Today, I am reviewing my first Aeromat watch… The AEROMAT AEM450 Pilot Watch (LEONE GAMBARDELLA LIMITED EDITION).
For those who are not familiar with Aeromat, the company was founded as a group of European watch enthusiasts towards aviation watches.
They launched Aeromat was our way of bringing an updated new vision to the pilot watch industry.
To my knowledge, the majority of the Aeromat watches are Quartz-based watches and tend to use a Japanese movement (their higher priced Beluga watches are automatic). But the Aeromat AEM450 Pilot Watch uitilizes the Swiss Made Ronda movement.
Their Vol De Nuit watches are reminiscent of 1930’s pilot watches utilizing a Seiko movement, their Airspeed watches are more modern pilot watches using a Miyota movement, the PNY (Paris New-York) is inspired by the post-WW2 aviation boom driven by the legendary Lockheed Constellation and the PNY air-route that TWA started in 1946.
The watch I am reviewing is the company’s first limited edition watch, the AEM 450 Leone Gambardella Edition.
So, who is Leone Gambardella? He is a pilot that took his Private Pilot License (PPL) at the age of 17 and then took his aerobatic license in 2018 and became a member of the Greek national aerobatic team. He would win the gold metal at the 2021 Italian Nationals Lugo (Unlimited).
Known for piloting the orange CAP232, he represents the Wild Leone Gambardella Aerobatic Flight.
And the AEROMAT AEM450 Pilot Watch (LEONE GAMBARDELLA LIMITED EDITION) is no doubt inspired by Leone Gambardella’s style with the orange hands and the orange numerics (12-5) and white (6-11) with a black case and dial.
When you see move the dial towards light, you can see an outline of Gambardella’s plane.
But before I begin discussing the watch in detail, first let’s discuss the packaging. The watch is in a cool carbon-looking case and once opened, you will see a red buckle above the watch. The watch buck is two pieces of a buckle glued to the package, so, it’s not something you can keep on its own (unless you keep the box intact).
The watch features a carbon fiber case and as mentioned, utilizes a Swiss Made Ronda movement.
For those not familiar with the Ronda movement, the company allows watch companies to have high quality movements at an affordable price. The Quartz movement is known to be reliable and durable for the most part.
The AME450 features three major colors, black, orange and white. It’s a very sleek look for a pilot’s watch combining a little of traditional but mostly modern with its overall look. The rear features Gambardella’s company name on the caseback and the butterfly clasps from both ends. It’s important to note that while mine fit perfectly, there is no way to modify a link, so if you have a big wrist, this watch may not fit you.
But the watch strap, it can be removed and replaced if needed.
Now it’s important to emphasize that Aeromat is a watch company that releases affordable pilot watches. And part of that affordability is utilizing Quartz movements (ie. a battery will need to be replaced).
Now I own several pilot watches and while I do have a preference for mechanical watches, I realize why Aeromat chose to release Quartz watches to make it more appealing in price.
Another thing that you will notice with pilot watches are the importance of lume. Big glowing numbers during the dark is important and so I shine my UV light to jumpstart the lume and all numerics do glow but overtime, as expected, the white numbers tends to glow more than the orange numbers.
But it’s a simple pilot watch. No dates to set, just the time and you are good to go.
There is no doubt that the AEROMAT AEM450 Pilot Watch (LEONE GAMBARDELLA LIMITED EDITION) is an awesome looking watch. And I’m not going to lie, as a watch collector, part of me really wishes this was automatic.
But I applaud Aeromat for releasing this cool limited edition watch. I really like the three colors, I like the overall design of the case and if anything, the watch is affordable and worth considering.
The AEROMAT AEM450 Pilot Watch (LEONE GAMBARDELLA LIMITED EDITION) is recommended!
