In the market for an automatic watch to wear everyday in the cockpit. I currently serve in the US Navy as a jet pilot and would like to get something that will survive the remainder of my career while being used everyday in the jet. The goal would be to wear it for all my flights and have it as a keepsake after I retire. Any watch would need to be durable enough to survive incidental bumps in the small cockpit of the jet while maneuvering. A GMT hand would be preferred in order to track UTC time while doing flight planning. I have a fairly small wrist at 7 inches. I currently own a Seiko 5 GMT (SSK003) and like the fit. Budget is around $2-3K.
I have been looking around and have found some of Sinn’s watches including the 856/857 UTC to be interesting. The tegimented steel seems like it would hold up well to bumps against the canopy rails. Other options could be Laco’s new DIN 8330 watches, but they do not come on bracelets.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
I want to say for modern pilots, the Breitling EVO, but that might be out of your budget, and not mechanical. I’d consider it for the features though.
Besides that, maybe the Citizen Pro Master Skyhawk, also not an automatic, but with some useful features for a pilot.
If you really want a automatic with GMT, I think your instincts about the Sinn 856 are right.
The Citizen Pro Master is too busy for my tastes. The other “aviation” features are not really of use in a fast jet where you have very little time to be heads down looking at your wrist. In reality a wristwatch is quite redundant in flight due to GPS time being provided by onboard avionics.