A first look at the Omega Speedmaster Pilot Flight Qualified

The Omega Speedmaster – one of the most iconic watches ever made – is also one of the most versatile timepieces in history. With its initial origins as a racing watch, it eventually hit the heights of fame in the 1960s as the fabled ‘moonwatch’ beloved of NASA (and now the rest of the Swatch Group too, which issued its famous cut-price tribute recently).

The original Omega ‘moonwatches’ actually started off as aviation watches (with Omega supplying about 110,000 watches to the British military over the years as well). The Speedmaster as a pure aviation (as opposed to space travel) watch was effectively replaced by the Flightmaster in 1969, but in a new release from Omega we now see the Speedmaster return to its skywards roots. And it’s clear from the start that this watch – the ‘Omega Speedmaster Pilot Flight Qualified’ – is heavily inspired by the well-known Flightmaster.

Nonetheless, it’s ‘Speedmaster’ that we see in pride of place on the familiar dial, and the latest incarnation of this legendary name is as an out-and-out pilot’s watch – writing the latest chapter in a saga that has constantly reached for the skies. To continue with the space travel theme: it’s a Speedmaster Jim, but not as we know it.

Looking beyond even the Flightmaster, this new Speedmaster Pilot is actually also inspired by the very first Speedmasters from 1957, which set a new standard when it came to legibility, making them the watch of choice for several US Air Force pilots long before the Flightmaster came along.

This new watch is, in fact, the public version of a watch that was first created a few months ago exclusively for the US military – and unsurprisingly, it proved to be resoundingly popular once us regular folks got to hear about it. It comes as no surprise then that Omega have decided to bring it back down to earth and offer it for sale to mere terrestrials, as part of the permanent collection.

Just like the original Speedmaster, the 41mm Speedmaster Pilot (40.85mm, to be precise) has a grained matt back dial finish in order not to provide too much reflection. Adding the legibility is the choice to use big 3D blocks of green-coloured lume to make it very easy to read at night. The case is made of brushed steel only, again adding to the military vibe of this watch, which definitely retains the tool watch feel that’s emblematic of Speedmasters, along with a certain vintage charm.

Probably the most distinctive features of this new watch are the twin subdials, which instantly grab attention. At nine o’clock there’s a small seconds display – complete with an ‘artificial horizon’ that is truly redolent of aviation – while at three o’clock there’s a 60-minute and 12-hour recorder: this one is designed to look like a ‘burn rate’ indicator in aircraft cockpits. Perhaps even more eye-catching is the orange aeroplane silhouette on the tip of the seconds hand, marking this out emphatically as a pilot’s watch – if there was ever any doubt. That instant impression is reinforced by the dedicated matte black aluminium tachymeter scale, with all the requisite pilot accessories and measurements.

Inside there’s Omega’s familiar Calibre 9900, which has METAS certification that attests to its accuracy and anti-magnetism, while you also get 100 metres of water resistance (but as a pilot friend joked to me a while back, you don’t really need water resistance in an aviation watch unless things suddenly go very wrong indeed). The power reserve also lasts for 60 hours, making this watch as practical as any other Seamaster, despite its distinctly specialist declination.

As usual, this Speedmaster is available on a stainless steel polished bracelet or a grey military strap, which is reinforced with Kevlar threads for extra strength and durability. The price of the watch is just over £8,500 – so definitely not cheap, but you do get a lot of free heritage included as part of the deal. This is certainly a piece to give the more established manufacturers of pilot’s watches a bit of a fright. We look forward to taking a closer look and judging for ourselves whether or not the hype is justified. At first glance, it definitely appears to be.