As we close out this year and reflect, it’s good to share some of the best fliegers of 2017, which were released this year.
We hope you enjoyed the Flieger Friday concept. We will continue this concept in the next year with stories about vintage and modern fliegers, as well as news about new releases. The watches are not listed in any particular order. We selected fliegers from a broad price range, and from small to large watch brands. Here are the best fliegers of 2017.
Laco Leipzig Blaue Stunde
The “Blaue Stunde” (Blue Hour) consists of 4 different models – Baumuster A dial and Baumuster B dial, both available with Laco 01 hand wound movement (ETA 2801-2) and Laco 24 automatic movement (ETA 2824-2).
The Blue dial has a nice sunray pattern, Arabic numbers and indexes are coated with Superluminova C3, and the hour and minute hands are thermally blued. The retail price is $1,190.
Breitling Navitimer 46 Blacksteel
The Navitimer 46 Blacksteel is a larger version of the iconic Navitimer chronograph. It has a satin-brushed finish case with a highly resistant carbon-based treatment, and strap featuring an aircraft tire-tread pattern. The two sub-dials are the small seconds at 9 o’clock, and a chronograph 30-minute totalizer at 3 o’clock.
Breitling’s Caliber 01 manufacture movement is chronometer-certified by the COSC (Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute). The retail price is $11,975.
Hanhart Watchlounge Edition
The Hanhart Watchlounge Edition was created in collaboration with Watchlounge forum members. The inspiration for this watch came from Hanhart’s model from the 50s, the 417 ES Flyback (Cal. 42). This watch closely resembles the very recently released Pioneer One LE for the U.S. market.
The watch has the trademark Hanhart fluted rotating bezel with the red mark at 12’o clock, massive crown, and an automatic Sellita SW 200 base caliber with central seconds functions, thereby staying true to the fliegers of past. Even though the watch is sold out, Hanhart price was 980 Euros.
Archimede TriCompax
This year Thomas Ickler upgraded the popular Archimede flieger chronograph with more balanced tricompax dial, Valjoux 7750 movement in TOP finish, and thermally heated blue steel hands.
Overall the design, steel blued hands, and the quality of Ickler case and TOP movement make this a compelling modern flieger chronograph. The TriCompax retail is 2,460 Euros (incl. VAT).
IWC Big Pilot Heritage 48
The Big Pilot Heritage 48 pays a tribute to the vintage IWC flieger with authentic reproduction of certain elements from the vintage dial. The titanium case has a sand-blasted finish and a soft-iron cage to protect from magnetic field.
Big Pilot Heritage 48 come with a hand-wound IWC caliber 59215 with 8-day power reserve. The power reserve can be viewed through a small window on the solid caseback. The watch is limited to 1,000 editions and the retail price is $13,400.
STOWA Flieger Klassik 90th Anniversary
This year STOWA celebrated its 90th anniversary with the release of special flieger watches. Our favorite is the sterile hand winding Klassik 40mm without the logo. The dial has a vintage luminous material, which STOWA calls as Old Radium.
The Klassik flieger is powered by ETA 2801 movement, has an engraved case with custom rotor, and is presented in a cool Black Forest watch box. The priced including German VAT is 1,140 Euros.
Damasko DC 80
The DC 80 flieger chronograph is based on a patented movement C51 (base Valjoux 7750). Damasko has focused their innovation on ease of readability by showing the 60-minute chronograph function in just one complete turn of the center hand rather than the usual 30 minutes, while the assigned minute scale is counted over the full dial.
C51 caliber parts such as plates, wheels, pinions, etc. are all produced in Damasko workshop. DC80 price is 2,680 Euros (without VAT).
Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter
The Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter is the first automatic watch equipped with a mechanical barometric altimeter-and-barometer movement. It serves as an important instrument for pilots, mountaineers, explorers and research scientists, who work at altitude.
Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter has two crowns – one at 2 o’clock is a conventional crown to adjust the time and date, and to wind the watch as necessary, while a second screw-down crown, at 4 o’clock, operates the altimeter. The retail price is $3,800 on strap and $4,100 on bracelet.
Sinn 356 Sa Flieger III
The Sinn 356 Sa Flieger III is the third in the series with a silver guilloche electroplated dial, which is UV resistant. It has a domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides for clear legibility in all conditions.
The 356 Sa is powered by Sellita SW500 automatic chronograph movement and housed in a 38.5mm steel case. Sinn is on the forefront of ensuring compliance with various DIN German standards, hence this watch meets the DIN 8308 shock resistance and DIN 8309 anti-magnetic standards. The retail price is $2,570.
Guinand AS Flieger
This year Guinand released a hi-beat flieger, and “AS” in the name stands for the movement manufacturer Adolph Schild. While ASFlieger has a clean dial, it is the movement which makes this watch more interesting. The A Schild 1920 movement is a vintage hi-beat movement (36,000vph) which was used in the 70’s by Girard Perregaux.
There is only limited number of these watches available (less than 60) due to vintage movement. The price of AS Flieger is 1,490 Euros (includes VAT).
Bell & Ross BR V1-92 Black Steel
Bell & Ross has a classic in making with its third-generation BR V1-92. It has a simple flieger dial; it is highly legible; it has a slim 38.5mm case; and it be worn on variety of aftermarket straps.
BR V1-92 is powered by Sellita SW 300-1 automatic movement with central seconds and date at 4’o clock. The retail price is $1,990.
Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Observer
While Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Observer is not a flieger in the strictest sense, it is a versatile watch because it has transitioned from the classic flieger dial to a more refined dial with art deco fonts and railroad track on the minute ring.
The Senator Excellence Observer case thickness measures 10mm, which is one of the slimmest flieger we have seen. The 36-01 automatic caliber has 100 hours of power reserve, silicon spring, and each watch is tested for 24 days with a stricter test standard than the Chronometer (COSC) test. The retail price for stainless-steel version is $9,700.
Photo Credits for the Best Fliegers of 2017: Respective watch brands, Watchlounge, and Scott Sitkiewitz
Special acknowledgement: Mike Stuffler for being a mentor and a valuable source of Flieger knowledge