Flyback watches have no relation to aviation whatsoever, the term “flyback” refers to the hands of the watch that measure elaspsed intervals and will, at one push of a button, “fly-back” to their starting positions and resume their motion from there.

Aviators, however, were very greatful for the invention of this wristwatch. Prior to a flight, they must calculate estimated time intervals – from the airstrip to a distinctive feature in the landscape, and from one successive landmark to the next – and enter this information into a flight plan. Immediately after takeoff, they switch on the chronograph mechanism, and periodically refer to its minute counter to see how long they’ve been flying between each selected landmark. If the elapsed time indicatesthat the aircraft will soon fly over one of them, pilots keep their eyes peeled for it. As the airplane flies over it, they press the flyback button once, returning the elapsed time hands to their starting positions, and begin measuring the time until the next landmark.

Flyback wristwatches make life a lot easier in a cockpit in severals ways. Pilots typically have their hands full with in-flight jobs. A Flyback chronograph eliminates the need for two manually executed tasks and eases a pilot’s workload, while increasing flight safety, by pre-empting two potential sourcers of human error. If he is wearing an ordinary chronograph and doesn’t press hard enough (wether or not his intention is to stop the chronograph, return its hands to zero and restart them), his wristwatch won’t indicate the correct elapsed time.

There are several brands that manufacture flyback watches, at watch-inc.com we offer imitations of panerai, blancpain, breitling depending on availability.

Blancpain flyback replica watch

Watch-Inc. Staff