On one of the watch forums, one of the famous German flieger makers was asked why they didn't lume the seconds hand. Answer was that the paint on the seconds hand increased the weight and affected accuracy.
Just got one of these yesterday the Steel Dive version mine has the engineered bracelet that most reviewers dismiss as rubbish and yes the clasp is not the best but its perfectly acceptable and i am going to leave it on for now. The lume is fantastic i love the watch, its like having my Seiko SARB017 on my wrist for size very legible. Great Review
Some time later the hour numerals and the triangle got a lot more greenish apparently. It happily rivals Orient Ray II in a 7-hour test, so I'm pretty happy with it anyway, but would prefer it to be more white (minute markers should match the color). And the second hand should get replaced with a silver one with a better shape.
I've got that strap on the Addies Dive. It works in after a while and lasts longer because it's tough. I've got engraving on the back which is pleasant. Addiesdive logo. But the crown doesnt go flat to the case which is a bit of a defect. I'm not diving with it. I got the blue one. Lume, green & great. Happy all in all. Regards, Chirp. Good value.
Very good review mate and some nice close ups on the watch. It's a very good value for money watch and I've been wearing mine a lot. Keep up the good work, you've already got some high production standards 👍
Thanks! Its definitely bang for buck, Its one of my daily drivers due to the simplicity of the dial and how feature packed it is. Also because it has a date complication which I have recently found one of the most useful complications to have.
I'm waiting for mine to arrive, so I'm glad I found your unboxing to pass the time and take a closer look :) I ordered it like 3 weeks ago but it's being held up somewhere in Belgium. Nice review though, I hoped you will show it on different straps because I'm planning to switch the original one for something else as soon as it arrives. You are doing good job on macro shots, I was interested in how does finishing look like and I'm satisfied from what I've seen so far. Thank you :)
Awesome choice, the watch has awesome bang for buck, the finish is ok, it could be better but after changing the strap around, the watch really does change its look. I love how much of a strap monster this flieger is!
@@Dannyfr33sh Yes I did :) It's very good in almost every way if you are considering purchase. Saphire crystal with subtle AR coating, nicely done brushed case, it keeps good time and wears perfectly... One thing I did not like was a strap, which is faux leather... I changed it for a better one, but after few days on wrist, even originall one is wearable.
Hello, I got mine a few days ago. Totally agree with you. Very good flieger watch and I can go with the bracelet. I will change the clasp, and it will be fine. But I have one issue with that watch: the crown stem ist too short, so it's impossible to handwind. When starting handwind the crown imediately screws in. The. Ali shop tried to explain me where the right crown position is to handwind 😤 I sent a video, but I will start a dispute. The accuracy is perfect on the timegrapher: 0s/d 😁
Oh, that might be an isolated issue with your watch, potentially a quality control issue? I don't think my one had that issue where it'll thread when trying to hand wind. If that happened to me I'll definitely send it back.
Nice review, good to see that the lume is strong. I'm a bit on the fence about this watch. It ticks a lot of boxes, the spec is great, the only little thing that is niggling at me is that pure white seconds hand looking a bit out place against the greenish tinted lume in daylight. I would have loved to see a fully lumed hand like on the Escapement Time Flieger, or even just a plain polished silver seconds hand. I guess it blends with the white minute track markers though and high contrast is always good.
@@TheChirpyPanda I totally disagree with the lume second hand as when you are in the dark you look at the hour and minute hands basically. Thus, this style is sufficient.
The Steeldive bracelets are known to be pretty meh, but the "leather" band on this one is somehow apparently even worse. I'd just buy the one on the bracelet to have the option and put it on a better leather strap or a two-piece nylon. Or maybe a mesh. The one thing that bugs me is that they apparently don't offer a sterile option for the blue and green versions. Btw. C3 Superluminova just has that greenish colour. All the Swiss brands use it whenever the lume glows green. A lumed seconds hand would be relevant on a diver (because you'd have to see if it's still running underwater) but on a pilots watch high contrast may be more relevant in most situations.
Yeh the leather band on this is really bad, this cannot be leather at all, so perhaps I should've went for the stainless steel version as a better choice. Blue / Green would look awesome, but I'm more of the plain black dial type of guy. Thanks for the heads up on the C3 lume, I thought the second's hand would be less useful to a pilot and the high contrast definitely works for this watch.
Sorry for being so late to the review. I just got into Fliegers recently. So having reviewed Both the best n cheapest automatic fliegers... May I know your take on which one is the better watch n why? 😊
So this and the San Martin pilots watch type A are exact except for the lume and strap San Martin lume is insane bright the strap is genuine leather the hands are better just better quality for $50 more in my opinion - $149 Amazon USA
Correct me if i am wrong in the following. The Flieger watches or sometimes called Beobachter watches (german for observer) were not neccessarily worn by pilots but were actually meant for the observers and navigators in larger bomber aircraft so they could navigate at night and knew when they were at their destination. That doesen`t mean that they didn`t find themselves in pilot`s hands. I would imagine that anyone who had the opportunity to have a watch paid for by the government would take it as i imagine that watches were a little more expensive back in the day.
You are 100% right, that was information that I found out after I made the video. Live an learn right, so I was told that the Type B dials were meant for navigators and Type A are for pilots, I'll need to fact check that actually makes sense now as it requires more
@@TheChirpyPanda i wasnt trying to call you out or anything i am just fascinated by the history of these time pieces. You might like to hear that your review made me buy one btw
@@WolfRichter337 No problem, I'm still learning so am always open to reading additional information on things I'm review. Great news that you picked up one of these, its a cracking watch!
I'd really like to see a side by side comparison of one of the Addiesdive/San Martin/Baltany fliegers with the famous ones from Laco/Stowa/Archimede. Just curious about what you get objectively, for the extra $700 to $1000. I have several Chinese Fliegers; some are just generic watches, and OK but nothing special, but two (San Martin and one other) are outstanding in terms of fit and finish, and I'm not sure what more you could ask for (for a lot of extra money. Just a note: I always order the sterile dial version, and several of the Chinese Fliegers came with no brand markings at all even on the caseback or the strap. It didn't occur to me at the time to mark the brand on the strap (or somewhere) so now I have fliegers that I really like, and others that I really don't, and no way of knowing which was made by which maker. 😞
Got mine last week, been wearing it every day since. I'm pretty darn sure that the band is leather. Stiff and initially uncomfortable, yes, but that's the type of bands real Flieger's had. I think this band is built for sturdiness, built to be going strong in thirty years. Personally, i think the heavy leather band is one of the better features of this watch.
Thats a good take on the leather band, I kept thinking that it was too still but if you look at it in the sense that it will be sturdy and soften over time, then perhaps you are right. I might throw it back on the original leather band just so I can wear it in over time.
@@marchendrawidjaja I ended up changing it to a parachute strap instead of using the original strap, it just wasn't comfortable enough for me to wear on a daily basis.
Excellent review. Just subscribed. I have a lot of watches and recently got my first 2 AE watches to try it out. I got the one with "Addies" and 200m wr on the green dial one (has a signed crown and engraved back). I bought it as a temporary tryout as I wasn't sure I liked the style, but it's so good, I'm keeping it. Great Al night lume on mine too! I like the date particularly now working from home, the days melt into each other. I paid the equivalent of about $65, including import taxes in the sale. The other one was a red Heimdallr Monster as the Seiko is discontinued and costs a fortune in Europe second hand. It's great too! BTW, got a green NATO strap on the Addies, very good quality.
@@TheChirpyPanda Well worth it. I got it at a great sale price, equivalent to €115 Inc import duty. And I highly recommend it. The lume is up their with Seiko for brightness and longevity. Goes all night!
I like the watch. Very unpretentious and easy to read dial. Its basically a generic sterile model. Not much personality. But, totally functional. I don't see how you can go wrong with this watch if you like the style. Also, there is a wide range of different straps to try also that would make the watch look great.
completely agree! I think ultimately, the design was very utilitarian, and if you're into that, this is definitely something you should have in your collection.
@@TheChirpyPanda I am into the sterile dial parnis pilot watches with Chinese 6497 movements. Handwind. 44 mm wide cases. Easy to service. Easy to modify also if you are into that. And, cheap as hell.
@@TheChirpyPanda I thought those big pilots watches were big also. They look better than you think on small wrists. My wife has one. She likes it. You can spruce those watches up with nice colorful silicone bands and different dials and hands as well. Worth looking at anyways.
Suggestion to put a Luftwaffe watch on a NATO band is pretty tasteless to me :-) my corgeut type-a also arrived with non-blued hands which is important part of the aesthetic.
Fair call, and if you were going for the complete, un altered original look, then all the power to you. But if we all liked the same things, the world would be pretty bland don't you agree?
@@TheChirpyPanda yeah 100% :-) hey about the NATO, for big watch which might not want extra lift like you get from 2 layers of strap under the watch, you can fold the extra bit back towards the buckle instead of having it go under the watch, then you get single pass effect at the watch, but don’t have to cut the strap to get single pass effect. So put the holed strap end through the flying ring first then through the buckle. The double thickness at the strap side can help to balance a bigger / heavier watch too. Give it a try... :-)
I bought one with a rotating bezel on amazon , and I received an EMPTY BOX , hoppefully amazon refund me (I had to insist) and I bought a very well made orient diver on Serious Watches.
A thats a good observation, I was trying to figure out why they are so similar, the seller did mention that it's like from the same factory, so it could just be an OEM brand with minute differences. Key is that you'll be getting an almost identical product for say 15-20% cheaper.
This is actually a great way to put it. For the budget line of watches, NH35 is great! or the NH36 is date is not necessary. All we need is a good tailor and you'll have a cracking watch for a low cost.
On one of the watch forums, one of the famous German flieger makers was asked why they didn't lume the seconds hand. Answer was that the paint on the seconds hand increased the weight and affected accuracy.
Just got one of these yesterday the Steel Dive version mine has the engineered bracelet that most reviewers dismiss as rubbish and yes the clasp is not the best but its perfectly acceptable and i am going to leave it on for now.
The lume is fantastic i love the watch, its like having my Seiko SARB017 on my wrist for size very legible.
Great Review
I agree, the lume is awesome , especially for the price range, there are commenters saying that they picked this beauty up for $65!! THAT IS A STEAL
im a simple guy, i see a flieger review, i subscribe
You and me both!
Very good watch ,I have it from january 2020. and it is withot scrathes for now.I wear it on my job and nh35 is very accurate(I regulated it myself).
Some time later the hour numerals and the triangle got a lot more greenish apparently. It happily rivals Orient Ray II in a 7-hour test, so I'm pretty happy with it anyway, but would prefer it to be more white (minute markers should match the color). And the second hand should get replaced with a silver one with a better shape.
I've got that strap on the Addies Dive. It works in after a while and lasts longer because it's tough.
I've got engraving on the back which is pleasant. Addiesdive logo. But the crown doesnt go flat to the case which is a bit of a defect. I'm not diving with it.
I got the blue one. Lume, green & great. Happy all in all. Regards, Chirp. Good value.
Great video, very informative, thinking maybe I can get one. Thanks.
Very good review mate and some nice close ups on the watch. It's a very good value for money watch and I've been wearing mine a lot. Keep up the good work, you've already got some high production standards 👍
Thanks! Its definitely bang for buck, Its one of my daily drivers due to the simplicity of the dial and how feature packed it is. Also because it has a date complication which I have recently found one of the most useful complications to have.
I'm waiting for mine to arrive, so I'm glad I found your unboxing to pass the time and take a closer look :) I ordered it like 3 weeks ago but it's being held up somewhere in Belgium.
Nice review though, I hoped you will show it on different straps because I'm planning to switch the original one for something else as soon as it arrives. You are doing good job on macro shots, I was interested in how does finishing look like and I'm satisfied from what I've seen so far. Thank you :)
Awesome choice, the watch has awesome bang for buck, the finish is ok, it could be better but after changing the strap around, the watch really does change its look. I love how much of a strap monster this flieger is!
Did you finally get your watch ?
@@Dannyfr33sh Yes I did :) It's very good in almost every way if you are considering purchase. Saphire crystal with subtle AR coating, nicely done brushed case, it keeps good time and wears perfectly... One thing I did not like was a strap, which is faux leather... I changed it for a better one, but after few days on wrist, even originall one is wearable.
@@DominikFerencik Thanks for the reply. I am glad you are happy with it. Im going to order the one with the nato
Hello, I got mine a few days ago. Totally agree with you. Very good flieger watch and I can go with the bracelet. I will change the clasp, and it will be fine. But I have one issue with that watch: the crown stem ist too short, so it's impossible to handwind. When starting handwind the crown imediately screws in. The. Ali shop tried to explain me where the right crown position is to handwind 😤 I sent a video, but I will start a dispute. The accuracy is perfect on the timegrapher: 0s/d 😁
Oh, that might be an isolated issue with your watch, potentially a quality control issue? I don't think my one had that issue where it'll thread when trying to hand wind. If that happened to me I'll definitely send it back.
loved the review thank you
Nice review, good to see that the lume is strong. I'm a bit on the fence about this watch. It ticks a lot of boxes, the spec is great, the only little thing that is niggling at me is that pure white seconds hand looking a bit out place against the greenish tinted lume in daylight. I would have loved to see a fully lumed hand like on the Escapement Time Flieger, or even just a plain polished silver seconds hand. I guess it blends with the white minute track markers though and high contrast is always good.
yeh agree with the lumed hand, but guess they had to cut some corners.
@@TheChirpyPanda I totally disagree with the lume second hand as when you are in the dark you look at the hour and minute hands basically. Thus, this style is sufficient.
The Steeldive bracelets are known to be pretty meh, but the "leather" band on this one is somehow apparently even worse. I'd just buy the one on the bracelet to have the option and put it on a better leather strap or a two-piece nylon. Or maybe a mesh. The one thing that bugs me is that they apparently don't offer a sterile option for the blue and green versions.
Btw. C3 Superluminova just has that greenish colour. All the Swiss brands use it whenever the lume glows green. A lumed seconds hand would be relevant on a diver (because you'd have to see if it's still running underwater) but on a pilots watch high contrast may be more relevant in most situations.
Yeh the leather band on this is really bad, this cannot be leather at all, so perhaps I should've went for the stainless steel version as a better choice. Blue / Green would look awesome, but I'm more of the plain black dial type of guy.
Thanks for the heads up on the C3 lume, I thought the second's hand would be less useful to a pilot and the high contrast definitely works for this watch.
Sorry for being so late to the review. I just got into Fliegers recently. So having reviewed Both the best n cheapest automatic fliegers... May I know your take on which one is the better watch n why? 😊
I bought this watch recently. I liked the watch a lot, not so much the strap. The lime is very bright, but lasts like an hour.
So this and the San Martin pilots watch type A are exact except for the lume and strap San Martin lume is insane bright the strap is genuine leather the hands are better just better quality for $50 more in my opinion - $149 Amazon USA
Correct me if i am wrong in the following. The Flieger watches or sometimes called Beobachter watches (german for observer) were not neccessarily worn by pilots but were actually meant for the observers and navigators in larger bomber aircraft so they could navigate at night and knew when they were at their destination. That doesen`t mean that they didn`t find themselves in pilot`s hands. I would imagine that anyone who had the opportunity to have a watch paid for by the government would take it as i imagine that watches were a little more expensive back in the day.
You are 100% right, that was information that I found out after I made the video. Live an learn right, so I was told that the Type B dials were meant for navigators and Type A are for pilots, I'll need to fact check that actually makes sense now as it requires more
@@TheChirpyPanda i wasnt trying to call you out or anything i am just fascinated by the history of these time pieces. You might like to hear that your review made me buy one btw
@@WolfRichter337 No problem, I'm still learning so am always open to reading additional information on things I'm review. Great news that you picked up one of these, its a cracking watch!
I'd really like to see a side by side comparison of one of the Addiesdive/San Martin/Baltany fliegers with the famous ones from Laco/Stowa/Archimede.
Just curious about what you get objectively, for the extra $700 to $1000.
I have several Chinese Fliegers; some are just generic watches, and OK but nothing special, but two (San Martin and one other) are outstanding in terms of fit and finish, and I'm not sure what more you could ask for (for a lot of extra money.
Just a note: I always order the sterile dial version, and several of the Chinese Fliegers came with no brand markings at all even on the caseback or the strap. It didn't occur to me at the time to mark the brand on the strap (or somewhere) so now I have fliegers that I really like, and others that I really don't, and no way of knowing which was made by which maker. 😞
Got mine last week, been wearing it every day since. I'm pretty darn sure that the band is leather. Stiff and initially uncomfortable, yes, but that's the type of bands real Flieger's had. I think this band is built for sturdiness, built to be going strong in thirty years. Personally, i think the heavy leather band is one of the better features of this watch.
Thats a good take on the leather band, I kept thinking that it was too still but if you look at it in the sense that it will be sturdy and soften over time, then perhaps you are right. I might throw it back on the original leather band just so I can wear it in over time.
@@TheChirpyPanda Did you use the original strap at the end? How did it break in over two months?
@@marchendrawidjaja I ended up changing it to a parachute strap instead of using the original strap, it just wasn't comfortable enough for me to wear on a daily basis.
@@TheChirpyPanda Fair enough. I have one of those ready for when the watch arrives. Thanks anyway!
Excellent review. Just subscribed. I have a lot of watches and recently got my first 2 AE watches to try it out. I got the one with "Addies" and 200m wr on the green dial one (has a signed crown and engraved back). I bought it as a temporary tryout as I wasn't sure I liked the style, but it's so good, I'm keeping it. Great Al night lume on mine too! I like the date particularly now working from home, the days melt into each other. I paid the equivalent of about $65, including import taxes in the sale. The other one was a red Heimdallr Monster as the Seiko is discontinued and costs a fortune in Europe second hand. It's great too! BTW, got a green NATO strap on the Addies, very good quality.
Mate these watches are such a bargain! Good purchase all around from what you are saying. I need to really get my hands on a heimdallr though
@@TheChirpyPanda Well worth it. I got it at a great sale price, equivalent to €115 Inc import duty. And I highly recommend it. The lume is up their with Seiko for brightness and longevity. Goes all night!
The shoulders make the case of the watch bigger when you wear it, it looks huge on your hand
Far call, lug to lug of this watch does make it way much bigger than it should
In German pilot is “pilot”, flieger is flyer
I like the watch. Very unpretentious and easy to read dial. Its basically a generic sterile model. Not much personality. But, totally functional. I don't see how you can go wrong with this watch if you like the style. Also, there is a wide range of different straps to try also that would make the watch look great.
completely agree! I think ultimately, the design was very utilitarian, and if you're into that, this is definitely something you should have in your collection.
@@TheChirpyPanda I am into the sterile dial parnis pilot watches with Chinese 6497 movements. Handwind. 44 mm wide cases. Easy to service. Easy to modify also if you are into that. And, cheap as hell.
@@glenh4971 Thanks for the heads up, 44mm , I am unsure if I can pull that off, thats huge for my tiny wrists.
@@TheChirpyPanda I thought those big pilots watches were big also. They look better than you think on small wrists. My wife has one. She likes it. You can spruce those watches up with nice colorful silicone bands and different dials and hands as well. Worth looking at anyways.
@@glenh4971 Ah thats a vote of confidence, Ok I'll see if I can get my hands on one and do a review too.
Suggestion to put a Luftwaffe watch on a NATO band is pretty tasteless to me :-) my corgeut type-a also arrived with non-blued hands which is important part of the aesthetic.
Fair call, and if you were going for the complete, un altered original look, then all the power to you. But if we all liked the same things, the world would be pretty bland don't you agree?
@@TheChirpyPanda yeah 100% :-) hey about the NATO, for big watch which might not want extra lift like you get from 2 layers of strap under the watch, you can fold the extra bit back towards the buckle instead of having it go under the watch, then you get single pass effect at the watch, but don’t have to cut the strap to get single pass effect. So put the holed strap end through the flying ring first then through the buckle. The double thickness at the strap side can help to balance a bigger / heavier watch too. Give it a try... :-)
@@LeeTanczos Thanks for the tip! I'll definitely need to try it on one of my straps.
I bought one with a rotating bezel on amazon , and I received an EMPTY BOX , hoppefully amazon refund me (I had to insist) and I bought a very well made orient diver on Serious Watches.
Addies watches are almost the same as the Steeldive with exceptions with the hands and the glass, Addies glasses are not polished on the side.
A thats a good observation, I was trying to figure out why they are so similar, the seller did mention that it's like from the same factory, so it could just be an OEM brand with minute differences. Key is that you'll be getting an almost identical product for say 15-20% cheaper.
Gli orologi dovrebbero venderli senza cinturino, così da permettere libera scelta a seconda dei propri gusti.
The NH35A is a ball !!! and only need a suitable tailor like ADDIESDIVE to dress properly.
This is actually a great way to put it. For the budget line of watches, NH35 is great! or the NH36 is date is not necessary. All we need is a good tailor and you'll have a cracking watch for a low cost.
Luma nova.
Its pronounced FLEE-GER
why what's wrong with how he's saying it? he's Aussie