Aviator Douglas Day-Date
The golden age of air travel is usually dominated by airlines like Pan-Am, but when it comes to the actual aircraft that drove the glitz and glamour of transatlantic flight, none were more iconic than the superlative Douglas DC-3 – the namesake of the latest from aptly-named pilots’ brand, Aviator.
With a case shaped like a DC-3 fuselage and tactile grooves inspired by Art Deco, the Douglas Day-Date is a more aesthetically luxurious take on the humble aviation tool watch, particularly handsome in the combination of military khaki and rose gold. Yet while a trip on the original DC-3 would have been pricey at the time, that’s not the case here, despite the handsome look and, incredibly, a custom Aviator calibre.
The Specs
- 41.2mm, stainless steel case with 100m water resistance
- AV-1000 calibre automatic movement with 41-hour power reserve
- From £795, available at Aviator Watches.
HAIM Descent
After cutting their teeth with their debut Legacy and vintage chronograph follow-up, the Legacy SE, Chicagobased microbrand HAIM have now taken on the not-sohumble sports watch with their now-typical flair. Both versions of the new Descent come with gilt dials in either midnight blue or black, complete with a lovely splash of guilloche dead centre.
So far, so cool, but what sets the Descent apart is the ‘Duo- Bezel’. Part dive timer, part second timezone, it’s the only watch for travellers that expect to be crossing date lines underwater. Sporty, elegant but ultimately unique, the Descent is an impressive third step in HAIM’s plan for world domination.
The Specs
- 39mm stainless steel case with 200m water resistance
- Miyota 9039 calibre automatic movement with 42-hour power reserve
- $474.99 (approx. £350), available at HAIM Watch Co.
Spinnaker Piccard
No, not that Piccard. Spinnaker’s latest diver pays homage not to the baldest captain of the Enterprise, but Jaques Piccard, one of the pair of pilots that took the Bathysphere Trieste down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 1960. That said, there’s certainly something UFO-esque about the Piccard’s domed profile and chunky, retro design. With 550m of water resistance, in true Spinnaker style it’s also a lot of watch for the money.
The Specs
- 45mm stainless steel with 550m water resistance
- Seiko NH35 calibre automatic movement with 41-hour power reserve
- £430 available at Spinnaker.
GANE Type C
With a painfully retro case and a minimalist layout inspired by sundials, somehow GANE’s first watch comes out hitting the zeitgeisty sweet spot for colour and shape. The Type C – in particular the vintage salmon dialled version – is a beautifully machined piece of watch, using deep grooves in place of indexes and a vertically brushed case with surprisingly sharp planes. Throw in an integrated strap and you have a winner – and one that looks far pricier than it is.
The Specs
- 38mm stainless steel case with 50m water resistance
- Miyota Caliber 8215 automatic movement with 42-hour power reserve
- From $495, (approx. £365) available at GANE Watches.
Bangalore Watch Co. Apogee Supernova
Bangalore Watch Co. are rightly proud of India’s massive contributions to international culture and correspondingly celebrate those contributions through their accessible and attractive watches. Having already tackled cricket with the Cover Drive, now they’ve turned to India’s 50-year-old space program for the Apogee. It’s a robust sports watch milled from a single piece of titanium with a second time zone on its bezel and the longitude and latitude of one of India’s foremost space centres in Sriharikota on its green fumé dial.
The Specs
- 40mm titanium case with 100m water resistance
- Sellita SW200 Automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve
- £680.39 (live conversion at the time of writing), available at Bangalore Watch Co.
Zenea Time & Space Meteorite Ula Diver
The last couple of years haven’t been the ideal time to be launching a shiny new watch brand and yet Toronto-based Zenea did more than that; they built a pretty fantastic watch, too. The Ula Diver is classic sea-dwelling fare, with all the requisite lumes and underwater paraphernalia that entails.
It comes in a few colour options (including a handsome yellow) as well as this: meteorite. The precise meteorite is from Scandinavia with an impressive Widmanstätten crosshatch. Given the material is normally the purview of Rolex, Omega and the like, the only thing more out-of-this-world than the dial is the price.
The Specs
- 41mm stainless steel case with 300m water resistance
- ETA 2824-2 automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve
- £742, available at Zenea Watches.
