If you are a big fan of AVI-8 watches, you probably already know about their Centenary watch collection. We featured the 1920 Centenary watch and we loved the traditional and old style look to the watch. Now we have another watch from their Centenary collection and this one this the 1960 Centenary Watch. The watch which we are going to be reviewing today from the AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary collection is the AV 4060-01.

AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary

Before we get to the review of the watch, let’s find out a bit more about the AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary.

Similar to the 1920 Centenary watch, the 1960 Centenary watch is a celebration of the RAF 100 years anniversary. The AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary watch reflects the growing confidence of the RAF and the progress the RAF has made since its beginning.

With new RAF planes taking flight such as the Lightning, V-Class and the iconic Hawker Hunter, the AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary has been designed to show the strength of the RAF offensive and defensive airborne capabilities.

AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary Specifications

Case Material: Stainless Steel
Case Diameter (mm) : 43
Case Thickness (mm) : 15
Case Shape: Round
Case Colour: Stainless Steel

Bnd Material:Hand-stitiched Genuine leather
Band Colour: Tan
Buckle: Tang Buckle
Band Width (mm) : 22

Movement: Japanese made Miyota 8218 Automatic movement with 21 Jewels and 42 hour power reserve

Weight: 80g

AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary Unboxing

First Impression

The dial of the watch is bold and very powerful. This is the first thing which will capture your attention. But after you move your eyes toward the rest of the watch, everything else looks normal and simple. There is not much going on outside the dial.

Dial

The main attraction of the AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary is the dial. You have a huge RAF roundel which replaces the 11 o’clock. The roundel has two layout and a 3D design to it. It does stick out from the rest of the dial and it is something which you cannot ignore. The only thing which we do not like about the roundel is the colour. The original colour of the rounder, white, yellow, blue and red, would have added more colour to the dial.

Keeping with the 3D design, at the 5 o’clock position, you have a second subdial. Similar to the roundel, it does stick out from the rest of the dial but we are not a fan of it. The main reason is the colour. The silver background and back ring on the second subdial does not go well together. It just looks out-of-place. Again if they used a brighter colour, this would have made a huge difference to the dial in terms of looks. Luckily they do have a brighter and more colour version of this watch, the AV 4060-02, with the original RAF roundel colour.

To carry on the bold and powerful look, you have a huge 0 and a huge 6 on the index. It is definitely interesting with using these huge numerals and they do go and blend with the roundel and subdial. In terms of the rest of the numerals, you only have 5 others; 01, 02, 07, 08 and 09. We are not sure about using the 0 in front of the numerals. They do take a bit of space of the dial and personally we think they do not add too much to the watch. We think larger numerals would have been better to keep with the bold and powerful theme. Each numerals also have a silver baton and the interesting thing is that the batons are in different sizes.

The window date is located at its normal position and is large enough. It is also caged in a white square box so you will not miss it.

The watch has only two hands; hour and minute hand. They are both sharp and have a Plongeur design.

Swiss super luminova has been used to offer improved visibility in lower light conditions but only for the silver baton on the index, hands and also the two large numerals. We would have loved to see the Swiss super luminova being used on the RAF roundel.

Casing

The casing of the watch is 43mm and the width is 15mm. Both are large enough in size and are needed because of the features on the dial. The watch sit pretty well on the wrist but if you have a small wrist the case diameter will definitely take all the space on your wrist.

The lugs are slightly curved to help the case to sit on the wrist which is a nice feature. The lug also do not stick out from the casing and is covered quite a bit by the strap.

The crown has a simple teeth cut design and has been signed with the RAF roundel. However if the signed crown was in colour, it would make it look much better.

The glass is Sapphire crystal glass and there are some reflections to it, which might some people may not appreciate.

Another interesting feature which you will probably will not notice is the concave type of ring around the glass. It just helps to lift the dial a bit more and makes the 3D roundel and second subdial stand out a bit more.

Movement

The movement inside the AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary is a Japanese made Miyota 8218 Automatic movement with 21 Jewels and 42 hour power reserve. It is solid and powerful movement for this watch. The time accuracy is pretty well with +-10 seconds daily.

Strap

The strap is made from genuine leather is a little bit tough. It will need to be broken into but it should not take too long. The strap is thick and we really like that. It just feel great around the wrist.

The overall comfort of the watch is good. The 80g weight is perfect as you feel the watch on your wrist without weighing it down and the casing sits well on the wrist without getting in the way.

Buy, Shortlist or Avoid?

The AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary AV4060-01 is too good of a watch to avoid but it is not the better than the AVI-8 1920 Centenary Watch. We will have to say to shortlist this watch. There are some very interesting feature on this watch and the 3D roundel and subdial does make the watch really appealing but in terms of looks, it just lacks colour.

Personally we’d choose a choose the different model of the AV 4060 and the one with the blue dial looks better.

If you would like to see the different model of AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary AV4060, do visit their launch page and do register your interest as these watches have not been released yet.

We hope you have enjoyed our review of AVI-8 Flyboy 1960 Centenary AV4060-01 and we’d love to hear what you think about the watch? Do let us know in the comment below.

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