This week was celebrating the 12 years since Antoine de Saint Exupéry's birth (a famous French pilot and writer, author of "the little prince"). Through this event, let's dive in the world of pilots and their close link to the watch sector. Numbers of these aeronautical pioneers have marked our history, but they have also marked the history of watchmaking!
To achieve their performances, it was a necessity for these legends to have a precise watch, as they had to time all of their movements to follow a detail travel plan. Manipulation a chronograph watch between two manipulations can be an uneasy task, especially with gloves and other flying gear. This gave birth to the complication Flyback, allowing the user to restart the chronograph and start it right away in just one action.
The conquest of the sky played a big role in the evolution of watches, as it allowed the development of different watch complications that was needed for pilots. When we think about these complications, the first one that comes to mind is the GMT that became famous after WWII, with this time the development of commercial flights. This complication allows you to read the time of two different timezones and is one of the most iconic complications in the luxury watch industry.
It is impossible to continue without citing Cartier, and its founder Louis Cartier which gave one of his first wrist watch to Santos Dumont, an other pilot. The fashionista's of this time loved the watched and it became a distinctive sign for men and women that wanted to appear sporty and dynamic. Cartier had then capitalise on this image and several years after, in 1913 at Rolland Garros, and wore not one but two Cartier Santos on his wrists:
On his left hand he set the time to the french timezone. But he would put his right hand watch on 12:00 at the exact time of a flight take off. This would allow him to escape all the time calculation, thus easing up the calculation of the oil left in the plane's tank.
The Aeropostale (as Comex for divers watches) has played a major part in the aeronautical history. Amongst their pilots, there was a notorious one named Jean Mermoz that was one of the first clients of the T10 edition from LIP, brought as a tool on the famous plane "La croix du sud" built by Latecoére.
Watchmakers have often made special pieces for these special adventurers. Amongst these watches there is the Zenith Pilot Type 20 with its meteorite dial, which is a tribute to Louis Bériot, or the Longines Heritage Lindberg that was made for the American pilot. As an official timekeeper of the International Aeronautical Federation, Lindhberg also worked with LIP for his first flight over the Atlantic ocean in 1927. Longines p also took part in this achievement as it kept timing of the achievement and adding it to the aeronautical records.
So much adventures and technological prowesses that make us think how watches follow us at every moment. The advancement in sports, science and over disciplines pushes us to keep innovating the watch industry and to perfect the mechanisms of our ancestors, for our greatest happiness, and for an endless story. And as at Kronos we want to keep this story going, we have selected for you these aviator watches that will awake your inner pilot!
Rolex GMT MASTER II 16710
Breguet type XXI
Breitling Navitimer 806 AOPA vintage
