All You Need To Know: The Best Aviation Watches

Everyone knows the history of flight. The Wright brothers made the first successful flight in an aeroplane at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
Right?
Well, yes. But the Wright brothers used a launching rail to get their aeroplane off the ground. According to the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for air sports, the criteria for the invention of the plane included the following specification: 'the machine should be able to take off from a designated area by its own means with a man on board'. Also that the 'machine should carry on board the necessary source of energy'. Now, if you're shooting your plane into the sky by means of a catapult, it is neither taking off by its own means nor, technically, flying under its own steam.
At least that's what they say in Brazil. Because one of Brazil's most beloved sons, Alberto Santos-Dumont, a pioneer aviator and inventor of the world's first production aircraft, was recorded by the FAI as the flier of a heavier-than-air craft in October 1906. (The Wright brothers' previous flights, including their massive excursions in the Wright Flyer III during 1905, were not recognised by the FAI). And so in Brazil, if the subject comes up, you'll be told that Santos-Dumont was the first true flyer and the inventor of the first true plane.
What he was for sure, was the wearer of one of the first wristwatches, and the first-ever aviation watch. Santos-Dumont was a good friend of Louis Cartier, and the luxury watch designer was more than happy to create a cockpit-ready timepiece (ie one you could consult without taking your hands off the steering yoke) for his famous pal. In honour of the flyer, Cartier called this timepiece the 'Santos de Cartier.' It is not the only aviation watch of the period, nor is it necessarily the best. But it was the first, and that's why it's first on my list of the best aviation watches—which are presented not in order of quality, but roughly in order of history.

Santos de Cartier 100

That's right. Not Breitling. Not IWC. Not even Rolex, which would later make a name for itself supplying watches to aviators in WWII. As noted, the first flight watch was made by Cartier, and it retains its design specifics today. The square Cartier face and exposed screws of the original are present in the modern design, as are those classic Cartier Roman numerals. Vintage, modern, and utterly iconic, you can't go wrong with a Santos.

Zenith Montre d'Aeronef Type 20

Zenith is rightly proud of its place it aviation history: in 1909, French aviator Louis Blériot became the first person to fly across the English Channel, and he did it wearing a Zenith wristwatch. The modern version of the Zenith pilot's watch is the Montre d'Aeronef Type 20, available with or without an annual calendar function. At a whopping 48 mm, it more than satisfies the modern requirement for a massive dial on a pilot's watch. But its classic design, a throwback to the way luxury watches looked in the early days of flight, ensures the manufacture remembers its roots. If you want to impress, buy it in gold. And go find a vintage bomber to fly while you're wearing it.

IWC Big Pilot

French national hero Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is something of an aviation legend. The author of the much-loved novella The Little Prince was a genuine adventurer and a flyer to the last. He flew commercial planes on the legendary Aéropostale routes: a romantic, dangerous, and daring occupation, which he commemorated in his novel Vol de Nuit. During WWII, Saint-Exupéry continued to fly, despite being well over the maximum age for military aeronauts. He disappeared on a reconnaissance mission in 1944: the wreckage of his Lockheed P-38 Lightning was discovered on the floor of the Mediterranean in the year 2000. Saint-Exupéry died, as he lived, at the controls of a plane.
There could be no more fitting figurehead for IWC's popular line of pilot's watches. The Big Pilot comes in many incarnations—Classic, Spitfire, Top Gun, Heritage—but it is the two Saint-Exupéry families that really connect this luxury watch to the spirit of aviation. The 'Le Petit Prince' range features midnight-blue dials, a nod to the night sky out of which the Little Prince falls to earth. And the 'Antoine de Saint-Exupéry' range celebrates the man himself, with signature versions of the Big Pilot presented in tobacco brown. 'The Last Flight', my personal favourite, has a silicon nitride case (that's a high-performance ceramic, to you and me), and an etched caseback showing Saint-Exupéry in his flying gear. Chronograph hours and minutes are registered in a clever totaliser, like a miniature clock face, at 12 o'clock, and hacking seconds and date display at 6.
The Big Pilot is IWC's masterpiece. But it's not just in the sky (or on the wrists of armchair pilots) that you'll find this flyer's legend. Next time you watch F1, check out the luxury watches stitched into the racing gloves of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. They are not Ingenieurs, despite the fact that both Hamilton and Rosberg have designed their own Ingenieur models. They're Big Pilots, blasting round the world's finest racing circuits at hundreds of miles per hour.

Rolex Air-King

During WWII, RAF pilots were issued standard timepieces. But they didn't always wear them—despite the fact that wartime-issue watches for pilots included models made by Longines, Omega, and Jaeger-LeCoultre. Instead, Battle of Britain flyboys began replacing their standard-issue watches with Rolex Oyster Perpetuals, which were slightly bigger than the military watch, and accurate to boot.
Sidenote: if you have a luxury watch you suspect to have been a military issue, caseback information is a good way to begin confirming or denying. Military watches usually have a large amount of extra info stamped on the caseback, for example, the Pheon (broad arrow) to indicate property of HM Govt, or 'AM' to indicate issue by the Air Ministry during WWII.
Towards the end of WWII, so the legend goes, Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf got wind of the RAF preference for Oysters, and decided to create a dedicated Rolex pilot's watch. The result was the Air family, which originally included four models: the Air-Tiger, the Air-Giant, the Air-Lion, and the Air-King.
The first Air-King lifted off in 1945, and the line crash-landed, apparently for good, in 2014. Only it wasn't for good at all. Whether by accident or design, Rolex simply vanished the Air-King for two years, restarting the Air family in 2016 with one of my all-time favourite luxury watches.
The 2016 Air-King, Rolex ref 116900, epitomises everything you want from a Rolex: superb build quality, conservative size (40 mm), extraordinary comfort. But—and this is why it's such a fantastic luxury watch—it also brings a lot of non-Rolex traits to the table. Like its weird dial, which tracks the time with a combination of hour and minute markers. You get Arabic 3, 6, and 9, the classic inverted triangle at 12—and then minute designations for all the rest. It looks crazy until you get it into the sky, where the prominent Arabic minute markers aid navigational readings: ensuring you get the correct time no matter what orientation the watch is viewed in.
Rolex watches weren't just associated with wartime flight: Oysters were used by pioneer aviators like Charles Douglas Bernard, who gave what must be one of the first ever product endorsements after flying with one:
“The peculiar qualities of this Rolex watch render it eminently suitable for flying purposes and I propose to use it on all my long-distance flights in the future.”
Rolex Oysters also became the first watches to fly over Mount Everest, surviving a harsh flight at altitudes of more than 10,000 metres. And they flew on Owen Cathcart-Jones and Ken Waller's record-breaking return flight from London to Melbourne. So the Air-King celebrates even more than the valour of WWII pilots. It epitomises the spirit of an age of flight. The utterly un-Rolex dial, the green seconds-hand matching the green ROLEX logo under the 12 o'clock triangle: it all adds up to a watch that's shaped like a Rolex but feels like a proper retro flight piece. You can wear this anywhere and be admired for it. But you can also take it up to the skies, as those pioneer aviators did with their Oysters, and use it. (Admittedly, to do all the stuff you don't need watches for anymore: but it's cool that you could, if you wanted to).

Breitling Navitimer

In 1952, Breitling released the Navitimer with its sliding-scale bezel and distinctive 'B' branded chrono hand. It's still one of the most respected, and loved, pilot's watches ever made. The modern version, the Navitimer 01, is—well, it's exactly what you'd expect to see on a pilot's wrist. 43 mm in diameter, powered by the Breitling 01 Calibre, and made in a frightening number of variations, the Navitimer has played such a role in the history of commercial flight that it pretty much forms part of the standard airline captain's uniform. My personal favourite: the steel case with black dial and steel Navitimer strap.

Omega Speedmaster 'Moonwatch'

If you ever wanted to be a space pilot as a child, then you wanted a Moonwatch. You didn't know it at the time, of course—you probably thought astronauts wielded laser guns and had jet packs. In actual fact, standard space-issue gear included only one other item of personal wear, besides underclothes and a space suit: an Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph.
The Moonwatch, as it's called, became the first luxury watch on the moon at 02:56 UTC, on July 20, 1969. Strapped to the wrist of Buzz Aldrin, it exited the Apollo 11 lunar landing module, and singlehandedly wrote the most important piece of horological history since the Antikythera. Other luxury watch manufactures have had significant firsts, of course—Rolex in the water, and Cartier in the cockpit of a plane—but only Omega can claim the moon.
The modern Moonwatch looks the part: decidedly retro, but with those little modern touches that mark out a real luxury watch. Its turned lugs, which twist smoothly away from the case, are a beautiful element of texture and form. As is the pie-tin dial, which invites light behind the crystal without affecting legibility. For the ultimate in retro-modernity, go for the Dark Side of the Moon, one of Omega's most popular models ever.

Bremont Alti-ZT/51

2002. Two brothers, with the helpful surname 'English', set out to create the quintessential British luxury watch. They will go on to become one of the country's most respected manufacturers of chronometers. And its most-closely-associated watchmaker with the adventures of flight.
Bremont manufactures production-line luxury watches with stellar aeronautical theming, but it also undertakes bespoke and military projects. Timepieces in these lines have included the 'Wright Flyer' (a classically-imagined pilot's watch), and the Boeing 100 (created to celebrate Boeing's centenary). The watch I have chosen, however, is a standard Bremont: a modern pilot's watch with a dressy, functional look.
The Alti-ZT/51 takes its design cues from Bremont's own limited edition P51, a luxury watch that didn't just celebrate the P-51 Mustang (a legendary WWII American fighter plane)—it actually used bits of a specific P-51 in its second hand and rotor. The Alti-ZT/51 retains the beautiful, legible dial of the P51, but replaces the retro-looking Arabic numerals with indices and puts extra depth in the subdials. With GMT, a chronograph, and a bi-directional rotating bezel, this is the ultimate pilot's watch for the 21st century traveller. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any parts of storied aeroplanes hiding behind its crystal, but hey. You can't have everything.

Richard Mille RM039 Tourbillon Aviation E6-B Flyback Chronograph

In aviation, as in the world of luxury watches, a lot of cachet is given to firsts. The first in the air. The first to fly across the Atlantic. But the first luxury watch to incorporate its own altitude density gauge? There can be only one horologist mad enough. The honour, of course, goes to Richard Mille.
The RM039 Tourbillon Aviation E6-B Flyback Chronograph has one heck of a name. Fortunately, there's a whole lot of watch to back it up. Designated not as a luxury watch but a 'flight instrument', this 850-grand-plus mega-watch is basically a cockpit on a watch strap.
It's got—well, where to begin? Two bezels, for a start: one bidirectional with slide rule and one fixed bezel stuffed with extra logarithmic scales. The slide rule is still used by some pilots to perform aeronautical calculations: at least, its operation is still taught in pilot schools both military and civilian. It first appeared on luxury watches when Breitling (see above) released its Navitimer range in the 1950s. On the RM039, it works in tandem with the fixed bezel to 'solve any problem related to distance, speed, and time' (Richard Mille's words). It can also be used on its own to convert all useful forms of aeronautical measurement, perform altitude calculations, and determine speed in relation to air temperature and altitude.
The dial is a masterwork of complexity, reading out the time in two zones, and housing the flyback chrono, a countdown timer, the date, and a function selector. Over a fearsomely skeletonised movement with a monumental 70-hour power reserve. If you're ever in a position to take the controls of a plane in which all the flight instruments have failed, and heroically pilot it to safety using only your watch, you'll want one of these on your wrist. And if you ever need to raise the money to buy a plane of your own, you can sell your RM039 and get at least three Cessna 182's with the proceeds.
From the first tentative forays into the sky, to the edges of the atmosphere and then some, luxury watches have accompanied humanity on its airborne adventures. If we ever get to Mars, there'll be a luxury watch in the cockpit of the lander. Whether it will be a Rolex, an Omega, or a manufacture we haven't even heard of yet, who knows. But one thing's for sure. It'll do a bunch of stuff it doesn't need to because the on-board instruments can do things a whole lot better. And we'll love every little bell and whistle, because what's cooler than a watch that can calculate astronomical distance, or measure the density of the air? To infinity, and beyond…
Images Credit – officialwatches.com, telegraph.co.uk (Via Pinterest), bremont.com (Via Pinterest.) vedere di piu rolex repliche e Breitling Bentley