Air Blue Watch

Deep Blue, a boutique manufacturer of dive watches, traded its fins for wings in 2015 when it launched Air Blue, a Kickstarter-funded brand that consists of more than 20 different pilot’s watches. The Bravo Auto and Charlie Auto watches are powered by Seiko’s NH35 automatic movement, a hand-winding and hackable movement with 24 jewels and a 41-hour power reserve. The Bravo Auto model is styled after the cockpit of a plane. It features large Arabic numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions, plus a date window between 4 and 5 o’clock. The Charlie Auto line, with its classic aviator triangle at 12 o’clock, features Arabic numerals at all positions except 3, 6, 9, and 12, plus a date window at 3. Both models feature Flieger hands, a slightly domed sapphire crystal, and SuperLuminova on the hands and hour markers.

The Charlie Chrono and Delta Chrono models offer the addition, obviously, of a chronograph. They’re powered by quartz movement—the Charlie with Swiss Ronda 3540, the Delta with Swiss Ronda 3520. While the Charlie Chrono features a 60-second timer at 6 o’clock, a 30-minute complication at 9 o’clock, and a 10-hour subdial at 12 o’clock, the Delta Chrono is fitted with a 12-hour complication at 12 o’clock and a 60-second timer at 6 o’clock. The red inner ring of the Delta Chrono features hour markers with Arabic numerals, while the outer ring features minute markers with Arabic numerals in increments of five. Like the automatic models, both of these are fitted with a slightly domed sapphire crystal, plus SuperLuminova hands and hour markers. Pushers at 2 and 4 control the chronograph, while the crown at 3 o’clock controls the time and, in the case of the Delta Chrono, the date window at 3 o’clock.