Yet Another Thread on Watches - Not about brand

[NavyGator09]

If this is anywhere already on here somewhere then I'm sorry. I'm heading to flight school soon and I have sifted through countless pages of forums that have debated which brand of watch is the best or what watch is the best, but what I want to know is how practical is an aviation watch in the aircraft; before I spend a few hundred. I have heard that the kind with the rotating slide-rule bezel that can do fuel calculations, etc. could be helpful, however, I have also heard that your watch is stuck under your gloves and sleeves... so just use the whiz wheel. Any help on this would be great. Thanks.

 

[KBayDog]

If you've got what it takes to earn these:

...

...this is all the watch you need:

 

[60flyer]

If this is anywhere already on here somewhere then I'm sorry. I'm heading to flight school soon and I have sifted through countless pages of forums that have debated which brand of watch is the best or what watch is the best, but what I want to know is how practical is an aviation watch in the aircraft; before I spend a few hundred. I have heard that the kind with the rotating slide-rule bezel that can do fuel calculations, etc. could be helpful, however, I have also heard that your watch is stuck under your gloves and sleeves... so just use the whiz wheel. Any help on this would be great. Thanks.

I'm a helo guy, so I can't speak for other communities....but I only use my watch to tell time. That's it. All fuel calculations are done in my head. No need to geek it up.

 

[skidkid]

The bezel whiz wheel is good for liberty port currency conversion though.

 

[C420sailor]

At this point you'd be better off using the money on hookers and blow.

 

[scoolbubba]

It's true about currencies...the bezel is a pretty sweet money converter.

What's a whiz wheel? I've never actually flown with one...fuel management involves setting up a complex algorithm, usually written down on scratch paper and promptly thrown away, to calculate burn based on winds, proposed route, weight, fuel density, speeds, etc all of which is laid out in a log. Once aloft, you set a nice easy number that can be divided into minutes real easy (say, 600#/Hr) and turn your fuel log over so you can scribble shit on it once ATC completely reroutes your flight around a line of t-storms and effs your numbers to hell anyways. After that it's all in your head anyways.

 

[kmac]

^^^^^ What they've said ^^^^^
I'm also one that has only used a watch for time. Right now I'm sporting my sweet $24.99 Timex that I bought in San Diego 4 years ago. I'm surprised that the battery still works. The only time I use it is really during engine starts or to see what time it is in zulu. Having said all of that, I believe that most aircraft have a GPS that gives pretty good time.

So get the Omega X-33.

 

[DaveI]

The Casio G-Shock Solar Atomic is a pretty sweet watch that can handle anything you do to it for a good number of years. There is a one day sale- today 6/22/09 only at a daily watch deal website.

check out www.chronoshark.com

It's usually $110.00 but you can get it for $49 today.

 

[PropAddict]

A watch with a Zulu hand or dial can be pretty money.

 

[KBayDog]

A watch with a Zulu hand or dial can be pretty money.

Yeah, but it's worthless if you move out of Zulu time.

 

[FLY_USMC]

Yeah order an Omega X-33 and you'll have it just in time for your funeral.....fucking slackers.

 

[DaveI]

I got a pretty sweet Citizen Nighthawk from my boss for Christmas last year... seems like a good flight watch. I use it when I can for the E6B calculations.

 

[AJTranny]

If you are talking about crazy inav procedures for nfo primary, just use the whiz wheel. Don't get a watch for that. In the fleet you will learn easy ways to figure your gas...and you will get beat up for the said whiz wheel post primary.

 

[Pags]

Pilot watches are just a gimick to sell watches to the unwashed. Wear what you like.

 

[HornyU2]

I have heard that the kind with the rotating slide-rule bezel that can do fuel calculations, etc. could be helpful, however, I have also heard that your watch is stuck under your gloves and sleeves...

If, as a primary student, you find yourself in the cockpit with the aircraft trimmed up, on airspeed and altitude, in postition (if on the wing), know where you are and where you are going, and still enough left over situational awareness to do fuel calculations on a wristwatch................. then buy a Breitling or Rolex - because YOU are money.

I have used the whiz wheel on my current aviator watch to do a fuel/distance/time calculation problem - but, only because we I was in the squadron bar on a Friday, mostly drunk, and someone said that the new age pilots probably didn't even know what a whiz wheel was. As a side note - I flew all of my real world missions without a watch on my wrist. I couldn't, because I had a spacesuit on, and there was no place for it. I used the clock in the jet. Never been in a jet without a clock - they seem to work great. Out of habit - I still just use the clock in the jet. Hardly ever look at my wrist while flying.

My point to all this is - buy an expensive watch if you want. But, not for anything other than how it looks. A cheap watch that keeps a good time hack is all that any military pilot could possibly need in the cockpit.