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Sometimes a watch is more than just a watch, and the best aviation watches function not only as timekeeping devices but also as navigation aids. An aviation watch was once an essential piece of an aviator’s kit during the golden age of flying, where a pilot, copilot, or navigator would have to manually calculate things like fuel expenditure, rate of climb, and conversion of statute miles to nautical miles. Other aviation watches of the era were simple “Flieger” watches, which have relatively large and simple dials and were intended for military aviators to keep accurate mission time and get munitions on target on time.
The world of aviation watches is vast and full of many similar-looking brands, and today’s list aims to bring you the best no matter your needs or budget. Whether you want a new watch to match some recently acquired wings, or you love aviation history and want to own something to pay homage to manned flight, we’ve got you covered with the best aviation watches worth owning.
Best Overall
Hamilton Pilot Day-Date
Best Value
Citizen Promaster Nighthawk
Editor's Choice
Omega Speedmaster Automatic
Best GMT
Yema Flygraf GMT Air and Space Force
Best for a Retirement Gift
Breitling Navitimer Chronograph
Best Value Alternative
Seiko Flightmaster Alarm Chronograph
Best Classic
Laco 1925 Pilot Classic
Most Accurate
Bulova Lunar Pilot
Why you should trust us
This article was the result of months of research based on my experience with watches that I’ve purchased, and that those who I trust have worn. These are all watches that are often the first names mentioned by watch enthusiasts when you talk about aviation watches, and that’s due to innovative designs, quality execution, and legendary capabilities. In addition, it’s worth noting that I loved the Citizen Nighthawk so much that I purchased a Blue Angels commemorative edition for my father, as a nod to his decades of service as a Marine aviator.
Types of aviation watches
Aviation watches fall into four major categories: type A Fliegers, type B Fliegers, chronographs, and navitimers. These all have rich histories within the fields of aviation, and many watches on this list straddle two different categories in their design language.
Type A Flieger
Type A Fliegers are simple three-hand pilots’ watches that feature a high-contrast dark dial with white arabic numerals and an outer minute track. They are essentially standard three-hand watches that prioritize readability above all else, and therefore have very simple dials.
Type B Flieger
Type B Fliegers feature large outer minute tracks and small inner hour tracks due to the fact that many pilots felt that knowing what minute of the hour was more important than knowing the hour of the day. Well-designed type B Fliegers will have the hour hand be just long enough to reach the inner hour track, and the minute hand long enough to reach the large minute track.
Chronograph
One of the most important tasks in the aviation days of yore was flying by instruments in low visibility or at night, in which a pilot would rely on his or her bearing, airspeed, and altitude, in conjunction with a map and a stopwatch to determine how far the aircraft had traveled. Because of this, chronograph watches were very popular, providing the wearer with a stopwatch on their wrist at all times. While not strictly an aviation watch, chronographs had real utility in the air.
Navitimer
Navitimers are technically a trademark of the Breitling corporation, referring to their “wrist-mounted instrument package” that they’ve been selling since the 1950s. However, this term has come to mean any watch that seeks to be a suite of aeronautical instruments on the wearer’s wrist, featuring things like compass bezels, slide rules, dual-time functions, and so forth. These are the most complex watches on this list, and are some of the most complex on the market.
Key features of aviation watches
Aviation watches rely on several distinct features to set them apart from the rest of the horological world, or improve on common features to make them airworthy. From specialized bezels to simple durability features, aviation watches are distinctive from nearly every other type of watch due to the needs of pilots.
Crystal
The crystal of the watch is the glass that covers the dial. Crystals can be made of acrylic plastic, mineral glass, or synthetic sapphire. Acrylic is the most impact-resistant and can be repaired by anyone with polywatch compound and time, but it scratches very easily. Mineral glass is somewhat more scratch-resistant than acrylic, but not as easy to buff out if it gets damaged, and is also more shatter-prone. Sapphire is nearly impervious to scratching, being impervious to everything except diamond, but is also more prone to cracks and chips from sharp impacts. In addition, sapphire benefits from anti-reflective coating to maintain visibility in direct sunlight.
Lume
Lume, or luminescence, is how the dial glows in the dark. Usually, luminescent paint on the dial or filled into raised index or numeral molds is the method by which a watch maintains visibility when going from light to dark, but some companies like Timex use powered luminescence and others like Marathon are known for their use of radioactive tritium vials to provide luminescence that lasts for years.
Slide rule bezel
Slide rules are one of those things that old-timers like to brag about being able to use, but they’re simple enough to use in a hurry if you learn how to use them. A slide rule bezel is graduated to allow the wearer to perform complex calculations on the fly, convert metric to imperial units, or calculate the rate of climb.
Chronograph
A chronograph is a stopwatch, but for your wrist, plain and simple. Chronograph watches will, at their simplest, feature a second hand, usually the large seconds hand, and a minute sub-dial to track time elapsed. Complicated chronographs can track an entire day’s worth of time, useful for pilots traveling through the air for hours, and some watches that cost upwards of the price of your average large family dwelling even have mechanical triple split functions, such as the A Lange & Sohne Triple Split.
Aviation watch pricing
Budget
Many simple, affordable watches, especially Flieger-style watches, live in the $50 to $200 range. You don’t need to skimp on quality as long as you keep things simple, but be aware of shady brands in this price bracket that will sell you watches with a great ad campaign and an inspiring (and concocted) backstory, but which have very little in terms of quality.
Mid-range
Between $200 and $1000 is where you can get a lot of bang for your buck, and where you start to see the entry level to quality watches from name brands. However, this category is full of brands that will charge you extra money for a name, while offering a watch that’s outdone by something in a lower price bracket.
Premium
Above $1000 is the doorstep to luxury, going from premium Hamiltons and Seikos up to diamond-encrusted Breitlings and Rolexes and beyond. This price bracket has no limit and is probably best reserved for the experienced buyer who knows what they’re looking for in a watch just by looking at it.
How we chose our top picks
To research these watches, I first looked at the most popular picks from watch journalists and watch reviewers that had legitimate military heritage, then asked owners of these watches what they thought of theirs, handled several, and bought the two I liked best as gifts. Every watch on this list is either preferred by myself, or by someone I trust, and if I could afford a Breitling Navitimer, instead of just being able to fondle one in a jewelry store, I would own one.
FAQs on aviation watches
You’ve got questions, Task & Purpose has answers.
Q: What watches do real pilots wear?
A: Real pilots, if they wear watches, will often wear digital Garmin GPS watches while flying, offering systems redundancy and precise timekeeping. All watches on this list are more for the tradition-minded aviator.
Q: What is an aviation watch?
A: Aviation watches are designed to be easily readable at a glance when flying very quickly, hence why they prioritize high-contrast displays and, in times past, were larger than average.
Q: Why do pilots’ watches have a triangle?
A: Some Flieger-style watches will have a triangle, which is to allow a pilot to immediately know where 12 o’clock is at a glance, no matter the orientation of the watch.