Flying Aces of all stripes – from 747 pilots to Cessna fans – love aviation watches. These tool watches are supposed to be easy-to-read and dependable, guaranteed to hand heavy Gs and long nights in the air. But what if you’re a fighter pilot from 1935 sent forward in time by an evil Nazi scientist who has created a warp in the space-time continuum with the Holy Grail? What can you wear?
Why the brand new Longines Avigation Watch Type A-7 1935 , of course!
This flight watch is a uniquely-styled chronograph with a slightly off-kilter dial and a design that hearkens back to long flights from New York to Greenland and then onward to the Continent. Longines, the makers of the A-7, made countless watches for the likes of Charles Lindbergh and the U.S. Government rated this model watch in particular precise and reliable way back in 1935, giving them the A-7 rating.
The coolest thing? The Type A-7 has a single button choreograph which means you can start, stop, and reset the chronograph with a single button. It’s a beautiful homage to chronos of old.
From the release:
The Longines Avigation Watch Type A-7 1935 sets itself apart with its dial angled at 40° to the right, displaying 12 large honey-coloured Arabic numerals. These allow perfect legibility and contrast with the polished white lacquer dial. Lastly, a “train track” chapter ring ensures the minutes can be easily read and the timepiece’s case is elegantly equipped with a fluted crown. Developed for the watch to be worn on the inside of the wrist, the particular orientation of the dial allows pilots to read the indices without having to release the plane’s control yoke, while the crown was designed to be easily manipulated, even while wearing gloves.
So whether you’re a weekend flyer worried that the steak you ate in Santa Barbara will weigh down your prop plane or a U.S. flyboy sent forward in time to destroy the future Mecharoid Army created accidentally in a German research lab at the dawn of WWII, Longines has your back. The watch will cost about $3,500 when it ships later this year.
