For watch collectors, there is a trifecta that some believe are worth owning and that is a racing sports watch, a diving watch and a pilot/aviation watch.
In today’s blog post, I will discuss the Orient Pilot Sports (Flight) Watch (RA-AC0H03B10A), but first I need to discuss the history of watches used in aviation.
It began back in 1904 when Louis Cartier designed a watch for his friend, aviation pioneer Alberto-Santos Dumont. Cartier’s purpose was to create a watch for aviators to tell the time during mid-flight. Also, so his dear friend didn’t have to pull out his stop watch while flying, as it was dangerous.
The first aviation wristwatch had a geometric dial and roman numerals.
This would lead to others wearing a wristwatch made by other companies and Charles Lindbergh with Longines designed the hour angle watch in 1931. This was a unique watch which was a navigational instrument for aviators to calculate longitude and when combined with their latitude, would give them their exact geographical location. Amelia Earhart would also sport a Longines watch for her flights.
But it wasn’t until 1936, when the company IWC (International Watch Co.) would create the military aviation watch (436 Mark IX). First featured with bold, Arabic numerals and a rotating bezel with a luminous marker and four years later, would produce the popular reference 431 military navigator watch aka “B-Uhr”. Better known today as “The Big Pilot” watch.
The watch was huge at 55mm and featured thick sword shape hands, inset Arabic numerals and a clear minute track with a triangle at 12 o’clock and a big onion shape crown. These were made to make things easier for pilots to see and access their watch.
So, while Cartier will be known as creating the first aviation watch, Longines for a navigation watch. IWC’s watches became the template which many other watch companies would similarly follow. Especially the big white triangle at the 12 o’clock position.
And then you started to see watches become more advance, thanks to Breitling’s Navitimer which was innovative in features. While the Omega Speedmaster became the first speedmaster taken to the moon.
But these aviation watches became popular and for watch collectors, these watches have been added to the collections of watch owners who wanted to have a pilot watch in their collection that suited their taste and finances and can be now found in luxury, mid-range and also inexpensive pricing. It all comes down to brand name and features.
And while Swiss movement watches will always be on the higher side of pricing, Japanese movement pilot watches are among the affordable coming from Seiko, Orient and Citizen.
For SEIKO EPSON’s ORIENT watch, in 2014, an automatic Japanese movement pilot’s watch at 42mm would be unveiled in 2014 with a big white triangle, a big bezel showcasing large numerics in five minute intervals, while inside a circular was the hour markings.
A date window would be featured on the 3 o’clock position, Orient Automatic near the top center area with “Water Resist 100m” and featured luminant paint.
An updated version would be released, years later, which is the current version as of 2022 which features nearly the same look but with the “Water Resist 100mm” now removed, the second hand now features a longer seconds hand and black on the rear end.
It comes in different colors with a black dial featuring a black with white stitching leather strap, champagne with a brown strap, blue with a steel band and gray with a NATO strap. Granted, you can purchase a 22mm NATO strap that will work perfectly with this watch.
The latest version would feature a 42.4 mm case, similar to the previous incarnation.
But what sets this one apart from the last is that the second updated version now features a Caliber F6722 movement, which means it has a power reserve of 40 hours and has the inclusion of hacking and hand-winding functionality. The new caliber has an accuracy of -15/+25 seconds per day. But it is recommended that for F6722, to note set the date within the hours of 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. [note: It’s a general thing to know that to never adjust the date of a watch more than three hours away from midnight].
While the Orient Pilot is 42.4mm (lug to lug length of 49.5mm), it is slightly larger than the Orient Ray II but smaller than the Mako XL (which is 46mm).
The sole purpose of the Orient Pilot or any pilot watch is for one to easily tell the time, day and night. Of course, when you deal with luminous watches, it’s important that the watch has to be charged with UV light in order to glow strong and bright as it possibly can.
The quickest way that I do this is that I use a UV black light flash light and it only takes a few seconds to charge the luminosity and you will the watch go bright immediately.
Now how does it compare to other Japanese movement watches?
Now when it comes to Japanese movement watches, you have SEIKO GROUP which is Seiko Holdings Corp. that consists of their SEIKO watch family and you have SEIKO EPSON’s ORIENT (these two are ran independently from each other), you have Citizen and you have Casio.
SEIKO has their Seiko 5 automatic watch that has the regular time in big numerals while the inside is the military time (ie. at 1, in the inner is 13; at 2 there is 14, etc.) but SEIKO also offers an advanced looking, Flight Chronograph with flight climb calculations, tachymeter, chronograph and more but these are Quartz (batteries will need to be replaced).
There is also a Seiko 5 Sports Pilot Aviator Watch but the watch that comes closes to their ORIENT cousin is their Seiko 5 Sports watches, often called “Flieger Automatic Watch” which tend to be sold in Asia. Flieger is the German word for “Pilot”. For those who are familiar with SEIKO 5 watches, they tend to be smaller in case size and in this case, the case size for these watches are 39mm.
The Seiko 5 Sports Flieger Watch
For those getting into Japanese movement watches, SEIKO line of watches tend to be more expensive than their ORIENT counterpart. Sure, you may find cheaper Seiko 5 watches but in terms of differentiating themselves, SEIKO is now becoming priced much higher than ORIENT watches.
The Citizen watches which use the Japanese Miyota movement have the Promaster Skyhawk A-T watches, these are used by the Blue Angels (US Navy’s elite flight demonstration squadron) which are sold for around $400. These use Eco-Drive, so there is no battery replacement but just needs a light source to run on.
It does get a bit confusing for some to think Citizen is a Japanese company, considering it owns the American watch company, Bulova and French watch company, Frederique Constant, but before Citizen became known for that name, prior to 1930, they were known as Shokosha Watch Research Institute (which made pocket watches, which were seen as a luxury item at the time) with assembly facilities, which was owned by Japanese and Swiss Investors since 1912.
For investor, Swiss watchmaker Rodolphe Schmid, he wanted to sell watches in Japan. And using Swiss technology but made in Japan, the watch company presented the company’s first pocket watch to politician, Count Goto Shinpei, Shinpei dreamed of the watch to one day become widely available to all citizens, and thus how the company became known as Citizen.
The Citizen ProMaster Skyhawk A-T Eco-Drive watch that the Blue Angels use.
So, now you know the pilot/aviation Japanese movement watches from Orient, Seiko and Citizen. The Orient is the cheapest of the three.
I purchased the Orient Pilot Sports Watch on sale for $135 with free shipping. Orient Watch lists it at $265, but most other retailers sell there Orient Pilot watches for $141-$150.
Now why do I go with the Orient? For one, SEIKO EPSON produces high quality watches and the technology is shared with big brother, SEIKO Holdings.
I prefer watches that are bigger and 38mm is the smallest I will go, but if I can get it in a larger 40mm, I know that is where Orient delivers, as the Seiko 5 Sports is 38mm. And while I do like casebacks, which Seiko 5 Sports does offer, you will be looking more at the front than the caseback the majority of the time. And if you have a big wrist, the bigger case will look much attractive. If you have a smaller wrist, then the Seiko 5 Sports will work best for you.
Last but not least, it’s price. I am a “watch guy” but I’m not a “watch investor”. I am also an automatic guy who wants accuracy and I am quite perfectly fine with Japanese movement watches, but also knowing and respecting Swiss movement luxury watches, but I know how I am with a collector’s mindset. It would be financially dangerous of me because if I own a ROLEX or a Tag Heur, I’m not going to stop with one watch, nor two, nor three, etc. And I can’t bare the thought of losing, accidentally scratching or owning a luxury watch that was pilfered and having invested a considerable amount of money onto it.
So for me, Orient watches serve my purpose of being a “watch guy”, who loves watches, who loves watches for telling the time but also accessorize with my clothing of the day but most of all, it doesn’t interfere with my investment strategy which is more of a priority for me, than investing in a luxury watch.
I want a watch that looks good, tells the time accurately for the day and in this case, gives me a watch that would be perfect for travel, day and night.
So, in the end, I really do like the Orient Pilot Sports (Flight) Watch (RA-AC0H03B10A). I have owned Orient watches for many years now and they are watches that never let me down. And to have a pilot watch that makes it easier to tell the time during day and night, but also have a dial that is not too busy, at the sales price I got this watch for, I’m very pleased. Again, sure I would love the caseback but perhaps SEIKO EPSON considers doing one for version 3!
Now, I have to mention that Orient offers a Quartz version that looks like the Pilot Sports Watch for under $100.
There are sellers on eBay who offer the Quartz version as the Orient Pilot Sports Watch at the same price. Do not be fooled. These cheaper watches use a fabric strap and near the six o’clock location is a red mark on top of the “Water Resist”. These are not automatic watches, so please don’t be fooled by these sellers.
Do not be fooled by sellers who are selling this watch as the Orient Pilot Sports Watch or Orient Flight Automatic Watch. This is a cheaper Quartz watch sold by Orient with a fabric strap.
Last but not least…
While this Orient Pilot (Flight) Automatic Watch is no doubt designed as a Pilot’s Watch, the question is will it be fit for aviation. If I was going to go with the features that watch collectors want for aviation, I mark them in green for this watch:
- Extreme Legibility
- Magnetic Resistance
- The 12 O’Clock Triangle
- The Large Crown
- Chronographs
- Slide-Rule Bezel
- GMT/World Times
- Riveted Leather Strap
For me this watch has good visibility, you’ll be able to tell the time on it but this is all subjective, as some prefer bigger, bulkier numerics. The triangle in the 12 O’Clock position is there and the crown is large, but nothing like classic IWC, Longines, Breitling or Breguet aviation watches. And as for the strap, depending on the size of your wrist, I have a big wrist and this one fits on me fine, but if you were going to wear it over a flight jacket, then you may want to look into a NATO strap. Now, I know magnetic resistance is important and I would think modern watches today are all magnetic resistant and I think this was more of a concern for watchmakers during World War II.
But other than that, I’m quite confident that this is a solid purchase and inexpensive pilot watch at that compared to its luxury brand or mid-range counterpart, considering you can purchase this for under $175.
The Orient Pilot Sports (Flight) Automatic Watch (RA-AC0H03B10A) is highly recommended!
