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Pilot Watches · Page 12

861 articles · Page 12 of 36
Into the Elements: Hamilton and the Khaki Field Expedition Worn & Wound
Jun 28, 2024

Into the Elements: Hamilton and the Khaki Field Expedition

The Hamilton Watch Company stands as a venerable name in horology, renowned not only for its timepieces, but also for its deep-rooted connection to military history. Established in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Hamilton quickly made its mark by producing pocket watches that were instrumental in both civilian and military spaces. During World War I, Hamilton became a primary supplier of timepieces to the U.S. Armed Forces, earning accolades for their reliability and design. This role continued into World War II, when Hamilton halted their production for civilian use in order to focus on supplying Allied forces with standard issue wrist watches – watches that became indispensable to soldiers and aviators alike. The company’s commitment to military excellence culminated in the creation of the iconic Hamilton Khaki Field line, a collection that pays homage to its heritage while meeting the demands of modern adventurers in its specifications. Inspired by the rugged timepieces worn by military personnel, the Khaki Field collection blends classic military aesthetics with contemporary functionality. The Khaki Field Expedition launched last year, and their 41mm and 37mm options highlight the brand’s move into inclusive sizing options. These watches are characterized by their durable stainless steel cases, legible dials, and the notable bidirectional compass bezel which allows its users to find their bearings using the sun. Their accessible price point also lends them to be...
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Bell & Ross Expands their BR 03 Dive Watch Collection Worn & Wound
Jun 27, 2024

Bell & Ross Expands their BR 03 Dive Watch Collection

Bell & Ross has significantly expanded their lineup of BR 03 divers this week, launching a total of five new references in the collection of sports watches inspired by aircraft instrumentation. The BR 03 line has been the subject of many incremental upgrades over the past year, and just as we saw with the pilot’s watches, these divers seem to be operating under the philosophy of “less is more” when it comes to making changes in the lineup.  The BR 03, and Bell & Ross square watches in general, have always been a bit of a cult object, loved all out of proportion by their fans. The divers are a particularly strange subset within the product line. The “pilot” and “diver” aesthetics rarely match up, but there’s something almost logical here about an overbuilt, square watch designed to get wet. Somehow, we can take the instrument cluster aesthetic inspiration out of the equation once we’re told we’re dealing with a dive watch. What we’re left with is my favorite type of Bell & Ross: something that’s just simply and deeply strange, a watch that feels like it shouldn’t exist but has an obvious appeal anyway.  The 42mm divers introduced this week come in five variants, which, as you’d expect, progress from fairly banal to positively strange. There are three steel references with white, blue, and black dials. These, as you can probably surmise, are the more straightforward watches in the collection. They have the same general appearance of an aviation ...
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Exhibition: Breitling’s “Time Capsule” on Four Continents SJX Watches
Jun 26, 2024

Exhibition: Breitling’s “Time Capsule” on Four Continents

Time Capsule: The Breitling Heritage Exhibition is coming to a Breitling boutique near you as it makes 55 stops across four continents over the course of 2024. On show are the most significant vintage timepieces – mostly chronographs naturally – from the brand’s 140-year history, including the first-ever chronograph with a pusher separate from the crown, a 1915 invention of Gaston Breitling. Many of the watches on show were the first of their kind, hence the exhibition’s tagline “140 Years of Firsts”. Amongst the other highlights is the Navitimer with its slide rule bezel that Breitling describes as the first flight computer for the wrist, and the Chrono-Matic, the first self-winding chronograph movement developed by a consortium that included Breitling. Amongst the more recent timepieces is the Emergency, the first wristwatch with a built-in distress beacon. The vintage timepieces are exhibited in streamer-trunk display cases tailored to each boutique with QR codes in the showcases that provide additional historical detail Vintage timepieces are the main highlights of the show. The exhibition is making stops in key cities in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East, and Asia, with some stops happening concurrently. Each stop will be for one to two weeks in the local Breitling boutique. Time Capsule is open to the public. Scheduling an appointment is not mandatory but recommended. A few of the cities that will host the exhibition are as follows, for the ...
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The Breitling SuperOcean Upgraded to 1,000 m SJX Watches
Jun 16, 2024

The Breitling SuperOcean Upgraded to 1,000 m

Practically every brand with a significant offering of sports watches has a 1,000 m-or-deeper dive watch in its catalogue, and Breitling has one in its catalogue since 1983. The latest is the Superocean Automatic 46 Superdiver that features a titanium case water resistant to 1,000 m that also features a bezel-lock mechanism. Initial thoughts  Breitling redesigned the Superocean two years ago, giving its line of dive watches a modern aesthetic with subtle vintage-inspired elements, distinguishing it from the vintage remakes common in this segment. Superocean Superdiver retains the same styling, but in a larger, higher-spec format. For someone who likes the earlier Superocean but found it too small or 300 m too modest – this is it. As an aside, the camouflage-pattern dial is new for the Superocean line and feels unnecessary, though the pattern isn’t too obvious at a distance. Given Breitling’s regular cosmetic updates, a different dial style is likely on the cards. Though the priciest Superocean at US$6,300 on a strap, the Superdiver is still equipped with an ETA 2892. That’s adequate but not really competitive at this price point given the superior movements found in most competing watches. The black variant with its rubber strap More variety Having recently expanded three of its signature collections - Navitimer, AVI, and Avenger - Breitling now does the same for the Superocean, its longstanding line of dive watches. The current-generation Superocean draws ins...
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Sinn Introduces the 903 St II Navigation Chronograph SJX Watches
Jun 3, 2024

Sinn Introduces the 903 St II Navigation Chronograph

Known for its military-inspired instrument watches, Sinn revisits one of its signature models with the 903 St II Navigation Chronograph. Updated in terms of the movement and case, the new 903 makes its debut with three dial variants, including a limited edition featuring an attractive light blue dial. Initial thoughts The 903 St is curious for bearing a striking similarity to the Breitling Navitimer – a result of Breitling having sold the rights to produce the Navitimer when it went bust during the Quartz Crisis. While the earliest versions of the 903 were essentially rebadged Navitimers – Sinn having bought the components from Breitling – the new 903 is a Sinn creation and also better than previous generations. The 903 St II in classic black Compared to earlier generations of the model, the 903 St II is streamlined and improved. Upgrades include removing the fiddly second crown at ten (so the slide rule is now directly operated via the bezel), the addition of luminous blocks for indices, and an applied logo.  The appeal of the new 903, however, does have one caveat: the date between four and five remains, but only on the regular production version. It’s absent on the limited edition, but that arguably should have been done for all variants.  The standard 903 St costs US$3,730 with a leather strap, and an additional US$240 for a bracelet. The 500-piece limited edition model is priced at US$4,170. The affordable price makes it a more attractive proposition than ma...
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Bell & Ross Adds a Two-Tone Option to their Popular BR 03 Range Worn & Wound
May 27, 2024

Bell & Ross Adds a Two-Tone Option to their Popular BR 03 Range

Bell & Ross is continuing to fill out their updated BR 03 collection with new references to accommodate the subtly smaller case they introduced last year. Brad Homes went hands-on with the new, more refined case right here, and found the differences to be small, but an overall improvement. It’s important not to underestimate either the scope of the change for Bell & Ross or the potential impact small adjustments can have on a watch case, particularly when you’re dealing with a square design like the BR 03. Bell & Ross fans (I’m raising my hand here) have strong feelings about their iconic square case designs, so any small adjustment is going to be met with the kind of intense critique that can only come from an enthusiast community. It seems, though, that the updates have been well received, and the latest addition, the BR 03 White Steel & Gold, brings a very different flavor to traditional tool watch design.  The stated goal of the White Steel & Gold reference is to bring a more sophisticated look to the BR 03 line, one that is, in Bell & Ross terms, “both urban and elegant.” While we still have the vague outline of an aviation inspired tool watch, the details come from an entirely different place. The bezel is rendered in rose gold, and the crisp opaline dial has matching gold tone accents. While the gold is likely the design characteristic that will draw most to the watch initially, the dial appears to have a very fine texture and character to it that could w...
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Interview: A Conversation with Benoit de Clerck, Zenith’s New CEO Worn & Wound
May 10, 2024

Interview: A Conversation with Benoit de Clerck, Zenith’s New CEO

A few years ago, I bought my first luxury watch on eBay, an Omega Seamaster Professional Diver 300m ref. 2220.80.00. It was a watch I had first noticed on the wrist of Daniel Craig in Casino Royale over a decade earlier, and one which I had coveted. I spent way too much money on it, and accidentally (eBay defaulted to the wrong payment method) used my parents’ credit card to buy the watch. It was a boneheaded move, compounded by eBay’s then-nascent authentication program taking over two months to actually get the watch to me. But don’t worry, I did pay my parents back in relatively short order and eventually got the watch. And I got a fun story out of it that I am unlikely to soon forget. I would posit that many of us have similar stories about how we wound up making our first big watch purchase. Benoit de Clerck, who introduced himself to me as Ben, certainly does. “My first salary was a camera, a Nikon - you know, these old cameras and all that - but my second salary was an IWC Pilot’s Watch, 3706, and the story is, I did not have enough money to pay for it.” “So I paid it part on my credit card; part on cash; borrowed money from friends, brothers, sister, and friends; and post-dated checks,” he told me, “And the guy had never seen someone who wanted to do that for a watch, and of course, I wanted that watch now, obviously.” You might be amazed to know that Ben walked out of the boutique that day with his watch. “The owner of that store took a r...
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Hands-on – The IWC Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 Shows Great Promise Monochrome
May 9, 2024

Hands-on – The IWC Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 Shows Great Promise

As we approached the end of 2023, the landscape for those seeking an obtainable motorsport-inspired chronograph underwent a shift, offering a slightly broader array of options. This was spurred by the notable introduction of an extension to IWC‘s Pilot’s Watch series: the Performance Chronograph 41. Available in titanium to commemorate the brand’s enduring partnership with […]
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Let’s Get Integrated: Five of Our Favorite Integrated Bracelet Sports Watches at Around $10,000 Worn & Wound
Apr 22, 2024

Let’s Get Integrated: Five of Our Favorite Integrated Bracelet Sports Watches at Around $10,000

Not everyone loves a nice integrated bracelet watch in their collection, and there’s a few reasonable reasons why that may be. For one, you’re going to be stuck with the same bracelet for the rest of the watch’s natural life unless there’s an OEM leather or rubber equivalent offered by the brand (or perhaps on the aftermarket). Secondly, the integrated bracelet look can be somewhat of an acquired taste, not everyone is into that – and depending on the model the watch can appear dated, reminiscent of those oval cased watches of the past like the Universal Geneve Ultra-Slim Shadow on the Milanese bracelet.  But, for those of us who have caught the integrated bug, there’s no telling the depths we will explore in order to find that perfect integrated bracelet watch. This is a segment that will require a little more patience and finesse to discover. Once you buy the watch you have your sights set on, you can’t change much about the look afterwards, and the saying buy once, cry once really fits this category here.  Santos De Cartier Starting the list off with an absolute classic, and if you want to start here – and end here, I’d have a hard time disagreeing with you. The Santos De Cartier is an absolute icon in the watch world, dating all the way back to 1904 when it was designed by Louis Cartier for the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. Its roots are deeply ingrained in the evolution of aviation and it retains the title of the world’s first pilot wa...
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Bell & Ross Introduces Ceramic to the BR 05 Collection Worn & Wound
Apr 15, 2024

Bell & Ross Introduces Ceramic to the BR 05 Collection

For Watches & Wonders 2024, Bell & Ross is bringing ceramic somewhere it’s never gone before - the BR 05 collection of integrated bracelet sports watches - with a trio of black ceramic options with matching black ceramic bracelets. When Bell & Ross introduced the BR 05 five years ago, it seemed like a somewhat esoteric, slightly fringe addition to the brand’s offerings. I remember feeling like it was a watch made more to check a box than anything else. But in the last half-decade, the BR 05 has, increasingly and slowly, become a major pillar of the Bell & Ross catalog and earned fans left and right. These additions also feel a little like checking a box - but in the best way. Ceramic has long been a core material for Bell & Ross, with many of its iconic and recognizable square-cased cockpit instruments, like the BR 03-94 Multimeter, making use of the material. So it was only a matter of time before we saw the distinctive material make its way to the BR 05. The new BR 05 ceramic trio are, mostly, the same watches we’ve seen over the last few years, but there are some small, but significant, differences between the ceramic and steel versions (besides the material). The BR 05 Black Ceramic models are 1mm wider than their steel counterparts, measuring in at 41mm. The BR 05 Black Ceramic is still thin, measuring in at 11.2mm, but again, it is a slight increase when compared to the steel option (which is a svelte 10.5mm). Per Bell & Ross, these changes in dimension w...
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Comments 1

  1. Anonymous
    The Navitimer slide rule thing always seemed impractical but I get the appeal.

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