Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 4 pilot’s watch

The new Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 4 pilot’s watch that was first presented in April will officially start selling in about a month.

Powered by a pocket-watch-sized Unitas 6497 hand-wound caliber, the watch comes in a 45 mm stainless steel case. Although definitely oversized, the case nevertheless has one natural advantage: it provides lots of real estate for the dial.

In fact, the dial is so large that there is enough space for a huge seconds counter at 7 o’clock, a set of huge Arabic numerals and even for an inner rotating bezel of the Airboss. Operated by a separate crown at 2 o’clock, the bezel serves to track time between different events. Sorry, at this time of night I can’t really imagine, what kind of events an average owner of the watch is supposed to track with this 60-minute scale.

Of course, persons suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder will love the function.

The most interesting feature of the Airboss Mach 4 is its two-handed seconds indicator. Instead of one hand that completes one turn in 60 seconds, the watch has two hands pointing at two scales from 0 to 30 and from 30 to 60 seconds on the inner scale. I can not really say that it adds sufficiently to the watch’s usability, but at least it makes the watch fun to look at.

Photos: Victorinox Swiss Army

Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 4 watch’s specification:

Price range: below €1000
Movement: Unitas 6497, hand-wound, 16.5 lines
Complications: N/A
Power reserve: 56 hours
Case material: Stainless steel
Case size: 45 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Black
Water resistance: 100 m
Strap: Brown leather
Crystal: Sapphire, anti-reflective