Looking at the Turbine Pilot, you will notice a combination of instrumental design with that of a Tonka toy–but done in a really refined way. The dial is rather legible and placed on a sapphire crystal in the middle of the dial over the rotating blades. So while this is very much a Turbine collection watch, legibility is certainly something Perrelet was keen on promoting. Being a pilot watch, it has a requisite level of dial complexity ranging from a lot of markers to numerals.

Similar to the tip on the nose of most engines the section under the hands has a spiral that moves with the watch adding that final “plane theme” element to the watch. This is really what happens when you make a toy for a big boy who likes machines. People getting this watch can remind themselves that they are buying a fine Swiss timepiece, etc., but at the end of the day this is as much a toy as a sports car that goes 200 mph or a pickup truck that you’ll never use to tow five tons. But that is OK, everyone deserves fun toys, right?

Inside the watch is the Perrelet caliber P-331 automatic movement. Perrelet and movement maker Soprod are both owned by the Festina Group, so Perrelet calls this movement in-house made. I am pretty sure it is based on the A-10 movement. Perrelet matches the Turbine Pilot watch to either a rubber or leather strap and between the two case colors there are four versions of the watch.

While we anticipate that more versions of the Turbine Pilot are going to come soon, the 2014 ref. A1085/1 (steel on rubber), A1085/1A (steel on leather), A1086/A (black steel on rubber), and A1086/1A (black steel on leather) models will be priced at $6,550, $6,700, $7,200, and $7350 respectively. perrelet.com