Flight club Aviation watches are real tool watches, writes Adrian Buchmann, where legibility is the key feature. As long you keep this in mind, though, there’s room for innovation – and I believe there’s always a better approach possible. On our new pilot watches – the C8 UTC Worldtimer and C8 Power Reserve Chronometer, covered elsewhere this issue – we’ve worked to push the collection further on, both aesthetically and in terms of the technology. For instance, with the dials we’ve worked on a new type of finish to achieve an extra matt surface, which helps legibility and prevents reflections. The crowns on the two new releases have a wider diameter too, which is useful if you’re wearing gloves – but, at the same time, they are closer to the case body to improve ergonomics. The C8 Power Reserve is also driven by a version of SH21 mounted on a new main bridge, which is lighter than before. In part, this was done to reflect aircraft engineering principles. With aviation watches, function always comes before form, and here we’ve
particularly focussed on the dials, hands and lume – making sure things are totally clear at any time of day or night. Of course, pilot watches are quite big – for reasons both historical and practical. The famous B-Uhr Watches used by the Germans during the Second World War used pocket watch movements; as these were large, the cases needed to be large too. Though their 55mm diameter today seems cumbersome, you need to remember that they were designed to be worn on top of the pilot’s jacket. And it certainly meant they were extremely legible. The original B-Uhr watches used trapeze-shaped hands, directly inspired by aeroplane instruments. However, when the Flyer collection was first launched, we wanted to make more British references, and so looked to the Smiths clocks used in British planes. On the new models we’ve further refined this hand design. They now only have lume at the end, to help differentiate hours from minutes – and we’ve added a thinner area at the end to help 44
With two new pilot’s watches in the range, what better subject for Adrian Buchmann, our senior designer, than the history of aviation watches...?
with precision reading. These details really make a difference. Aviation watches are more likely to use Arabic numerals than diver’s watches, because all the information the watch provides is important, whereas for a diver’s watch it’s the minute hand and its visual connection to the bezel markers that matters most. In terms of complications, on an aviation watch you always want to give real benefit to pilots and travellers – the C8 UTC Worldtimer being the perfect example. It’s a very quick way to see the time in every major world city – yes, even quicker than using your iPhone! In fact, the latest UTC is a pleasure to use – and I’m very pleased with the way it looks too. We wanted to add a real tool watch to our aviation range, but without allowing the face to become crowded or cluttered looking. We worked very carefully on the layering, textures and proportions to provide a clear area for the Worldtimer tool elements that didn’t clash with the basic hours and minutes.