Watches to wear with your flight jackets...

[mr_lits]

I remember seeing a Zodiac watch that was worn by a decorated WWII USAAF pilot on display at the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.

You see examples that came back from Europe post WWII (some really nice chronographic movements) but Zodiac really saw their heyday during Vietnam when they were a real popular item at base's PX.

Dad always wore one so they ended up a trend in the family.

 

[Jeronimo Watchmaker]

Fortis Cosmonauts

 

[A2wander]

Fortis Cosmonauts View attachment 173421View attachment 173423View attachment 173425

Nice Fortis with great lume

 

[Jeronimo Watchmaker]

Hamilton Khaki

 

[A2wander]

Hamilton KhakiView attachment 173587

Hamilton, always welcome
Great watch

 

[A2wander]

The Colt, not so bling bling as some other Breitlings

 

[A2wander]

Bulova on a ‘pull to eject’strap,great combination as well

Or on a leather strap for a bit more‘vintage look’

 

[LV426]

The Colt, not so bling bling as some other Breitlings
View attachment 174517

Not bling bling at all , love the brushed steel aspect , it's rough !

 

[A2wander]

Arrived today, NOS Nighthawk, the OG from Citizen

 

[s4rmark]

Timefactors Smiths WWW.

 

[B-Man2]

Watches all look great .. but .. unfortunately there’s a slight downside to them. The bigger and higher they sit off of your wrist … the tougher they are on your jackets wrist knits.
I guess you have to keep in mind the relative size of the A-11 compared to what’s being worn today. I try to keep to either wearing a small flat thin watch or no watch at all when wearing jackets with knitted wrist cuffs.

 

[coolhandluke]

Watches all look great .. but .. unfortunately there’s a slight downside to them. The bigger and higher they sit off of your wrist … the tougher they are on your jackets wrist knits.
I guess you have to keep in mind the relative size of the A-11 compared to what’s being worn today. I try to keep to either wearing a small flat thin watch or no watch at all when wearing jackets with knitted wrist cuffs.

It's definitely a problem Burt. I normally just pull the knit cuff up above the watch head on my wrist to prevent stretching or snagging the knits. I won't wear anything on a bracelet with knit cuffs. If they have diver style clasps, there's always somewhat sharp edges to snag on. Even on higher end watch bracelets.

 

[A2wander]

Watches all look great .. but .. unfortunately there’s a slight downside to them. The bigger and higher they sit off of your wrist … the tougher they are on your jackets wrist knits.
I guess you have to keep in mind the relative size of the A-11 compared to what’s being worn today. I try to keep to either wearing a small flat thin watch or no watch at all when wearing jackets with knitted wrist cuffs.

I totally agree with you Burt,
I also immediately ordered a leather strap for my watch, and it is also a bit too big to wear with my A2 jacket, I think (haven't tried it yet), fortunately this is no problem with my B3.
a 36mm with a low profile would be ideal and certainly not a steel bracelet.
9/10 always wear a leather strap, it would be a shame if the knits were damaged by it..

 

[Enigma1938]

a 36mm with a low profile would be ideal and certainly not a steel bracelet....

And so were most of the service watches back then

 

[mulceber]

Watches all look great .. but .. unfortunately there’s a slight downside to them. The bigger and higher they sit off of your wrist … the tougher they are on your jackets wrist knits.
I guess you have to keep in mind the relative size of the A-11 compared to what’s being worn today. I try to keep to either wearing a small flat thin watch or no watch at all when wearing jackets with knitted wrist cuffs.

It's definitely a problem Burt. I normally just pull the knit cuff up above the watch head on my wrist to prevent stretching or snagging the knits. I won't wear anything on a bracelet with knit cuffs. If they have diver style clasps, there's always somewhat sharp edges to snag on. Even on higher end watch bracelets.

Y’know, any time the knits on originals have problems, we say “moths,” and that’s probably the case some of the time, but I’ve seen an awful lot of them with awful wrist knits and almost perfect waist knits. Wonder if the original pilots had the same problem with watches.

 

[Spitfireace]

Timefactors Smiths WWW.View attachment 175791

Looked up this site, because I hadn't heard of it. Some nice watches there. This particular model is sold out until August 2025. The price for this watch is pretty reasonable considering. It's a modern repro, with improvements over the original WW2 model, but still retains the look. If I didn't have a few other watches I have to maintain I would consider this. I think my jacket hobby has already gone too far, and my dabbling in watches could go in the same direction if I don't restrain myself. Is that a daily wearer for you?

 

[s4rmark]

No not a daily wearer. I do have a couple more watches from this company I accidentally found out about them whilst scrolling the net. They only sell online for a couple of hours every month or so. You have to be quick as they sell out pretty quickly. They also do seem to hold their value because of the limited supply. On the whole I’m very happy with Timefactors. Excellent build quality and spec.

 

[Southoftheborder]

The bloke who runs it is or was the owner of a watch forum and started the business because of the demand for vintage Smiths watches. Their big seller was the reproduction Smiths Everest watch which was worn by Hillary and Norgay when they first climbed Everest in 1953. Rolex always try to claim they were wearing their watches but that was advertising BS and they signed them up as brand ambassadors afterwards.

 

[Spitfireace]

Noticed their Everest watches as well. Really nice looking watches. It takes a lot to impress me on the watch front, but these do impress me.