While the more well-heeled travellers among you might best know Biggin Hill as the usual home to your little Cessna private jet, the airport – located a stone’s throw from London – historically had a far more important role. In fact, during World War II, it was home to the RAF’s main bulwark against the Luftwaffe.
To put into context just how important Biggin Hill was: on 18th August 1940, over 500 bombs were dropped on the airfield in the space of 10 minutes. And yet the staff there fought to get it back in action the very same day. It’s that kind of dedication that meant during the entire Battle of Britain, over 1,000 sorties were launched from Biggin Hill and 340 victories were claimed at the loss of 54 pilots. It doesn’t take an alternate history writer to imagine what would have happened if the base wasn’t there.
It’s almost surprising that the story’s not spoken about as much as it should be. It’s good at least that there’s now a way for watch lovers to discover that slice of British military history – in the form of nascent microbrand Sortie.
You probably think you know what you’re getting from an RAF-inspired microbrand already: minimal dials, oversized numbers, the kind of sparse, utilitarian look that you imagine making a quartermaster’s ledger happy. Maybe they’re riffing off the IWC Mk-11 or Breguet Type XX with a slightly British twist. But no. In fact, Sortie’s idea of what a pilot’s watch should be is a little different to most.
In the same way that the horological sub-genre of field watches has what can be considered officer’s watches – dressier, better suited to formal dinners but no less practical – so Sortie is to the humble cockpit instrument. The idea is that yes, each Sortie watch is a practical tool, fit for purpose, but it’s more than just that.
That concept has been distilled into Sortie’s first watch collection, the BH1000 – named after Biggin Hill’s 1,000 sorties during the Battle of Britain. It’s not a subtle allusion once you look into it.
The base watch has a 40mm stainless steel case, all satin-brushed planes and polished chamfers to emphasise the elegant shape. It certainly adds a bit more nuance to a design that all too easily comes across a bit plain. Its pilots’ credentials are hammered home by the oversized, fluted crown, perfectly shaped for operation in flight gloves. So far, so cut above. But the real action is on the dials.
First, rare is the pilots’ watch with a sunray brushed dial, but here you have three, specifically in a lovely medium blue, olive green, and black. The black comes with a matching black DLC case for a full stealth look, but otherwise the dials are only differentiated by their colours. All three include an ever-useful three o’clock date window and, more unusually, a nine o’clock small seconds.
To highlight key information, there are a few extra splashes of colour across the date window frame, seconds hand, the watch name and the ultra-British iron sights at 12 o’clock. On the blue, these are red; on the green, they’re orange, and on the black, they’re turquoise, all very complimentary to the main dials.
Let’s touch again on that nine o’clock small seconds for a second, because it’s a little unusual. Look around and you’ll find that 99% of small seconds movements house the subdial at six o’clock for the visual symmetry. Having the small seconds at nine o’clock gives the entire layout a funky, asymmetrical look and is the signature of the tragically underused Sellita SW290-1, with its automatically wound 41-hour power reserve. It lends itself to this kind of eye-catching, asymmetrical design and I’d like to see a bit more of it.
Of the three launch models, Sortie’s outlier here is obviously the BH1000 Stealth Black. The DLC makes it a bit more mil-spec in that quintessential Special Forces kind of way and will definitely appeal to the rock ‘n’ roll collectors out there. For me though, with the touches of turquoise, it’s a little too Bamford Watch Department. And honestly, for what Sortie is going for, the green and blue work far better.
Both colours are gorgeous, the kind of lovely flash of elegance you want from a daily wearer. Not a beater, just a watch you’ll find yourself turning to on a regular basis. And honestly, I couldn’t pick between them. They both balance practicality and style without falling into the trap of imitating vintage pieces. In a sector ever more inundated with pilots’ and field watches, it’s impressive that Sortie have managed to make the BH1000 feel distinct. Not necessarily distinctive, but very much in their own airspace.
As for cost, all three are priced at £1,740, which is nice for DLC lovers. Usually there’s a premium there. It’s a punchy price for a first collection but one that, when you tally up the finishing, movement and dressier approach to aviation, makes a lot of sense. Is this the runway to big things for Sortie? Time will tell. But at least for now they’ve stuck the landing.
Price and Specs:
More details at Sortie.
