The face is black and textured while the hour indicators are raised and filled with a healthy amount of lume. There is a framed date window at 6 o’clock and the hands, while being a tad bit short, make up for it in girth and legibility. I happen to think that it is a great looking dial and I am really happy that AVI-8 didn’t want to simply rehash the standard classic pilot watch design once again. In other words, no triangle with two dots! Perhaps the best thing I can say about the dial is the fact that it is symmetrical and for the price, the quality ain’t bad.
Size of the case is quite reasonable. At 42mm wide it isn’t too large or too small. While pilot-style watches are often larger, 42mm wide is a great “all-around” size, able to satisfy the largest assortment of wrist sizes. The steel case is on the taller side, so that does aid in the watch looking substantial. At the same time, watches on NATO-style straps tend to wear a bit on the smaller side. How about I just leave it by saying that it is a very “appropriate size.”
Looking at the rear of the case you can see a view of the movement. The case itself is water resistant to 50 meters. That isn’t fantastic, but as long as you don’t got swimming with it you should be OK. The watch also happens to use a mineral versus sapphire crystal, but again for the price, I am not going to complain much. I like the crown detailing as well. It is a smaller pilot style crown with a sort of “target” style motif engraved into it.
Inside the Flyboy 4021 collection are Japanese automatic mechanical movements. More specifically they are Citizen Miyota caliber 8215 movements. This is about the type of mechanical movement you’d expect from an automatic watch at this level. To most people the movement looks cool, but it isn’t there to impress seasoned watch lovers being thoroughly undecorated and proudly claiming to be “unadjusted” from the factory. In case you were wondering, the 8215 movement offers both handwinding and automatic winding (which you sometimes need to clarify with older, affordable Japanese movements).
The strap is another plus factor in this watch. AVI-8 pairs it with a thin leather NATO-style strap, and if you must “go NATO,” then go with one of these. Allow me to explain. First of all the soft, thin leather straps like this will not last forever. They don’t need to be terribly expensive to replace, but they aren’t meant for long-term wear. They are however extremely soft and wear with a lot of comfort. They also make good NATO-style straps because the excess part of the strap at the end tucks neatly in so you don’t have that “NATO bulge” on the other side of your wrist – that is common with the ones they make out of nylon. It is actually really rare to see leather NATO straps at all, let alone on watches at this price.
For all my talk on price, the AVI-8 Flyboy 4021 isn’t actually bargain basement priced after-all, but not bad. If the Flyboy was priced around what the brand’s quartz offerings were from about $300 – $400 I would say it has a great price. It is a bit higher, but still pretty reasonable. I also have a feeling that since this watch is new, and only listed on the brand’s official website, the “street price” might be a bit better – but we shall see. Overall the AVI-8 Flyboy is a handsome and fun pilot style watch with a great sense of style and good build quality. Retail price is $620. avi-8.co.uk
Necessary Data
>Brand: AVI-8
>Model: Flyboy ref. AV-4021-01
>Price: $620 USD
>Size: 42mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Yes
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Guy looking for a slick pilot-style watch for under $1,000 and wants to explore a new brand.
>Best characteristic of watch: A solid design mixed with a good build-quality and comfortable strap makes for a solid wear.
>Worst characteristic of watch: For just a bit less money it would be an awesome value.
