Zodiac Aerospace Jet, 1970s

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

The emergence of transcontinental flights in the 1950s saw changing needs in wrist wear. For pilots who found themselves ferrying passengers across continental lines, conventional timepieces would no longer suffice. They needed a watch that could tell time in two time zones simultaneously. Although pocket watches with a GMT function did exist, they would prove impractical for the fast-paced environs of an airplane cockpit. The most successful of these was the Rolex GMT Master , designed exclusively with the needs of Pan Am pilots in mind. But the GMT Master, for all its appeal, didn’t have one feature that many pilots desired: a 24-hour dial. This watch, the Zodiac Aerospace Jet, does. Following on the heels of the Sea Wolf, Zodiac’s first dive watch, the Aerospace Jet (which first saw life as the Hermetic) was Zodiac’s foray into the wonderful world of pilot’s watches. The Aerospace Jet had, like the Glycine Airman before it, a 24-hour dial. But unlike the other versions of Zodiac Aerospace Jet, with a 12 hour dial and a 24 hour bezel, or the Rolex GMT Master, the Zodiac Aerospace Jet was a true 24-hour watch, with the hour and minute hands only going around the dial once in a 24-hour span. Debuting as it did in the middle of the Vietnam War, it found a home on the wrists of helicopter and jet pilots. By the 1970s, the watch took on the moniker by which it is now known: the Aerospace Jet. From the swamps of Southeast Asia to the shores of South Beach, the Aerospace Jet had arrived. This particular example is a later one from the 1970s, with a handsome black dial. Sturdy and stylish, it will be a trusty companion for daily life—whenever, and wherever, you decide to take it.