
Which Wrist Watches Do Fighter Pilots Wear in Real Life? - smacktoward
https://theaviationist.com/2019/10/18/which-wrist-watches-do-fighter-pilots-actually-wear-in-real-life/
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RugnirViking
I'm surprised that so many of them were wearing watches at all. It's not
something that I've seen people wearing for a long time - even in the settings
were they were previously ubiqutous, such as when I'm at sailing races or at
meetings.

Obviously the smartphone has taken a lot of the utility of them away, but for
fighter pilots I'd have thought that would go doubly. They presumably all wear
pagers on the ground, and while they aren't going to be checking the time in
the air, the cockpit must have readouts of anything their watch is likely to
show them.

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smacktoward
Pilots have been famous for wearing big, complex watches for as long as there
have been pilots. In the old days, an accurate timepiece was critical for
things like dead reckoning navigation. Tools for those tasks eventually got
built into the planes themselves, but by that point the watch had become a
part of the image of being an aviator, in the same way that leather jackets
(originally worn for warmth at high altitude) and mirrored sunglasses
(originally worn to improve visibility when flying sunward) did.

~~~
heelix
The larger size does make it easier to read at night. Mine's got an analog
dial and also a digital screen. Nice to have a stopwatch as well as a clock in
zulu time, as most people you talk to will want time in that zone. The pure
software based smart watches give some interesting options. I keep meaning to
pick one up just to code with.

There are certainly gimmicks. I can't think of anyone who has actually used an
E6B flight computer watch to do any real calculation -- just a prop. :)

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Scoundreller
> Marketing Aside, We Take a Look at The Most Popular Watches Among Fighter
> Pilots At MCAS Miramar.

That’s a base name that didn’t age well.

