Truth be told, I started this article many years ago but never finished it. “Better late than never” is my motto, and the Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 8 is worth reminiscing about, even if I traded it for another watch. The Airboss Mach 8 (V.241446) is arguably the last of a style era for the Airboss family. Let’s take a closer look to see what makes it such a special edition.
Please note that the crown is pulled out to stop the hands in most of these photos and does not normally stick out so far. I forgot to push it back in so the crown is much more compact than shown here.
Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 8
Over the years, Victorinox Swiss Army has produced many excellent Airboss models. These watches can trace their lineage all the way back to the first Airboss watch that was a quartz 3-hander with yellow lumed hands. Since then, Victorinox has increased the complexity (and sometimes the size) of the Airboss models. The latest version that I personally owned was the Airboss Mach 8 from around 2014. It was the eighth major style of the watch and was issued as a stand-alone special edition. There were no other colorways or variations like the Mach 7 before it.
The Airboss Mach 8 is striking at any angle
There were many design directions during the Airboss’s timeline, but each “Mach” has distinctive features that can be used to quickly identify the watch. Each version has featured a different style of watch including GMTs, quartz chronographs, automatic chronographs and hand-winding models based on pocket watch movements. To say there is a lot of variety is an understatement, but the Airboss family DNA can be seen and they all look related to pilot watches.
The Airboss Mach 8 Special Edition
The Airboss Mach 8 is a somewhat serious looking watch in both size and complexity. The geometric forms created by the circular subdials, the sword hands and over 150 tick marks demand attention. It has a large 45 mm case with a brushed stainless steel finish. Its semi-matte black dial and smooth black leather watchband are a bit monochromatic with only a hint of minty cream-colored Super Lumonova on the hands and internal bezel indices.
Subtle hints of color on a mostly monochromatic dial
The sheer number of tick marks make it look like an accurate tool for tracking time in a variety of ways. The Airboss Mach 8 has a 12-hour chronograph, with a 30-minute subdial. Additionally, the count-down timing bezel can be used to show elapsed time or set a pre-determined finish time (used as a silent alarm). It is incredibly useful be able to set short timing intervals while the main chronograph is running. This way, the user, such as an air boss on an aircraft carrier could time long missions and also set short event reminders such as take-off times and arrivals. It is likely that this sort of timing is computerized these days, but what if the power goes out? Then what? You are gonna need a backup. haha.
The inner bi-directional bezel can be seen at this angle
The Airboss Mach 8 has several unique features not often seen on watches. This style of watch is known by several names including a “destro” or “lefty” because the crown and pushers are located on the left side of the watch and not the right. This reverses the chronograph button functions so the bottom button starts and stops and the top button resets the Chrono. You would think that this feels unnatural, but it works great. Just use your thumb to start/stop the Chrono and your pointer finger to reset it. The second crown on the right controls the internal countdown bezel. This larger crown is easy to grasp, and it can rotate the bezel smoothly in either direction. Notice that the date window is also opposite from where you usually see it in a Valjoux 7750-based chronograph.
Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 8 is a complex looking timepiece
The countdown bezel has markings going from 60-to-0 instead of from 0-to-60 as a dive watch would have. Some people find this confusing, but in real-world applications, it works great. To use it, align the countdown time you want with the minute’s hand. In the photo above, the bezel is set for 3 minutes. When the minute hand reaches the open triangle symbol on the bezel, the time goal has been reached.
Tick mark indices for miles!
At first, the Airboss Mach 8’s dial might look like a complex tangle of shapes and surfaces. There is the fully numbered rehaut/internal bezel. Then there is another set of corresponding tick marks on the outer rim of the dial. This part and other sections seem to be stepped down from the main dial. In fact, the best way to describe the dial’s features is to use the word “crop circles”. Those are the strange geometric patterns left in farmer’s fields and are the source of inspiration for all those “alien visitors” late night TV shows. haha. I would suspect this dial was stamped this way and then subdials and numbers were applied. The subdials have several styles of circular engraving that changes the play of light on the surface of the dial. A super-tight style can be seen on the black parts of the subdials and outer dial tick marks and a looser pattern is used on the silver parts of the subdial. This dial can really be appreciated under magnification and a strong light.
This dial has a lot going on, but it is easily read regardless.
The anti-reflective coating does a good job of minimizing reflections on the crystal that could make the dial impossible to read. In an oblique light, the dial lightens up and the wearer is treated to a dazzling display of reflective light from polished surfaces. The image below shows every reflective part bouncing light to become crystal clear against the dark dial. This is when this watch really shines… pun intended. Notice the beveled hands and the gigantic “arrow feather” counterweight on the Chronograph seconds hand. How cool!
The reflective surfaces make light dance on the dial
On the wrist, the Airboss Mach 8 is considered on the larger end of the spectrum. I have smallish 6.5 inch wrists for reference. I felt like I could wear it most of the time, but sometimes I felt the Mach 8 was just a smidge too big for me. The dimensions reveal why. The case width (without the crowns) was 45 mm and the height was 15 mm. That already is a large watch, but it’s the lug-to-lug distance that is the most telling. It is a whopping 55 mm wide and wearers with small wrists may experience the dreaded lug overhang that makes a watch feel huge on the wrist. Your experience and taste may vary from mine so make up your own mind on whether you can wear something this large or not. I’ve found that the best thing to do is to try the watch on in advance if possible. That will tell you more than any internet picture can.
A 45 mm watch with a large dial makes for massive wrist presence
The Victorinox Swiss Army Airboss Mach 8 displays a masculine design of strong geometric shapes and radiating lines, and a variety of surfaces. I think it is another standout design from Victorinox Swiss Army’s Airboss line. Sadly, I no longer have one, but I do have an ETA version of the Tudor Black Bay Heritage Diver and it fits my wrist a lot better. Sometimes the things we love have to be sacrificed to get to the better thing we love. That is the way it is if you have the watch collecting obsession. My hope is to never be cured. Oops, did I just admit that? I hope that the wife is not reading this.
The big, the bold, the beautiful Airboss Mach 8
