I have read every post here regarding watches and winging gifts and just find myself confused. There is no way my wife and I can afford a Breitling or similar caliber watch but could afford something like this.. http://www.princetonwatches.com/shop/CA0295-58E.asp http://www.princetonwatches.com/shop/JY0005-50E.asp The Skyhawk looks very busy and my guess is a lot of the functions are geared to commercial aviation. Would a person even have the time to deal with all those little buttons and scales while flying a helicopter? The Nighthawk is very basic but perhaps too much so? What do pilots use those chronograph functions for anyway? I’m sort of hung up on the watch as a winging gift more as a memento than anything else. 14K Gold wings are also an option but those might be covered by someone else - like his fiancé.
Nothing on the skyhawk other than UTC time in one window with the hands displaying local, or using the bezel to do currency conversion arithmetic is really that useful. Nothing on most of the "aviation" watches is particularly useful...it's not like you hack your watch on a low level and flip your scarf over your shoulder and get going. Everything these watches are sold as doing is done faster and more accurately by something else in the cockpit. That being said, any of them will make a nice winging gift. We wear watches because we are Aviators, and aviators are cool, and big watches are cool. At least that's what my mom says.
Whatever watch you decide on (and I'm not a huge fan of busy watches), I would recommend it have at least two timezones. Next to readability, that's the biggest thing I look for, even more so on my everyday, very basic Casio G-Shock. While the majority of fleet aircraft will have GMT displayed somewhere in the plane, it's always nice to be able to fall back to my watch to get GMT for some of the admin required before I make it to the aircraft.
The Skyhawk is a solid choice. As for a winging gift, the mounted aircraft photos with patches/wings/name seem popular. There's a place in Pensacola that does them and can turn them around in about 24hrs. http://flywings.com/
Think bigger...a custom-engraved Cold Government Model 1911A1 in .45 ACP with your son'e name, Naval Aviator Designation Number, date of winging, and...of course...engraved Navy wings...all inlayed with gold.
You might want to look at some other brands if he or you want a less busy watch at the same price point. Mrs Pags got me a Hamilton for when we got married and my brother and I got my dad a Hamilton one year for his birthday. Other choices from established brands with some nice pieces are seiko, Swiss army, and citizen. Or, to keep the aviation theme but retain some simplicity you could look into a reproduction flieger watch from a brand like stowa, laco, or steinhart. One of these has been on my want list for a while. And while renegades idea might be a tad expensive, another option would be to get an engraved folding knife. You can never really go wrong with a decent knife; last wedding I was in the wedding party was all helo guys so the groom got us all SOG folders. Very classy and useful gift.
Well, gun was on his short list but mom says NFW - her exact words. So how about this? Simple, but it has the dual time feature. AND a set of 14K gold wings.
That's what happens when you go on 3 days of constant bar crawls and don't wash your hand/ take a shower.
Really!? Maybe you're refering to the Ladies at J and I's or the Armpit Club (or was that before your time?) Seriously, thanks to everyone for the feedback - you are all awsome!
