The Pilot Watch Finds Its Wings with Zenith Montre d’Aéronef Type 20

The Wright Brothers and Alberto Santos ushered in the golden age of aviation as well as the Pilot Watch (as we told you in the History of Pilot Watches Part 1), and Louis Blériot assumed their mantle. Once it was possible to fly, newborn pilots raised the goals, and people attempted to do the impossible, like flying across the English Channel.

These newly minted pilots, these fledgling birds, having just left the nest, were now trying to write their names in the record books. Blériot succeeded, and Zenith was there, forever establishing the fusion of horology and flight.


The prize to fly across the English Channel was 1,000 pounds – adjusted for inflation, a tidy sum in any age. The French newspaper Le Matin disparaged the contest by declaring that there was no chance of a pilot winning the prize; the attempt was unreasonable.

In 1909 with a Zenith strapped to his wrist, Blériot crossed 31 miles of open water, stretching from horizon to horizon. The flight from Calais to Dover lasted approximately 40 minutes, which he flew at an altitude of 150 to 300 feet. The danger was immense, the thrill enticing and the fame immortal; Blériot was unable to resist.


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