As an Aircraft Technician for over 30 years and starting out in the Air Force and loving watches I am always looking for the perfect watch to bring what I do to my wrist, and this would be it! There are some that are close like Sinn, Bell and Ross, etc, but this is a mini A13 for the wrist, and truly an original idea. Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted on your project.
 
#19 ·
Yours is a beautiful design.

Among your considerations, it there a UTC movement you would consider?

As a 10,000+ hour pilot, nothing we do requires split second (literally) timing. But, the constant time zone changes make Rolex/Pan Am's design from the 1960's about perfect, but very expensive:

https://www.blaken.com/en/vintage/pan-am-gmt-master

Another watch that has the same information, well presented is the Bulova Astronaut

Watch Analog watch Watch accessory Fashion accessory Jewellery
 
#21 ·
Paolorange, let me wish you all the luck in this thread too :)

I find the endeavour well worth pursuing, and if I can make a suggestion: how about an inner bezel, either with 60min count-up (as is on the dash-chronos) or 60min count-down, and as a third option, 12h scale for a second time-zone.
Basicly always the same watch: case, dial, hands, colour - only the bezel-scale as the option :)

I believe that you would easily sell the minimum required quantity for production ;-)
 
#1,085 ·
Paolorange, let me wish you all the luck in this thread too :)

I find the endeavour well worth pursuing, and if I can make a suggestion: how about an inner bezel, either with 60min count-up (as is on the dash-chronos) or 60min count-down, and as a third option, 12h scale for a second time-zone.
Basicly always the same watch: case, dial, hands, colour - only the bezel-scale as the option :)

I believe that you would easily sell the minimum required quantity for production ;-)
Great suggestions, and I might add, as thin as practical.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Yes I made thoughts for a rotating inner bazel, Navitimer style, but it's way too early and they arte just thoughts.
As I said, I designed this watch just for myself and at this stage I want to focus to make it as close as possible to my own original design that is a wristwatch version of the iconic A-13A clock.
There are some important details (crown, case back, hands..) that still need to be improved and I want first to address them before everything else. As soon as the layout will be consolidated, I want then to test it as much as I can that is to say spending some good time in the cockpit and honestly see how it performs compared to other pilot watches I have.
Then will see, but yes, apparently there are quite a lot of people asking for that so providing that everything goes OK, I should eventually make a cost analysis for a small batch....I feel like I'm putting myself in troubles :).
 
#25 ·
The new semi-matt (or semi gloss? ) hands are now installed and almost everybody likes the new configuration much more. The lesson learnt is that the color of the dial, of the hands and the glass interact together A LOT and it's very very difficult to make a reasonable forecast of the final result based on a guess.


I'm now waiting for the new crown and the new case back with much deeper engraving.
Apparently ETA is not selling to individuals the AcuDrive version of it's 251.264, so I have to remove from the back the text "Thermocompensated Quartz" and replace that with ETA 251.264 Quartz. Does it make any sense to you?
 
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