Character watches are a longstanding tradition in the watch industry, pairing horological creations with cartoon characters from film and television to turn up the nostalgia to 11. One of the characters that most frequently graces the presence of dials is Snoopy, from Peanuts, the loveable dog who dreams of being a flying ace pilot. He’s most famously found on the dials of Omega Speedmasters, including the MoonSwatch but as of today you can also find him on the dial of the AVI-8 Hawker Hurricane Kent GMT Automatic Peanuts Snoopy Flying Ace Limited Edition.
Unlike in the Omega/Swatch watches where he is banished to a subdial, the AVI-8 puts him front and centre, following the true character watch tradition. His body is in the middle of the display, wearing his signature pilot’s hat, scarf and goggles, with his arms and paws serving as the watch’s hands. A red scarf blowing in the wind serves as the seconds indicator while Woodstock is fulfilling the role of 24-hour GMT hand.
There are four versions of the watch being produced and while Snoopy and Woodstock remain largely the same on each while the colours of the background, scarf and surrounding GMT scale are different. Doghouse Red is the standard edition with a black backdrop and black/red scale, Sketchbook Blue is very similar except the dial and minute track are now navy blue while the scarf is yellow. Cream Brigade then swaps things up completely with a cream dial and black/blue GMT scale while also inverting the colour of the Arabic numerals so they are predominantly black. Lastly, Winter Green is a combination of green and yellow, while also changing the colour of the scarf from red to yellow.
Turn the lights out and all four Hawker Hurricane Kent GMT Automatic Peanuts Snoopy Flying Ace Limited Edition watches change drastically, revealing a hidden world only revealed in lume. Snoopy, his dog house, Woodstock, the time scales and backdrop all come to life in shades of blue and green. It reveals that the background, which looks monochrome normally, is actually decorated with panels in the style of the original comic strip.
Housed inside the 42mm case is the Seiko NH34 GMT automatic calibre with 41-hour power reserve. One of the most ubiquitous GMT movements in the world due to its combination of accessibility, value and ease of servicing. You can view it through the exhibition caseback, revealing a rotor with more comic strip style decoration.
That value also makes its way to the watch itself, which is $365 (approx. £270) in a limited edition of 1,100 piece, split between 300 Doghouse Red, 300 Cream Brigade, 250 Sketchbook Blue and 250 Winter Green. If you want more of the Flying Ace in your life, here’s a fun way to do it. UPDATE: The entire collection sold out within 30-minutes of release, though AVI-8 note that more Peanuts collaborations are on the way in future.
Price and Specs:
More details at AVI-8.
Cool watch, love it as a fun thing for travel. Shame it sold out so fast (though it’s a bit chunky for me I’m still bummed to have missed out on the run).