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You can actually make use of their array of aviator-friendly features: the chronographs to time your flights, the large dials and luminous numerals you can read in a nighttime cockpit, the extra-sturdy cases that can withstand lung-compressing g-forces.

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Landing Gear

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Flight Time : Hands in the Air

These pilots’ watches, both formidable and functional, will take your style to new heights.

By: Norma Buchanan
August/Sept 07 , Page 108

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It is an indisputable fact that the world views pilots as being, for lack of a better word, cool. Pilots, after all, routinely defy death and other plane-related hazards (such as those horrible ear-pops at takeoff) with a steely, Chuck Yeager–like resolve. Thus the allure of aviation timepieces.

You, on the other hand, are drawn to pilots’ watches for an altogether different reason — you can actually make use of their array of aviator-friendly features: the chronographs to time your flights, the large dials and luminous numerals you can read in a nighttime cockpit, the extra-sturdy cases that can withstand lung-compressing g-forces. Strap one of these on, and you’ll never fly blind again.

Longines Lindbergh Hour Angle

CASH: $4,100

CACHET: Believe it or not, this watch, which has an automatic movement, was actually codesigned by Charles Lindbergh (and you thought he spent all his spare time rooting for the Nazis). Lucky Lindy apparently wanted an easier way for pilots to navigate by the sun and stars, so he devised a system enabling them to read the “hour angle” (the angular distance of a celestial body west from the Greenwich meridian) from the watch’s dial and bezel rather than having to calculate it all on paper. It’s like the world’s oldest — and least user-friendly — GPS.

800-897-9477; longines.com

Breitling Blackbird

CASH: $6,050

CACHET: Named for what was once the world’s fastest jet, the SR-71 Blackbird, this sleek timepiece won’t necessarily help you attain speeds of Mach 3.2, but with its 1/4-second, 30-minute and 12-hour chronographs, it will help you determine precisely how long it takes for you to lose consciousness while doing so. Plus, should you embark on a long-range mission, the Blackbird’s big matte-black dial, luminescent hands and large calendar window will quickly tell you how long you’ve been airborne — no matter how blurry your vision becomes.

800-641-7343; breitling.com

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch

CASH: $12,500

CACHET: Truth in advertising! At 46.2 millimeters in diameter, this watch lives up to its name and then some (check out that goiter-sized crown). Its power reserve is super-sized, too: Due to its extra-long mainspring, the watch, an automatic, will run for seven days without winding (in case you need a long rest after hauling the thing around for a day or two). Its styling, inspired by a U.K. pilot’s watch from the 1940s, harkens to those glorious days of Spitfires, Hellcats and the Battle of Britain.

800-432-9300; iwc.com

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