5 Best Affordable Pilot Watches to Wear in 2023

Pilot watches have been one of the most significant launches for watch enthusiasts. It was invented in the early 1900s as a handy solution for pocket watches for the aviation industry. This type of watch offers a reliable way for pilots to tell the time while controlling the aircraft. These days, we can find a lot of them in the market, including affordable pilot watches.

Throughout the years, pilot watches have undergone some upgrades to bring them in a better version. The watch is further equipped with intriguing and intricate complications to ease the pilot’s works, such as GMT function or even worldwide time. Many brands also come with many interesting flight calculations, such as flight distances and elapsed time.

Talking about pilot watches isn’t only about the timepiece and the prestige but also the heritage it carries in the watchmaking industry. You can imagine how luxurious a pilot watch could be but still, you can have a range of affordable price tags. They offer a nice package that most people love without robbing their bank account.

In this article, we’ll look at some impressive and affordable pilot watches that should be on your list!

5 Affordable Pilot Watches to Wear in 2023

A nice package doesn’t always come at a luxury price, many brands create affordable collections that most people can afford, such as this affordable pilot watch list. Let’s take a closer look!

Aristo Flieger 38 Pilot 5H85 – Sapphire

The first affordable pilot watch that should be on your list is Aristo Flieger 38 Pilot 5H85. A classy and dandy-looking timepiece, the watch comes in a rugged design. Keeping a simple dial, Aristo puts legibility in mind for a perfect time-telling experience, especially for the pilot.

Measuring 38.5mm in diameter and 45mm in lug-to-lug size, the watch does look quite heavy while in fact, it is made of grade 5 titanium. As a result, it is a lightweight timepiece for comfortable all-day wear. What is more, it even comes with a display back for us watch enthusiasts to admire the ETA2824-2 at work.

Price: $480 USD

Yema Flygraf Pilot M1

Buckle your seatbelts as Yema introduces the newest addition to her aviator watch collection, the Yema Flygraf Pilot M1. The watch draws inspiration from both Flieger and military field watches from World War II. As such, you can see the value of heritage the watch tries to show.

Powering the watch is YEMA2000 which is a French automatic caliber with 31 jewels and runs at 28 800 BPH (3 Hertz). With this movement, the watch has 45 hours of power reserve, enough to give you a two-day full experience with this robust and handsome timepiece.

Price: $719 USD

Hamilton Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical Black – Nato Ref. H76419931

Khaki is one of the most popular collections by Hamilton for its simple yet appealing design and reliable performance. Hamilton also introduced this collection under affordable pilot watches.

One of them is Khaki Pilot Pioneer Mechanical Black. Looking at the appearance, Hamilton did a great job of staying true to the vintage dimensions and styling, resulting in a unique and attractive design.

Powering the watch is Caliber H-50 which is a tweaked 17-jewel ETA 2801-2 hand-wound center seconds movement. It offers a whopping 80 hours of power reserve. When it comes to the Khaki collection, you can always expect durability as the watch is built under military pieces.

Price: $800 USD

Marathon Pilot’s Navigator Black Sterile Dial Ref. WW194001-S-BK-D

Marathon brand is known for combining military durability with Swiss engineering and craftsmanship to ensure the highest level of quality and precision. For these traits, you can take a look at one of them, the Pilot’s Navigator Black Sterile Dial. As you can see from the picture, it comes with quite a bulky appearance that screams for rugged and robust construction.

Moving on to the case, the watch exhibits a sense of masculine attractiveness to it, to its unique tactical color choice. It is also made of composite 316L stainless steel to ensure durability. On the dial, Marathon has applied tritium gas tubes with MaraGlo™. A total of 14 encapsulated tritiums allow the watch to glow in the dark for more than 24 hours.

Price: $378 USD

Glycine Airman No. 1 Black Purist 36 Ref. GL0371

Let’s get a bit more complicated with Glycine Airman No. 1 Black Purist 36 Ref. GL0371. Notice the dial that it comes in quite a crowded design. With a matte black dial background, the markers make a good contrast in white. Regardless, the dial keeps a clean view at the center with the hour hand only sweeping once per day around the 24-hour track on the outer edges of the dial.

Talking about the appearance, the watch runs on Glycine’s Cal. GL293 Swiss automatic movement. It is known for reliability as a ‘workhorse’ movement with a 4Hz beat rate of 28,800 BPH and a healthy power reserve of 42 hours. With all of these features, you can still grab it at an affordable price of $998 USD.

Price: $998 USD

Final Thought

Pilot watches have been known for their common and particular style designed to fit the pilot’s needs. It commonly comes in a big dimension, great legibility, and an oversized crown for better grip while wearing gloves.

With impressive features, materials, and rich history, it’s not a wonder if pilot watches mostly come in luxury price tags. But as time goes on, now we can enjoy a list of affordable pilot watches in a nice package of reliability, features, and accuracy.

You might also like: 5 Seiko Pilot Watches that Aviation Enthusiasts Should Know