The new Reservoir Airfight Chronograph is an interesting piece from an interesting manufacturer. This AirFight is a two-register chrono with central seconds, elapsed hours at noon, and elapsed minutes at six o’clock. The watch is designed to look like Badin airspeed indicators with up and down on the sides. These indicators show retrograde running seconds and the other side shows the date.
The press release is pretty breathless about this odd design decision:
Either side of the chronograph’s central axis, RESERVOIR has arranged two 120° arcs displaying the green, orange and red colour scheme. The first, on the left, has markings from 0 to 30, indicating retrograde seconds. Indeed, the retrograde complication has been one of RESERVOIR’s hallmarks, right from brand’s earliest days, embodying the desire to have a rare complication alongside a creative display that brings life to any dial.
To the right sits a second segment, graduated from 1 to 31 to indicate the date; this too is retrograde. The first day of the month is at the bottom, the last at the top: this vertical progression is also inspired by the various instruments on the P-51 panel, such as its temperature and fuel gauges.
The aeronautical display is powered by an in-house complication within the RSV-Bi120 Calibre, an automatic winding bi-retrograde manufacture chronograph and column wheel with an LJP-L1C0 base. The movement boasts a 60-hour power reserve and can be viewed through the sapphire caseback, just as easily as a mechanic can inspect an aircraft engine on the tarmac
These features are gimmicky but given the dearth of good ideas coming out of the watch industry these days, something like this is a whiff of fresh air. The watch has an exposition back and features a Calibre RSV-Bi120 movement based on the LJP-L1C0 from Le Joux Perret.
The watch is clever and looks nice and if you’re looking for a complication that won’t break the bank, this is it. The watch is priced at $5,750 – not terrible for what you’re getting – and comes on a nylon strap. Now all you need is a plane to fly around while wearing it.
