Shopping for a watch any suggestions

6t6

6t6

Pre-takeoff checklist
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North Bound
My Tag went south so I'm shopping for an aviation watch, or should I say a watch good for aviation. Garmin seems to be an overkill. I really don't think I'd use a watch to help with entry pattern of a hold but you can do it with Garmin's. Rolex is out of the question. Something under $500.
 
I've got a bunch of watches. My favorite is an Omega Speedmaster. But for flying I always liked a Casio WaveCeptor. It automatically sync's the time every night. When I pick up an IFR clearance at an uncontrolled field, my watch always matches the ATC time.

Other than that, I got a clock in the panel and on my phone. I find that I don't wear watches as much as I used to.
 
I'm not a digital watch kind of guy so I wear an NFW watch. Small family owned high quality good prices. My work watch I've been wearing for over 3 years now and it gets abused on a daily basis with no issues. nfwonline.com if you want to check them out
 
Haven't worn a watch consistently since my Seiko exploded in 1987. Always had good 8 day clocks in the airplanes.
 
I really like a classy analog watch, though my good ones are just Seikos, nothing really high end.
That said, I don't think I've worn anything but my Apple watch for a couple of years now. The aesthetics aren't exciting, but the capabilities are pretty cool.
 
My Citizen Navihawk has been running fine for decades. If I were to need a new watch, I might not care about the E-6B whizwheel, but Citizen has a variety of styles.
That said, inexpensive digital stuff (Casio, etc.) all keep time as well as more expensive watches.
 
donjohnston said:
I've got a bunch of watches. My favorite is an Omega Speedmaster. But for flying I always liked a Casio WaveCeptor. It automatically sync's the time every night. When I pick up an IFR clearance at an uncontrolled field, my watch always matches the ATC time.

Other than that, I got a clock in the panel and on my phone. I find that I don't wear watches as much as I used to.
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Both good choices. I wasn't familiar with th eOmega. Now i am.
 
GaryM said:
I really like a classy analog watch, though my good ones are just Seikos, nothing really high end.
That said, I don't think I've worn anything but my Apple watch for a couple of years now. The aesthetics aren't exciting, but the capabilities are pretty cool.
Click to expand...
The apple watch has a lot of features that I like. Like the different faces you can select.
 
I do have a Garmin and it is overkill. I mostly utilize it for activity/health/sleep tracking and not intercepting a course to the nearest field.
 
TBH smart watches are kind of useless. That being said I do wear a Honor Watch which is a watch made by Huawei. It has a 10 day battery and has gps, HR, sp02, etc. I bought it direct for about $225 a couple of years ago. The battery time blows out any other watch on the market.
 
I have a cheapo Pulsar Chronograph. For years.
Keeps great time, and it works fine.
 
For the past dozen years or so I've worn a Seiko dive watch. It has a rotating bezel useful for tracking elapsed time for diving, fuel switching, cooking, etc. The downside is it's too thick to wear with long sleeves, or at least I don't.
 
Seiko Arnie

https://www.amazon.com/seiko-arnie/s?k=seiko+arnie

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Citizen ecodrive with radio controlled accuracy. Synchronizes every night with the time tick out of Fort Collins Colorado. Solar panel face so it never needs a battery never needs winding. Keeps perfect time always and never runs down. Mine will set automatically to 24 time zones. Automatically adjusts for daylight savings time. Lots of different styles. The best watch on the planet.

I have a citizens Skyhawk if you want it.
 
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Craig said:
Haven't worn a watch consistently since my Seiko exploded in 1987. Always had good 8 day clocks in the airplanes.
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I also like my plain old Seiko. Its been said that the VN war was fought to Seiko time. However, I'm now shopping sunglasses at the moment.
 
Garmin makes some considerably less expensive watches- I like the Vivoactive S - can put all manner of data on the face, it’s round (hate square watches), multiple face options, tracks workout options of many types, has a quite useful light option (won’t call it a flashlight but gives off enough adjustable ambient light to get around in a dark room), stopwatch/countdown/timer of course, multiple apps (including one for TAF/METARs), etc etc
 
Any of the Citizen ecodrive world time watches are great. Easily change to your local timezone as you move about. Some have radio updating, some don't.
 
donjohnston said:
I've got a bunch of watches. My favorite is an Omega Speedmaster. But for flying I always liked a Casio WaveCeptor. It automatically sync's the time every night. When I pick up an IFR clearance at an uncontrolled field, my watch always matches the ATC time.

Other than that, I got a clock in the panel and on my phone. I find that I don't wear watches as much as I used to.
Click to expand...
I’ll second the waveceptor recommendation. Time stays perfect and I like the combination of an analog watch for looks, with a small digital readout for for alarms, timers, Zulu time, other time zones.
 
I have an Apple Watch that I wear regardless of if I’m flying or not. But I like that I can check my O2 level on it. I also use it for fuel timers and can feel the haptic vibration in the air.
 
I use a Casio Mudmaster. I'm rough with my watches. Sapphire glass, solar, stopwatch,timer Ft. Collins clock sync, time zones and daylight savings. Big buttons that I can use even while wearing gloves. It also has thermometer, barometer and compass but those are just stuff I show off at parties.
 
I have the Garmin D2 Air. I replaced my Garmin Fenix 5 with it and it’s the best smart watch I’ve used. Sleep and fitness tracking is much better. I haven’t bothered using the aviation features yet. Small, light, battery life is at least twice an Apple Watch. All of which are important for me with sleep apnea- Even the middle sized Fenix I had was so big and heavy, I didn’t want to wear it at night. It monitors HRV (heart rate variability) which I find to be really useful. (I won’t get into it here, but every pilot should learn about that in terms of managing their stress. Biggest thing is it uses red light for a very accurate Oximeter, and uses both green and yellow light to find your heart rate. Green light only is a very inaccurate reading. This is the first wrist based heart rate monitor I’ve used that is better than a chest strap. My old Fenix heart rate was useless when working out. I’ve never seen the D2 Air be more than a beat off when cross checking it with another monitor.

The D2 Delta seems like a huge overkill at a huge price point, but I can’t recommend the D2 Air enough. Strikes the right balance for me.
 

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Wrench978 said:
I have an Apple Watch that I wear regardless of if I’m flying or not. But I like that I can check my O2 level on it. I also use it for fuel timers and can feel the haptic vibration in the air.
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I have not done O2 on mine, need to look into that.

100% the best solution I have found for a fuel timer, actually the only one that has worked for me. It’s impossible to miss it vibrating and you can hit repeat easily.
 
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