New Casio G-Shock Sky Cockpit GW-A1000 -- designed with the help of the RAF...

[obsidian]

With a special limited edition RAF version:

G-Shock's £500 RAF Watch Lacks Shiny Hardware to Avoid Being Spotted by Enemies | Gizmodo UK

This soon to be released puppy will set you back between 600 USD and 1000 USD in pre-sales on eBay-- but check out the awesome all analog functions:



Beware the watchporn:

[Dennis Smith]

I like the timer mode and flyback mode and the clarity of the dial BUT
I don't like not being able to see the time while the chrono is running.

[charger02]

RAF input is pretty cool but it looks a little too complicated for quick and easy use. For multiple functions I don't think anything beats a digital...

[cal..45]

RAF input is pretty cool but it looks a little too complicated for quick and easy use. For multiple functions I don't think anything beats a digital...

I completely agree. Anything that goes beyond three hands, day, date and maybe a rotating bezel are overprized toys for males, usually marketing hyped. If you want alarms/timers/stopwatches and other goodies, almost any digital watch in the world gets the job far better done for a fraction of the price.


cheers

[KOB.]

I completely agree. Anything that goes beyond three hands, day, date and maybe a rotating bezel are overprized toys for males, usually marketing hyped. If you want alarms/timers/stopwatches and other goodies, almost any digital watch in the world gets the job far better done for a fraction of the price.

Me too, absolutely agree. 'pilot' watches are not generally made for pilots - it's a different demographic. I cannot understand how (or even why) you would want to go fiddling around in the cockpit with anything that looks like an E6B at a size that makes reading impossible let alone trying to fiddle with the thing in anything but perfectly smooth air. I have the CASIO Protrek and it was great (especially the UTC/Local Time on the same display), but I personally like the Steinhart Pilot Chrono (basically a Nav-B Type A dial with three unobtrusive sub-dials and a day/date). It is not as functional as the CASIO, but does everything I want it to do - tells the time (easy and at a glance), and has a counter - that's just form over function, but that's what makes us individuals. I also have a Citizen Navi-Hawk stuck in a drawer somewhere (what was I thinking). It has a lot of (generally useless) stuff, but looks cool. It is hard to read 'at a glance' and even the small timezone window (useful) is difficult to read. I also got the white dial version - even harder to read.

My number 1 criteria for (any) watch is that it tells the time and is legible at a glance. Anything else is a bonus (assuming it works and is easy to access).

And another personal preference, I just don't like black/DLC watches.

Cheers,
KB

[Token]

I like the basic watch, and I'd probably never use the chrono or other functions. I'll hope for a less pricey civilian model to appear in the by-and-by.

[obsidian]

One of the things that makes this watch so expensive is the "Tough Movement" which always adds several hundred dollars to the price of a G-Shock.
Expensive because each hand is controlled by an individual motor-- which allows them to do all those complex maneuvers and synchronizations.
Also tough movements have sensors built into the dial that detect when the hands have gone out of alignment, due to shock or "centrifugal gravity", and the hands are automatically realigned.

[-andrew-]

I think there are a lot of super-cool "pilot watches". I personally love the look of them, and the Casio G-Shock Aviation watches look and "act" awesome. Thing is, like others have noted, there seem to be lots of extras but not the stuff I'd actually use. I do really think solar/atomic is great. I can also very much appreciate the need for a rugged watch.

I'm not going to pull too many gs in a GA aircraft though, and I can't understand why so many watches profess to be able to do some type of critical timing, then allow the main hands to cover it up.

The pilots I know usually wear a "basic" G-Shock or a (basic) Seiko of some sort. I think the complications of the watch increase inversely to the size of the aircraft being flown :)

Personally, besides time, a stopwatch, and quickly selectable countdown timers (and possibly vibration alarm), the main thing I'd want are multiple rotating bezels to use as bugs. I've mentioned it before, but being able to set up and note things like your next heading or wind direction would be great.

Andrew

[cal..45]

Well, "Tough Movement" certainly adds a few bucks to the price tag, but not so much that the price of the GW-A1000 would justify. Remember you can get a GW-3000 with TM for around 200-250 these days. I think the high price tag is more because of the limited ammount Caio made of those (once more ) and the rest is marketing hype. This watch functions and looks great, still in my opinion it is far too complicated to set and I still fail to see the use for a 24min. countdown and a 24min Stopwatch. I stick to my first post in this thread. if you want more than telling Time, day and date - go digital.

#
#cheers

[obsidian]

I still fail to see the use for a 24min. countdown and a 24min Stopwatch. I stick to my first post in this thread. if you want more than telling Time, day and date - go digital.

#
#cheers

Stopwatch:
Measuring 1/20 second, a total of 120 minutes, with a flyback

Timer:
1 minute, set up: 60 minutes set unit, measured in seconds

Still not great. I was hoping that with those subdials it had 24 hour timer/stopwatch functions.

From Casio--
Specifications of the GW-A1000:

Performance:
Impact resistance, heart performance 耐遠 gravity, vibration-resistant performance, waterproof 20 atm

Received signal:
JJY (Japan): 40 kHz / 60 kHz (Fukushima bureau) (Kyushu bureau)
WWVB (USA): 60 kHz
MSF (UK): 60 kHz
DCF77 (Germany): 77.5kHz
BPC (China): 68.5kHz

Method for receiving radio waves:
Automatic reception (Sun / 1 up to 6 times / day, only a maximum of five China), manual receive

World Time:
Show time (Coordinated Universal Time) World Time 29 cities world (29 time zones, daylight saving time automatic setting function) + UTC, UTC direct function call, function replacement of Home Time / World Time

Stopwatch:
Measuring 1/20 second, a total of 120 minutes, with a flyback

Timer:
1 minute, set up: 60 minutes set unit, measured in seconds

Temperature measurement:
-10 ~ 60 ℃: measuring range

Other Features:
Needle position automatic correction function, the alarm time, full auto calendar, date and day display, battery charge warning function

Power:
Tough Solar (solar charging system)
Continuous drive time
※ In the power saving state approximately 29 months (when fully charged)
※ The power saving after a certain period of time in the dark.

Size:
54.1 × 51.7 × 16.4mm

Mass:
GW-A1000: 85g

GW-A1000D: 157 g