Flieger Friday: Delma Commander

Founded by brothers Adolf and Albert Gilomen in Lengnau (Biel) in 1924, DELMA is a Swiss, independent and family-owned watch brand specializing in the design and manufacture of sports watches. In the 1940s Delma manufactured popular sports chronograph watches fitted with the legendary Landeron movement.

Acquired by Ulrich Wüthrich in 1966, the company is now run by his son-in-law Fred Leibundgut and his grandson Andreas Leibundgut. Delma currently has about fifteen employees, produces between 30,000 and 40,000 pieces a year and still occupies the house where it was founded 95 years ago. The current portfolio of Delma includes diver, pilots, racing, and dress watches.

The Commander watch is part of Delma’s Aero series. It is inspired by pilots’ watches from the 1940s and dashboard instruments in modern fighter planes. High contrast dial and legible Arabic numerals painted with Superluminova gives the watch an appearance of professional instrument.

The Commander has a large wrist presence with a 45mm stainless steel case and finished with a PVD treatment. The case thickness of 10.5mm balances out the overall profile of the watch, which makes it easy to fit under the shirt cuff. The front is fitted with a sapphire crystal and the case back is fitted with a mineral crystal. The massive crown also has PVD treatment.

The black dial has applied white numerals and a splash of red color on the seconds hand and date indicator. The extended date window is well placed at 3’o clock and does not take away from the traditional pilot watch dial. The watch is powered by reliable ETA 2824-2 automatic movement and has a gold-plated rotor with Delma logo.

Delma Commander is available now and retail price is € 749. For more information, visit Delma website.

Photo Credit: Delma