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Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 Horas ? Spanish rarity (AWW 28)

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#1 · (Edited)
Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 Horas - Spanish rarity (AWW 28)

Specifications

Name
: Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 horas
Movement: custom Swiss Made ETA 6498-1 manual wind, 17 jewels, 18,000 bph
Time display: 24 hour, minute, seconds, 12 on top
Case: all stainless steel coin edge case with screw-on back
Size: diameter 44 mm, 49 mm with crown, 50 mm lug to lug
Height: 13 mm
Face: black, bottom white night time zone 19-5, Arabic black and white hour numbers, every 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] is with bigger font
Text on dial: [Pedro Izquierdo logo] Swiss Made
Text on back: Unitas 6497-98 All Stainless Steel Swiss Made 3 ATM
Hands: lumed cathedral type white hour and minute hands, small seconds subdial at 6
Water-resistance: 3 ATM
Crown: unsigned crown at 3 to set time
Crystal: flat mineral crystal
Lugs: 22 mm
Bracelet: leather strap with buckle



Foreword

I promised in last week AWW that next we have a 6498-based 24h watch. Here it is - not so common (say rare) Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 Horas. This watch is also listed by Andre Stikker on 24hourwatches.info. I haven't met a single Aviador in ebay yet. Then I wrote to Pedro's company and of course this nice watch is sold out.

The next question was - how to catch this beauty? I registered as a member at one Spanish watch forum and posted my wish to their WTB forum. Unbelievable, in less than 24h I was answered and the deal was made - € 280 for an excellent condition item with box and papers (plus shipping).

The forum registration procedure is not an easy task if you don't speak Spanish. Even with a help of Google translate. You have to understand and answer (in Spanish) random security questions like "what is the color of lemon" etc. But anyway, if you are seriously looking for watches you have to go to Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, German forums. The dog that trots about finds a bone.

Comments

Good reading on Pedro Izquierdo is Pedro Izquierdo, un relojero con mucha historia SPEND IN, written by his daughter Minerva. Pedro Izquierdo is a watchmaker from Madrid, who is active since 1965. His watch center (http://www.centrorelojero.com) is more like a watch museum and he is even running a school for young watchmakers.

Here you see father and daughter below wonderful Pedro Izquierdo logo which you can see on every watch dial he produces.



Model line Aviador (aviador is of course aviator in Spanish) was designed by Pedro Izquierdo in 2004. From the beginning there were two options - black or white dial. The first series (which is displayed on 24hourwatch.info) had some differences to the later one. The black dial had 24 on the top and main hands were pencil style.



Since 2007 black Aviador was like mine watch - 12 on top with cathedral style hands. I've seen also pictures of black Aviador with 12 on top and sword style hands. Maybe was this some small series in-between.



Aviador 24 Horas was in Izquierdo's catalog until 2010. The list price was all the time (2004-2010) € 400. My watch was bought in November 11, 2011. I have no ideas how many Aviadors were produced. My guess is that some hundreds.

The movement is ETA 6498. From last week's AWW you remember, that in 6497 the crown and small seconds are opposite each other, in 6498 the crown and small seconds are under 90 degree angle.

Interesting, that Izquierdo's catalog states that the movement is "Maquinaria PI (ETA 6497)".

Through the display case back we see, that movement's decoration is "hammered". Not as nice as Geneva Stripes and the display window diameter is smaller too. BTW, the text on the case back states, that this watch is 3 ATM. I've seen pictures of Aviador case backs where 5 ATM stands.

The onion crown is huge, but very handy for a manual wind watch. Maybe it is even the biggest crown I have in my collection. The coin edge case with 22m lugs and big crown looks exactly like Chronoswiss watches.

The most appealing component is dial of course. One another watch with very similar dial was also introduced in about the same time as Aviador. This was German Erbe, made by Bethge & Söhne. I have no further information about possible relations between Aviador and Erbe, but the similarity is remarkable (see both Erbe versions below).



One remarkable feature of this dial is the white band for night time spreading from 19 to 5. Another not so common feature is that to raise legibility every 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] hour is highlighted with bigger font. Usually is highlighted every 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] hour.

The cathedral type lumed hands - first I didn't like them. But actually they work very well. Long narrow tip of minute hand is pointing exactly to minute markers and in overall the combination of dial and hands is nicely legible. It is very easy to set time precisely.

One small remark on hand styles. There are hundreds of styles and hands of same shape are called differently here and there. One nice table with pictures on watch hand styles is PhilippineWatchClub.org • View topic - Watch Hand Styles.

And last but not least. The logo. This is very nice, appropriate and indicates immediately that here we have not mass production item but something special made by expert watchmaker.

Summary

I'm very satisfied. Quality - very solid and reliable components and assembly, no problems at all. Design - attractive, nice, functional. Price - absolutely OK for this level of quality and design.

And don't forget - the dog that trots about finds a bone.

PS. The description of Aviador from 2004:
Características generales: Magnífico reloj de pulsera con doble huso horario tipo aviador de carga manual. Realizado por Pedro Izquierdo en 2004. La pieza está realizada en acero con un elegante acabado inciso en el bisel.
Mecanismo:Maquinaria PI (ETA 6497) de carga manual y reserva de marcha de 40 horas, maquinaria visible a través del fondo.
Esfera: Color *****, con la indicación de 24 horas en la parte superior en color blanco, grandes índices pintados en color blanco y agujas recubiertas con material luminiscente. El segundero continuo se coloca a las 6 horas.
Detalle original: Destacado diseño con gran corona rayada. El mecanismo viene personalizado con el logotipo de Pedro Izquierdo. También disponible en color blanco.
 
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#3 ·
Re: Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 Horas - Spanish rarity (AWW 28)

Nicely done! I also like the logo!
 
#4 ·
Re: Pedro Izquierdo Aviador 24 Horas - Spanish rarity (AWW 28)

Beautiful. Thank you for sharing the pictures and the story
 
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