INTRODUCTIONDecided to do a review on the watch I purchased lately, just a brief review, not a thorough one. My first watch review, please bear with me.
Throughout my limited years of watch collecting, I’ve collected a couple of divers and some general purpose daily watches (both automatic and quartz). And this year, the new 2013 ZENITH MONTRE D’AERONEF TYPE 20, 40MM PILOT (understood that Zenith has copyright the term ‘Pilot’ for their aviation watches, not even IWC, LACO, STOWA etc!!).
This series of watches are a tribute to Zenith’s history in their earlier day’s aviation history, typically to the ZENITH MONTRE D’AERONEF TYPE 20, 1938.
Many people, including myself know nothing about Zenith did has its glory days in aviation history. After Zenith launch its MONTRE D’AERONEF TYPE 20 in Baselworld 2012, I’ve started some interests in knowing more about this series and some histories about aviation watches.
Here are some brief history of watches in aviation history that I read from internet, compiled and ‘rojak’ a bit, hopefully still got it historically correct and I stand to be corrected:-
• The first ‘thigh’ watch (strapped on leg) in aviation history, worn by 1 of the Wright’s brothers, manufactured by VC, circa 1903.
• The first pilot ‘wrist watch’ in aviation history, worn by Alberto Santos Dumont, manufactured by Cartier, circa 1904, thus the iconic Cartier Santos watch now.
• Louis Blériot, the first man that flied across the English Channel, worn a watch manufactured by Zenith, circa 1909, cemented Zenith as the French on-board aviation instrument later, thus the Montre D’Aeronef Type 20.
• World War I, MK IV.A and MK V, pocket watch circa 1914 and 1916 used by the British pilots, also manufactured by some of the famous watch manufacturers such as Zenith, Omega, Doxa and Electa.
• Longines, timed the entire duration when Charles Lindbergh flied from NY to Paris. Later collaborate with Philip Van Horn Weems and Charles Lindbergh to produce the famous Weems Second Setting watch circa 1929 and the Lindbergh Angle Hour watch circa 1931.
• World War II, the famous B-Uhr watches, designed for the used on German bombers. Circa 1935 – 1941, manufactured by A. Lange & Söhne, Wempe, Lacher & Company/Durowe (Laco), Walter Storz (Stowa) and IWC.
(Reference from
www.monochrome-watches.com,
www.thehourlounge.com and various forums over the internet, thank you very much)
OK, enough of the history and now the watch review.
WATCH SPECIFICATIONCase Diameter: 40mm
Thickness: 11.8mm
Material: Steel
Case Back: Solid case back
Water Resistance: 10 ATM or 100 meters
Dial: Matte black
Hour Markers: Arabic numerals in Super Luminova SLN C1
Hands: Satined black ruthenium
Movement: Automatic, Elite 681, 4Hz, 50 hours power reserve
Strap: Calfskin strap with protective rubber lining and pin buckle
The packaging including an outer white cardboard, a black paper box, a wooden box, manual and warranty card, and of course the watch.
THE DESIGNThe look of the watch is amazing and un-mistakenly an aviation watch. This watch is not about complications, and thus the lack of it.
The only functions of this watch are the hours, minutes and seconds. Of course, if a date function added on it would be good, but it will spoilt the overall look of the dial IMO.
All the hands are made with black ruthenium (which I understood is more expensive than platinum!?). The matte grey finishing kind of like titanium but a bit darker matches the color of the matte black dial.
The tip of the minute hand looks slightly curved down, not sure is it due to the crystal or what, the crystal does look a bit convex shape.
The hour marker, with the generous used of ‘super-sized’ Super Luminova material, this is by far the easiest watch to read in my collection, and it ‘shines’ in the dark. The hour and minute hands are also coated with the Super Luminova material, but not the second hand.
The second sub-dial, sitting at the 9 o’clock position, slightly intruded into the 9, have a nice circular line finishing (hard to capture as not using macro lens).
The big onion shape crown oozes strong aviation DNA, which is designed to be operated by the pilot wearing glove. The crown is not screw-in type, so just pull the crown out and set the time (and the second hand will stop), then push back in.
The manual winding is smooth as what other people described as ‘purr’, comparable to my Submariner.
The Star, the essential Zenith logo, appeared on the dial and also the buckle. I especially like the Star on the dial. The Star is 3 dimensional, and with its polished finishing, it reflects lights from different angles!
The case is 40mm, the bezel part is polished finishing, and side and the lugs are brushed finishing, and the case back is the mixture of both. The 11.8mm thickness just nice to hide the watch under the cuff.
Here is the size comparison with my other watches. Rolex Submariner: 39.5mm, Longines LLD: 42mm and IWC Ingenieur: 44mm.
The individual lume shot and the group lume shot.
The case back is solid, engraved with Zenith logo and the words ‘ZENITH FLYING INSTRUMENTS’ and ‘MONTRE D’AERONEF TYPE 20’.
The side of the case has a plate screwed on, stating HB (believed is the civil aviation code for Switzerland) following by the serial number of the watch.
The lugs curved down nicely, which make it looks even smaller. I like it more compare to my LLD, which the lugs protruded like wolf fangs.
The strap is calfskin, with a nice tan colour tone and white stitching with protective rubber lining at the back (please note that I've changed the strap in some of the photos) . The changing of strap is pretty much similar to the Panerai Radiomir, which required to un-screw the lugs which attached to the watch case.
The buckle, with another 3-D Star at the front and an engraved start with a letter ‘Z’ in the middle of the star. Words ‘ACIER INOX’, which means stainless steel in French is also engraved on it.
The watch houses Zenith in-house automatic movement Elite 681, beating at 28,800 Vph, 27 jewels, and the dimension of 25.6 diameter and 3.47mm thick. There is a slight noise coming out when the rotor is winding.
Tested the power reserve with manual winding method (3 days of usage can't fully wind it!!), clocked approximately 56 hours (spec stated 50 hours) laying flat inside the drawer. I've not really 'tested' the accuracy, but it seems to be quite 'accurate' comparing with my cell phone time.
And finally, the wrist shot.
CONCLUSIONThe things I like:-
• The history;
• The look: beautiful, simple no fuss and the strong aviation DNA;
• The lume and the readability;
• The power reserve;
• The movement: in-house and relatively cheap to maintain as the lack of complications;
• The strap: perfect matching colour, thick and coated with rubber lining (I changed to Hirsh strap with the closest matching colour);
• The crown: so easy to use.
The things I would like the watch to have/be:-
• Slightly bigger case, like 41mm-42mm;
• To have a lume second hand;
• Strap changing to be like the more conventional push pin;
• Anti-magnetic shielding as it is an aviation watch.
Thank you for viewing.