AVI-8 is a growing watch company that has created a vast lineup of pilot style watches at affordable prices in the recent past. As you know I already reviewed two of their pieces which were great looking watches.

The outer box is a rather plain white cardboard box with the company name printed on it, which is what I consider standard for outer shells. The inner box is a nice khaki green canvas and leather style with a snap closure, which is also fairly typical in the industry. The interior of the watch case is well padded and will protect the watch well during shipping. The box has no functional purpose after the watch arrives so just toss it in the bottom of your closet with all the rest of your watch boxes.

Moving on to the watch itself, the case is composed of stainless steel with both brushed and high polished finishing. The lugs are quite angular in appearance and measure over 10mm in length providing a more unique look than pilot style watches with rounded lugs. The lugs kind of reminded me the lugs on  Nomos Tangente with that Bauhaus look. Even though the lugs are angular on the top, the bottom side angles downward, allowing the watch to sit nicely on top of the wrist. The case measures 42mm in diameter and right around 48mm including the crown. The lug tip to lug is right around 53mm. Of course with the 53mm lug tip to lug tip measurement, those of us with larger wrists should even find the 42mm size quite adequate in size. Since the model is a chronograph, the standard function pushers are located on either side of the large 8mm onion style crown. At 8mm, the crown is extremely easy to grab and engage. The crown and pushers have a nice action, no wobble or any thing that would put me off this watch. I like that the crown has the coloured logo painted on it, sticking with the Hawker Hurricane theme paying homage to the emblem painted on the actual plane. This version of the Hawker Hurricane is fitted with a mineral crystal. The case back is screwed down to the upper part of the case. The case back has general specification information etched around the perimeter about the watch model that is typical of many case backs and also includes an etched Hawker Hurricane at its centre. The watch is rated at 5ATM or 50m so it will be ok for a hand wash or light rain, but nothing more.

Beneath the crystal is one the sharpest looking white dials I have seen on any AVI-8 timepiece. The white dial is designed in a way to provide a three-dimensional appearance with a portion cut out at the top and bottom of the dial. The level of detail with the dial design is rather atypical for a watch at this price point. All of the dial markers and numerals are applied rather than painted on which is also rather atypical for a watch at this price point. The chronograph layout is slightly different than most as the central second hand is the true running second hand rather than the chronograph second hand. The sub-dial at the 6 o’clock position is the chronograph second hand; the sub-dial at the 9 o’clock position is the minute accumulator for the chronograph. The sub-dial at the 12 o’clock position is something cool. Instead of a typical sub-dial setup, AVI-8 opted for a disk style 1/10 of a second hand while also incorporating the Hawker Hurricane theme with the style and design. That sub dial I think is what defines that watch and really gives it a stunning look. The round date window is positioned between the 3 and 4 o’clock positions on the dial. We have lume on the hour and minute hands, as well as, the rectangular hour markers. The lume is rather poor and doesn’t have any significant staying power, however, in my opinion, lume tends to be more of a gimmick than a true necessity on these type of watches.

In this watch, we have a modern Japanese Seiko TMI quartz chronograph movement. The movement has been extremely accurate as one would expect from a quartz watch. Due to the movement being modern, the chronograph hands can be recalibrated if needed to realign them. I would enjoy seeing AVI-8 using some mechanical movements like Seiko/Miyota or even SeaGull ST19 in a Hawker Hurricane model in the future, as I believe that the watch has a really great potential that isn’t used to its fullest. Hawker Hurricane has a fantastic tan leather strap. One of the features of every AVI-8 watch I have ever seen that tends not to disappoint is the straps provided. Typically the watches in this price segment have bad straps that are immediately replaced after you receive the watch, but this is so nice that I would leave it on. The leather strap provided with this model is quite soft and supple and is extremely comfortable on the wrist. The strap is finished off with a sturdy signed thumbnail style buckle.

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Overall, I strongly believe that this Hawker Hurricane version is really a steal. The model provides quality specifications outside of the mineral crystal, which I found to be the only detail of the watch lacking. 1/10 second disk and the dial itself, the movement and everything really add up for a great watch. If I had a chance to get this design with mechanical chronograph movement from Seiko, Miyota or even SeaGull I would get one without thinking.

Price: 222EUR @ avi-8.co.uk

COLLECTION: HAWKER HURRICANE
MODEL: AV-4041-01
MOVEMENT: Japan Quartz Chronograph with Date
CASE: Stainless Steel
CASE DIAMETER (mm): 42
CASE THICKNESS (mm): 12
CASE SHAPE: Round
CASE COLOUR: Stainless Steel
DIAL COLOUR: White
BAND: Genuine Leather Strap
BAND COLOUR: Tan
BUCKLE: Strap Buckle
BAND WIDTH (mm): 22
WATER RESISTANCE: 5ATM
WATCH WEIGHT (g): 100
WARRANTY: 2 Years International