ON THE WRIST: Zenith Pilot Montre D'Aeronef

96.2431.693/21.C738

TAG Heuer Boutique / Bicester Village, 21st February 2020

When I first saw this watch I must admit it did arouse my interest, which is odd... because for me the traditional 'Pilot' watch is something that I really don't get the love for; especially the massively oversized ones with the equally oversized 'onion' crowns. And yet, for some reason this one gave me pause for thought, and now getting it on the wrist makes me pause for thought all over again, because I really, really like this one!

Okay, let's just face the 'size' issue head on, this is 48mm in diameter, but looking at it I actually guessed 45mm - so I would say it wears a little smaller than it actually is; probably because it's black PVD titanium and lighter than you might think. Then again, that crown is HUGE, but because the 'Bund' strap lifts the watch up off the wrist it really wasn't an issue at all; I thought it would wear horribly, especially for someone like me who wears my watches as close to my hand as possible, but it was absolutely fine.

*Some slightly odd people do wear their watches a little way down their arm apparently - Jody from the 'Just One More Watch' youtube channel being a prime example...!

Everything about this watch is big, even the buckle... I didn't measure it but that has to be at least 1" across there. I like the star detail as well, and incidentally, that's not a scratch at the top right corner, just one of my hairs looping over the buckle. They've also made a nice job of decorating the back of the 'Bund' strap, I was expecting it to just be plain on the back so this was a rather nice surprise when I turned it over!

I know the 'Bund' strap isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I've always had a bit of a soft spot for any kind of 'cuff' strap and I would definitely keep it in place. There's nothing to stop you removing it off course, but I would suggest that if you do the crown might become an issue. As you can see in the picture below, the crown is very nearly as wide as the whole watch and I wouldn't fancy that pressing into the back of my hand. Incidentally, I didn't take the watch off the cuff, but if you do there is a nice engraving on the back of the watch as well.

Some pretty decent lume on the dial and hands here too, sorry for the slightly blurry photograph by the way - I only took one 'lumeshot' photo so it will have to do. Actually the Arabic numerals are the only thing I'm not 100% crazy about, the shape is okay, but I'm not sure about the finish of them - it's kind of somewhere between desert camouflage and faux patina, still they look great when they are glowing. 

Small running seconds at the 9 position is something a little different and there's also a small plate on the left hand side of the watch (which I unfortunately didn't get a shot of) which tells you the watch is a limited edition and contains this watch's individual number out of 1903. The pusher at the top left of the case is to advance the red skeletonised hand which is the GMT hand on this watch. Around the dial you will find 24 markers indicating the hours of the day and night, you can just about make them out in the picture above actually.

While I was trying on this watch I was mistakenly under the impression that the watch was more expensive than it actually is (which is always a good thing, no?), in fact the list price of the watch is £6400, but currently at Bicester Village this one is available for £3800, which seems remarkably good value. Sure, it's not something you're going to wear every day, but it's clearly very well made and with fantastic attention to detail.

Like I said at the start, Pilot watches aren't really something that I've ever dreamed of owning, but if I was to go down that route this Zenith Pilot Montre D'Aeronef would definitely be right up there at the top of my list.

Call the TAG Heuer Bicester Village boutique on 01869 249008 for more details and availability.