Pilot watches hold a special fascination for many seasoned and new collectors. Mid-century innovations in commercial air travel pushed many brands to truly innovate their watch technology so many pilot watches were their first of their kind.

Here we round up the world’s most iconic, historically significant, and best-selling pilot watches to add to your watch collection!

IWC Pilot Watch

IWC’s Pilot watch harkens back to the early days of aviation, blending together functionality with IWC’s signature pared down look for a distinctive watch that feels elegant while offering the same utilitarian features of traditional pilot’s watch. The crown, for example, is slightly over-sized to make it easier for early pilots (who had to fly in unheated cockpits) to set and wind their watch while wearing thick gloves and a padded flight suit.

Another key design feature of the IWC Pilot Watch is the equilateral triangle, flanked by two dots, at the 12 o’clock hour marker. This substitution was inspired by the cockpit-instrument look of 1930s and 1940s pilot watches and improved the dial’s legibility.

Breitling Navitimer

After developing the first independent chronograph push-piece in 1923, Breitling has long been considered the gold standard in aviation watches. Since that breakthrough, Breitling has focused heavily on precision timepieces specially designed for airline pilots. And in 1952, as commercial flight was booming, Breitling introduced the Navitimer.

The Navitimer was another novel design by Breitling that featured a slide rule bezel. This new rotating bezel allowed pilots to quickly calculate distance, air speed, flight time, fuel consumption, rate and time of climb and descent. The Navitimer remains one of the most beloved pilot watches, immediately recognizable for its distinctive and revolutionary bezel.

Rolex GMT Master

The Rolex GMT-Master was first introduced in 1954 for Pan American Airways pilots to wear during their long-haul and international flights. What made the Rolex GMT-Master an immediate sensation among Pan Am pilots was its rotating bezel. This breakthrough functionality allowed pilots to set the local time and a second time zone (usually Greenwich Mean Time which was then the world’s time standard) by simply rotating the 24-hour scale bezel.

Over the decades, the GMT-Master grown into an iconic Rolex model, thanks in large part to its colorful bezel which makes this classic model truly stand out from the pack.

Omega Speedmaster

The Omega Speedmaster is readily recognized for its affiliation to the early days of space exploration. (To wit: it’s regularly referred to as the “First Watch on the Moon,” after astronaut Buzz Aldrin wore his NASA-certified Omega Speedmaster during his historic walk on the moon’s surface in 1969.) However, the Speedmaster only really became the watch-of-choice for astronauts because it was such a precise pilot watch.

As NASA was beefing up its space program in the late 1950s, it largely recruited seasoned test pilots. Given that the chronograph had long since been a fundamental part of a pilot’s equipment, it was naturally, in turn, adopted as a part of an astronaut’s equipment. When NASA began accepting bids for a chronograph watch that could withstand the huge range of atmospheric conditions, only the Omega Speedmaster passed NASA’s rigorous tests.

Since then, Omega’s pilot-turned-astronaut Speedmaster watch has been an iconic chronograph and is a prized piece in any collection.

Hamilton Khaki Pilot Watch

The Hamilton Watch company began in 1892 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and was known for its high-quality watches. In short order, Hamilton began producing its original pilot watches in 1919; was selected as the watch brand to be worn by the first American Airmail service; and was the official watch of TWA, Eastern, United, and Northwest airlines in the 1930s. The American brand was also selected by the American forces during World War II to supply watches to its wartime pilots.

While Hamilton watches are now produced in Switzerland, its modern watch styles preserve its long history in the world of aviation as Hamilton’s brand aesthetic regularly brings military design cues into its signature styles. The Hamilton Khaki Pilot is a quintessential example of the brand’s proud tradition of developing reliable and robust pilot watches.

On November 17th and 18th, the Red Bull Air Race World Championships will take place in Fort Worth, Texas—decorating the sky with some of the fastest, most intense aerobatic aviation formats to take place all year. The Lone Star State opens a bustling Metroplex area at this Great American Speedway to host this last race in the season. This is the third year in a row that the event has been held at the Speedway, where the airspace is wide open for some of the best pilots in the world to fight to the finish. There to time the entire event is the Hamilton Watch Company.

Hamilton’s Early History in Aviation and Pilot Watches
As the Official Timekeeper of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2018, Hamilton has been around the world with the eight different air races, starting in Abu Dhabi in February and moving on to a host of countries around the world to wind it all up in Dallas. For Hamilton, aviation is almost second nature.

In fact, almost since its inception in America in 1892, the now-Swiss watch brand has been creating instruments for pilots for 100 years. With an early reputation of being the finest watch for the railways, Hamilton’s foray into aviation in the early 1900s was a natural one. In 1918, the brand became the Official Timekeeper for the first U.S. Airmail flights, making cockpit instruments and clocks. In less than two decades, Hamilton became the official watch for four different major airlines in America, and soon began supplying watches and cockpit instruments to the military forces and air services.

In fact, during World War II, Hamilton stopped producing watches for public consumption so that it could focus on providing watches to the military. Since then, the brand has remained involved in timing the skies with relationships with Air Zermatt rescue forces in Switzerland and a host of other squadrons around the world.

It was just about a decade ago that Hamilton got involved with the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The brand formed its own Hamilton aerobatic aviation team, and has a host of top-notch pilots on its brand ambassador list including French-born Nicolas Ivanoff, Spanish-born Juan Velarde, Canadian Pete McLeod, and Italian Dario Costa. Each of these pilots wears Hamilton watches and has provided feedback to the brand for features and functions.

The Hamilton Khaki Pilot Watch
In 2017, when the spot for Official Timekeeper of the Championships became available, Hamilton jumped in as Official Timekeeper for all of the races, where at least 14 racing pilots must rely on precision and perfection to navigate their racing planes at high speeds for a host of thrilling acrobatic moves. The pilots must navigate around pylons that stand more than 75 feet tall and the split-second timing of these maneuvers is essential.

It is this precision and pursuit of excellence that is the link between Hamilton precision watches and aviation racing. The key collection geared for aviation enthusiasts and serious pilots, as well as outdoor adventurers, is the Hamilton Khaki series, with particular emphasis on the Khaki X-Wind watches. While there is a new limited edition Khaki X-Wind Auto Chronograph that salutes the brand’s 100 years of aviation, the Khaki collection in general features watches that pack a punch at a fairly affordable price point.

The Khaki watches vary from model to model in what they offer, with features ranging from pieces with high-tech movement components to anti-magnetic properties and certified chronometer status. Some of the watches offer automatic movements and others are equipped with quartz calibers, but all are designed to go the distance with the wearer and to provide extreme precision and aviation style worthy of any Red Bull Air Race pilot or simply the pilot watch enthusiast.