Timex Quietly Dropped a $200 Take on the Definitive High-End Pilot’s Watch

IWC who?

Close-up of a Timex stainless steel chronograph watch with a black dial, white numerals, and luminous hands. The watch face shows subdials, a date window at the 6 o'clock position, and text indicating "CHRONOGRAPH 100m/330ft" and "ESTABLISHED IN 1854." The watch has a black leather strap with white stitching. The crown and pushers are visible on the right side of the case.

Published 13 hours ago

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A significant portion of Timex’s resurgent appeal among watch enthusiasts comes from the brand’s impressive ability to offer affordable watches that are obviously styled after popular luxury watches.

We’ve seen a number of modern Timex watches that draw clear inspiration from Rolex, Omega, TAG Heuer, Cartier and Zenith, and now it looks like we can add another high-end brand to the mix, as Timex’s latest pilot’s watches look like they could’ve come off the IWC assembly line in Schaffhausen.

Black IWC Schaffhausen Top Gun Automatic wristwatch with a black fabric strap, white numerals, and hands, and a red "TOP GUN" inscription on the dial. The watch is positioned on a reflective dark surface against a dark background. — If you love IWC’s classic Pilot’s Watches but don’t have the budget for it, then Timex’s new line is for you.

Ace in the hole

Timex’s latest affordable homage is the Waterbury Ace, an aviation-inspired twist on the brand’s long-running quartz-powered stalwart. There are two different models of the Ace — one three-hander, one chronograph — and both appear to be heavily inspired by IWC’s Pilot’s Watch line.

The three-hander, simply called the Waterbury Ace, features a 41mm stainless steel case and a dial with printed Arabic numeral hour markers accented by smaller block markers on the minute track and a white date window at 3:00. It’s a look very reminiscent of the IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XX, with the most significant visual difference being the Arabic 12 on the Timex in place of the IWC’s triangle index.

Black Timex wristwatch with a black leather strap, white numerals, and a date display, worn on a wrist with a brown leather jacket and cream-colored sweater sleeve visible. — It’s not an IWC, but for $179, you could do a lot worse than Timex’s new Waterbury Ace.

The watch also has a Flieger-style hour hand and slim, unornamented seconds hand, like what you’ll find on an IWC, but the minute hand is a pencil-style hand instead of another Flieger hand. The crown is conical and slightly oversized, aesthetically landing somewhere between the crown on a Mark XX and an IWC Big Pilot’s.

Unlike at IWC, you won’t find any high-end mechanical movements here. The Waterbury Ace is powered by a nondescript quartz movement, which is part of the reason why the watch costs around $200 instead of several thousand.

There are two colors of the Waterbury Ace at launch. One is a blacked-out version with a black case, dial and leather strap. It recalls the look of something from IWC’s Top Gun line of ceramic pilot’s watches. The other has a plain steel case, a vertically brushed gray dial with black markers and comes on a three-link stainless steel bracelet.

Silver Timex wristwatch with a white dial, black numerals, and luminous hands. The watch features a date window at the 3 o'clock position and a stainless steel link bracelet. The dial also includes the text "TIMEX THE WATERBURY" and "ESTABLISHED IN 1854 100m/330ft. — The gray-dial version includes a steel bracelet with links that can be removed without the use of tools.

The gray one doesn’t bear a strong resemblance to any specific IWC model, but like IWC’s watches, it boasts a pretty innovative bracelet. In the case of Timex, the bracelet not only features a tool-free system for removal from the case, but also a similar system for removing links, meaning you can size the bracelet yourself without any tools.

The other model in the Waterbury Ace lineup is the Waterbury Ace Chronograph. It shares a number of features in common with the three-hand version, including a 41mm stainless steel case and the same handset. The dial layout is also similar, with the same minute track, the same font and most of the same indices. But at 12:00, we get an inverted triangle here instead of the Ace’s printed “12, ” putting this closer in line with IWC’s classic Flieger design.

Silver Timex chronograph wristwatch with a green dial and white numerals, placed on a brown leather surface next to a blue and yellow model airplane wing. — The green-dial Waterbury Ace Chronograph includes the same bracelet as the gray three-hander.

The chronograph layout is different from what you’ll see on IWC’s Pilot’s Watch Chronographs, but the vibe is still very similar. Instead of a vertical left-hand stack of three subdials, the Timex features a symmetrical bicompax layout, with a 60-minute counter at 9:00 and a 24-hour subdial tied to the main timekeeping at 3:00. Like on an IWC chrono, the hands of the subdials are miniature Flieger sword hands. The Timex also features a date window replacing the index at 6:00.

The black-dial version of the Waterbury Ace Chronograph is paired with a quick-release black leather strap with cream-colored stitching, while the second reference features a stunning sunburst green dial. It’s paired with the same bracelet found on the gray Waterbury Ace three-hander. The chronograph movements are, like on the three-hander, nondescript quartz.

Timex chronograph wristwatch with a black dial, white numerals, and two subdials. The watch has a stainless steel case and a black leather strap with white stitching. The dial includes a date window at the 4 o'clock position and text indicating "THE WATERBURY," "CHRONOGRAPH 100m/330ft," and "ESTABLISHED IN 1854." The watch is resting on a textured brown leather surface. — Out of Timex’s new quartet, the black-dial chronograph with its stitched leather strap perhaps mimics IWC’s style the best.

Pricing and availability

If you love the look of IWC’s Pilot’s Watches but don’t have the budget for them, these new Timexes may be just what the doctor ordered. All four references feature lume on the hour and minute hands and are water-resistant to 100m, so they’re perfectly suitable for daily wear.

The Waterbury Ace retails for $179 for the black dial on the strap and $219 for the gray dial with the bracelet. The black chronograph on the strap has an SRP of $219, and the green chronograph on the bracelet tops out the range at $249. All are available now on Timex’s website, though the black chronograph is currently listed as sold out.

Silver stainless steel Timex chronograph watch with a green dial, white numerals, and luminous hands. The watch features two subdials, a date window at 6 o'clock, and a stainless steel link bracelet. The dial is marked with "TIMEX THE WATERBURY," "CHRONOGRAPH 100m/330ft," and "ESTABLISHED IN 1854.

Timex Waterbury Ace Chronograph

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	Quartz chronograph
Water Resistance	100m

$249 at Timex

About the Author:

Johnny Brayson is an editor at Gear Patrol mostly covering watches. He enjoys watches that are packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em details and believes nearly every watch could stand to be a tad smaller.