"Prelude:

When one starts collecting watches, you never know what and where certain watches will strike your brain and render it dull to where you never remember buying it, taking it home, wearing it, and constantly looking at it.

Admittedly, I have a huge affinity for large, heavy dive watches....despite the fact that I don't swim very well (I'm one of the rare people that sink even in salt water), and I need flotation devices the size of the Michelin Man in order to come up from any depth of water.

My dive watch affinity really comes from the fact that in the business world, a clean looking dive watch fits into nearly any fashion scenario you can come up with. A proper sized one (at least 42mm in diameter sans crown) looks good for a person like myself, who's genetics hail from the Samoan side of Chinese genes.

Despite my preference, I have had this unusual fascination with the Ste•••art Aircraft 8. So much so that I waited patiently far longer than normal (thanks to a FedEx mishap) for one....and I am not a patient person by nature. And I'm really glad that I did wait. This watch - simply put - evokes a certain sense of coolness that is hard to explain.

So - to satisfy the statistics junkies out there, here's the basic details of the watch.

Vital Stats:
The Ste•••art Aircraft 8 is a stainless steel (316L?) cased watch, adorned with 4 screws (wholly decorative), a simple caseback with 4 screws (functional - used to hold the case back down), an absolutely huge face, and an equally huge crown.

Based on the ever available ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, the Aircraft 8 (hereinafter referred to as the SA8) is visually huge. Measuring 46mm by 46mm by nearly 11mm thick, the watch can be equipped with a black, white, or green (!) face.

It has an equally huge strap. Measuring 26mm in width, the very dark brown leather strap is capable of handling wrists of up to 8 3/4" in diameter. It fit's the author's wrist of 8 1/2" with a couple of holes to spare.

Operation of the watch is very typical. Pull the crown out once, you can set the date. Pull it out further, you set hour/minute and hack the seconds. Push it closed all the way, and you can wind the watch manually. All operations are smooth, glass like, and does not bind or grind.

Despite the desperate wishes of the Author, the SA8 is only capable of being placed in a decent mild rainstorm. With a water resistance rating of only 3ATM and a leather strap processed with what looks like an oil based tanning method, the SA8 is definitely not destined for any pool based sports.

Styling: 

Looks and fashion wise: What it is destined for - I honestly don't know. As I've mentioned before, this watch is definitely hitting on multiple fronts in the cool/quirky/fashionable sense of direction. It evokes a very strange set of contrasts where I could easily envision it on Steve McQueen's wrist instead of a TAG/Heuer Monaco, where you see him wearing it with a black turtleneck and that ultra cool look on his face as he strides into the store for fresh frozen dinners (look up the movie "Bullitt" for that reference....).

Even though it doesn't really fit what I normally wear, I also have an equally hard time NOT wearing the watch. It's a non-blingy but attention grabbing thing that still evokes tons of questions about it. In one work week of wearing the watch, I've gotten an average of 3 questions a day on it. Heck, if I was still single, I would have a few weekends of dates....I got more questions from women than men on it.

Which makes it even more quirky. In a fit of strangeness, I've had my wife and my sister-in-law wear it. On women, it also seems to fit fashionably as well, again in a swirl of fashion contrasts. I could easily see some fashionable woman wearing it with a nice sundress and heels, or a perky co-ed wearing it with jeans and a t-shirt.

Despite it's fashionable funkiness, Ste•••art's manufacturing partner (Grovana of Switzerland) definitely has it's Revue Thommen roots in mind when they were producing this watch. (In fact, there are comparison photos between the SA8 and the Revue Thommen 8 Day Mechanical Aircraft Clock on Ste•••art's website). The clean numeric font combined with the heavily machined knurled knobs give it a definite link to RT's aircraft series of mechanical clocks.

Wearability: 

Wearing the SA8 is like wearing a miniature version of the RT Aircraft Clock. Visible instantly from nearly any angle, I've had no issues telling the time on this watch. I can see the appeal to pilots (if I were to become one) to where I can instantly see the time no matter what. The crystal is very nice - It's anti-reflective coating (if it has one, and the documentation shows nothing about it's presence) is far more effective than the other Ste•••art's that I have in my collection.

The sword hands are easy to see, and is painted in a high contrast of whitish SuperLuminova and black borders. The lume on the watch works very well, save for the second hand, where there is no lume and is marked merely with a red paint. Such simplistic and functional use seems to scream "Tool Watch!!!!".

Wish list:

And this is where the SA8's only major shortcoming comes into play - it really needs to come with some sort of huge version of the Rhino/Waterborne/Zulu NATO 4 ring (or 2, or 3 ring) strap as an option. This would really take it out of the funkadelic fashion miasma and place it squarely into the tool watch category.

Or - looking at the flip side, it needs to get away from the brown leather with contrast stiching and go corporate - with a good, thick, black leather strap and equivalent stainless deployant.

Conclusion:

Either way - this watch has become my fashion watch. I know - I somewhat vowed to only use good dive watches as my constant wear units, but this one seems to really fit in as an after hours watch. I can't explain it, but it really works well with jeans, casual wear, and is fashionable.

For whatever reason, all rational thought tends to flee my mind when I look at it while sitting on my nightstand - my mind really goes blotto when looking at it. It's not every day (well, it is nowadays) that I actually wear a miniature wall clock that can be visible from 25 feet on your wrist, but it's got this pull that constantly draws me to it every day....and I honestly don't know why.

My only dilemma is when I travel - I now have to find a watch wallet of some sort that this thing will fit in. Woe is me, travailing to find the ultimate watch carrying tool now....

Other notes:

This watch is HARD to take pictures with. It's exterior has so many places for light to glint off of, even with a light box. It's sapphire crystal is very easy to work with lighting wise, it's the REST of the watch that is a PITA to work with.

Am I insane? I asked Ste•••art to possibly do an orange faced version. I do wish this thing had at least 100m water resistance. It would basically require a gasket for the back and stem, and a screw down crown. How hard is that to provide? I don't know. I also asked to see if that's possible." Steve