By now you might have figured out that I love to collect Victorinox Swiss Army watches, especially their limited editions. If you are not convinced, just flip through the blog to see all of the models that I have written about. The majority of these watches seen on the Watch Hunter Blog are ones that I currently own, have owned in the past or have borrowed from generous fellow collectors.
As much as I would like to, I cannot keep every watch that I get my hands on. For reasons of economy or because of my unceasing quest to create the “perfect watch collection”, I sometimes have to sell my Victorinox Swiss Army watches. Parting with one of these coveted watches is not usually an easy thing for me to do. I hunted for and bought them for a reason, which is that I genuinely like them. Regardless, you have to make sacrifices to get to the next level as a watch collector, so you cannot keep everything.
Three stunning Limited Edition Titanium Watches by Victorinox Swiss Army together for a brief time
SeaPlane watches
Because I have a revolving set of watches in my collection, there are periods of time when I have a complete set of a certain model of watch. Examples of this would be when I collected all the Victorinox Swiss Army SeaPlane watches or Alpnach watches, which took me several years. After I wrote my articles on these model groups, I decided to keep the one or two definitive examples and sell the others.
The funds from the sales of the “cast-offs” went into buying different Swiss Army watches. I have found that the best way to get over the loss of a beloved item is to replace it with another. Celebrities in Hollywood have been doing this forever, except they seem to be “upgrading” husbands and wives. I think that I’ll just stick with flipping watches. It is much less expensive, and I won’t end up in the tabloids like Brad Pitt. haha
These watches have a similar design language and seem visually related when grouped together.
While similarities can obviously be seen within the same model family, other interesting confluences can also occur in a watch collection. These have to do with themes in design including similar dial colors, typographic treatments, strap options, material finishes such as black PVD or even case materials. In the case of our trio of watches, it is several of those elements, but the first thing that one might notice is the smooth, gray appearance of the case.
Victorinox Swiss Army has been making watches with the ultralight space-age material titanium since the late 1990s. Their very first watch in this lightweight metal was in fact called “The Titanium Watch”. This is an unusual name because it implies that it’s their only watch made with the stuff, but I am sure that was not what they intended. The unique two-tone model is shown here.
Over the years, Victorinox Swiss Army produced many more watches in titanium, but I wanted to share a snapshot of three of their later model, circa 2013-2014. These watches looked different from Swiss Army’s earlier designs in titanium and they had a warm grey metallic look accentuated by a smooth bead blasted finish. The result was a stunning leaden appearance that soaked up harsh reflections and presented a satiny, perfect finish. The color and finish look similar to Sinn’s tegimented steel watches or Damasko’s submarine steel watches.
If you were careful while wearing these bead blasted Victorinox watches, the finish could last indefinitely. If you were clumsy, you could scuff your watch and not have a great way to remove the blemish. Bead blasted watches are not easy to refinish yourself unless you have the proper equipment like a media blaster and hand skills to disassemble the watch. This is not a process that your average user should attempt, that is for sure.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite from this lot
For a brief time, I owned all three of these bead blasted beauties and I honestly never saw myself selling any of them. As it stands now, I only own the Airboss Limited Edition Titanium Chronograph and it is a permanent member of the collection. The 3-handed, Limited Edition Mechanical Titanium Airboss was sold to a gentleman who had a nickel allergy. He said that he could not wear many stainless steel watches, which would be a bummer for a watch collector. I sold it because he needed it more than I did. To be honest, I can get bored with watches without timing bezels or chronograph buttons. Maybe this proves that watches are nothing more than toys for big boys who need to tinker with a gadget… like expensive Fidget Spinners.
I kept the Titanium Chronograph on the left, but I still miss the 3-hander
The Limited Edition Titanium Dive Master 500 Mechanical Chronograph was recently sold to a super collector who I’ve known for years. He wanted it bad, and I had my eye on a Tudor Pelagos LHD. I had to sacrifice the Dive Master 500 Mechanical Chrono to get to the next level of brand and model. In my twisted mind, I fell like a battlefield commander who has to order his troops into withering machinegun fire to reach the next objective. Of course, I am being facetious, but still, I miss every watch that I have ever sold (except maybe for a few fashion watches).
The flip side of the Titanium Airbosses show of the Swiss movements
Obviously, these watches share a common design language. Bead blasted cases, minty cream lume, black and red accents, velvety suede straps, and very wearable sizes (42-43 mm). I would not be surprised if the same talented designer penned all of these, but there is no way to know that. There is a clarity of vision, executed a high level of manufacture that speaks highly of this era of Victorinox Swiss Army watch production.
The details only get more interesting as you get closer to the surface of the dial. If you had a loupe, you could check out the circular engraving, black lume-filled applied hands, and numerals. You could see how the stepped titanium rehaut is printed with blocky scales and seamlessly connects the case because it is made from the same material.
Victorinox Swiss Army Titanium Airboss Chronograph 241599
The Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Titanium Chronograph Limited Edition has a similar language but steps it up a notch with bi-color lume, a vertically engraved striped dial, tri-color printed rehaut, lume-filled diver bezel, and a color matched date wheel. Damn! This thing is a worthy limited edition! Why did I sell this Dive Master 500 again? Oh yeah, to get a Tudor Pelagos LHD… (Note to self… breathe deeply… it will be okay).
Victorinox Swiss Army Titanium Dive Master 500 Mechanical Chronograph 241660
A gorgeous dial for the Victorinox Swiss Army 241600
The two Limited Edition Titanium Mechanical Airbosses had a unique “first” for a Victorinox Swiss Army watch, which was a red military hour scale printed on the underside of the glass. Sometimes you don’t see this feature when looking directly at the dial, but it then appears when viewed slightly off-angle. This simply stunning element echoes the red tipped seconds hand. The combination is scrumptious!
Beauty is always found in the details
Intricate dial details can be seen under magnification
Because of the studio lighting, it might be easy to think that the titanium used on the limited edition watches is completely matte, but that would not be accurate. I photographed it that way to show the consistency of color throughout the design. However, most watches look different in varying lighting conditions. This is illustrated by the image below with an extreme side light. Here, the engraved details of the watch dial really pop, especially the guilloche used in the outer dial and subdials. The lume is just starting to glow here, and the metallic surface gleam like the space age material it is. I could see these in space (or at least a space movie). Hey NASA, are you listening? haha
These Titanium Airbuses have as much character in the dark as the light!
Sometimes brands create series of watches meant to be collected together, and other times collectors make their own special groupings. This trio of bead-blasted titanium watches was a little of both. These limited editions represent a moment in time when Victorinox Swiss Army was exploring the use of satin-finish titanium. The results were lust-inducing back then, and these watches still have the same effect on me today. That is not always the case because our taste as watch collectors can mature over time. These would be worth collecting for any titanium watch lover or Victorinox Swiss Army aficionado. I might just have to hunt for all of these again for a reunion tour. Some things are worth owning twice.
I would like to think that this is a rare group of watches worthy of collecting
As a SAK (Swiss Army Knife) and SAW (Swiss Army Watch) collector (my collection of watches is not very large yet), I really appreciate your Victorinox watches pieces, Andrew 🙂