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I have owned this very simple, rugged watch since November 2001. It was the best aviation watch I could buy with the budget I had to work with at the time. I bought it with my job as a helicopter pilot in mind and was looking for a very easy to read watch with aviation friendly features. I wore it constantly for 5 years until the WIS madness hit and although I have since tried quite a few watches with many more features than this one in my work, I keep on going back to the Fortis.
Despite its apparent lack of features - it doesn't have a second time zone, chronograph or bezel, it is a superb watch for a pilot like myself who doesn't regularly cross time zones.
I've attempted to outline here, the features that make this watch one that I find hard to better in my everyday activities at work.
OVERVIEW:
It is a very attractive watch IMO,classically styled - the large, jet black dial and contrasting white arabic numerals and hands, along with the orange sweep second hand give it a striking appearance. I would describe it as a 'modern Flieger'.
It is 40mm in diameter and the sapphire crystal takes up most of this, aiding legibility, but more on this later. The case is sandblasted stainless steel and is water resistant to 200m. It is powered by an ETA 2824 -2 and keeps excellent time - only needing to be adjusted, if you're picky, perhaps once a fortnight - it gains about 2 - 3 seconds a day over that kind of period.
DIAL AND HANDS:
The dial is where this watch excels and has been designed with the aviation user in mind. Around the outer edge are 60, clear cropped radius markings, labeled in increments of 5, from 5 to 60 and at the 12 O'clock position , the traditional inverted arrow with two lumed dots aids orientation and hacking in low light.
The hours are marked with traditional arabic numerals from 1 to 12 with a small luminous square above each numeral. The hours, triangle and each lumed square marker are coated in tritium which gives off a faint glow that, while not the brightest, is sufficient to read in low light and even total darkness. Being tritium, no charge from an external light source is required. It has the 'T Swiss made T' marks at the bottom edge of the dial. Later models will have superluminova.
There is no other superfluous writing on the dial other than 'FORTIS' and a discrete AUTOMATIC, which I like.
The hands are the straight edged sword type - as found on the Omega Speedmaster and are also coated in tritium. The minute hand extends right out to the radius markings of the dial making it very easy to read off the minute at a glance:
What makes this so good for pilots, is that often, we refer to the time as a minute reference when passing ETA's and in my case, time left on scene for Search and Rescue, or for procedural instrument flying, the time overhead a beacon or the time expected for an approach etc.
This is passed in the format of ' Estimating minute 15' or 'Overhead beacon, minute 23, joining the hold' etc - with the Fortis, reading the time off like this is instantaneous and likewise, working out an ETA quickly is just as easy - if I have 27 minutes to run for example - a quick look at the minute hand in the photo above and I can see that I'll be there at 'minute 39 plus 30 seconds' though in practice I would round this up to 'minute 40'. Likewise, I can use the dial markings to count round in 5 minute blocks and then add on the odd minutes if I don't want to do this sum in my head because of other distractions.
This feature, is at the heart of why the Fortis is so good and for me, much better than many other watches out there in this respect.
There is no confusion between the two hands as the hour hand points neatly to the hours by just touching the hour marks, as can also be seen from above.
While there is no chronograph, the high visibility orange sweep second hand can be used as back up. Again, because of those excellent minute / seconds markers around the dial and the fact that the sweep hand goes all the way out to the edge, makes precise timing possible.
If I need to time a two minute leg, a quick glance at the sweep hand and I can see where it is on the dial - I need only keep track of the seconds hand and wait until it passes that point again the second time around - for longer timing needs, I can use it in conjunction with the minute hand to keep track of timing. It is perfectly possible to time down to the second.
This combination of good dial design and carefully thought out hands, turn a simple watch into an excellent aviation time piece. The design manages to achieve a lot with very little.
FIT AND FINISH:
Despite its relatively low price bracket ( its almost doubled in price since I bought mine ) the finish is excellent - the application of the lume, numerals and other markings is flawless and the colours consistent. It is obviously of utility feel, but the quality of workmanship is obvious when handling and wearing the watch.
It is 40mm in diameter and 11.5 mm thick, making for a very comfortable watch to wear that is less prone to knocks and bangs than many other large dialed pilot's watches. The low, flat profile also tend to keep it out of harms way. The clever thing here is that Fortis have managed to provide one of the largest diameter dials available, for legibility, while keeping the overall dimensions to a comfortable level. It feels 'just right' on the wrist.
OTHER GOOD FEATURES:
Crystal - As mentioned above - the crystal is sapphire and has therefore survived the abuse of heavy usage in the cockpit - it also has excellent anti-reflective coating on both sides that practically eliminate glare and reflection - it is as though there is no crystal there and is the best I've seen on any watch, including a Breitling I owned.
Crown - A large crown that is easy to use wearing gloves
Case - Matt finish cuts down glare and the water proofing and stainless steel make it very rugged, while the profile is just right at 11.5 mm making it a non bulky watch and very comfortable
Day / Date - This is a great feature for me - I work shifts and am often away from home - I find it easy to lose track of the day and this feature I use often. The date is essential for checking the weather charts, notams and the technical records for the aircraft.
POTENTIAL NEGATIVES:
It doesn't have a second time zone for that zulu reference, but our aircraft clocks are set to zulu / GMT and in planning, there are zulu set clocks on the walls in our Ops rooms, so it's actually not a problem for me. If I were an airline pilot, however, then this would be a feature I think I would miss.
It doesn't have a chronograph, but again, our aircraft are fitted with good mechanical chronos, so I don't really need one and the sweep second hand is sufficient as back up. Neither does it have a timing bezel and I think a countdown bezel might add to this watch positively, but could encroach on the workable diameter of the dial and is not an essential feature, though they are very handy.
For light / basic aircraft flying, features like the chronograph and bezel become more important and when I fly light aircraft, I use my Heuer Bund which adds greater timing versatility.
SUMMARY:
This is a very basic watch, but manages to be just about as useful a watch as you could wish for because of a very carefully thought out design - it concentrates on what is really the primary requirement of any aviation time piece: legibility. It achieves this superbly and enhances it further by making the time easy to read in an aviation format. What this watch lacks in additional features, it more than makes up for in this one regard alone and is the reason why, seven years on and many watches later, I keep on returning to it.
It is an easy to read, no frills utility watch, suited for its intended purpose. It is, quite simply, one of the best watches I have ever owned.
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Originally Posted by chansigril
