Model # AVI-4016-02
Brand/Model: AVI-8 Hawker
Hurricane
Movement: Chinese automatic
Material: stainless steel case,
leather strap
Complications: date display
Price: MSRP: $520 USD
Plenty of photos follow the review.
Click on the pictures to enlarge.
When a
representative from the AVI-8 watch company contacted me about doing a review
on one of their watches, I was quite excited.
What’s this? A watch company that
has a wide range of nifty looking watches that I have never heard of? Great, bring it on!
AVI-8 is a British
company that sells a lot of their watches in the UK, but also has distribution
in the U.S. Their watches can also be
found at a considerable discount off MSRP at Amazon.
The AVI-8 web site
is well done, the range of pilot watches and chronographs they produce is
impressive, with styles that are their own; there aren’t really any homage-type
pieces in their collection, which is refreshing. They make both quartz and automatic watches
and I was interested in reviewing one of their popular Hawker Hurricane
automatics.
This model is named
after the Hawker Hurricane airplane, which was the first monoplane fighter to
enter service into the Royal Airforce (RAF) in Britain according to an
information card included with the watch.
Powered by a Rolls Royce engine, the Hurricane was the first RAF fighter
to exceed 300 mph.
While the AVI-8
Hawker Hurricane watch doesn’t go 300 mph, it does hold its own on your
wrist. Starting with a brushed stainless
steel case that measures a healthy 46mm without the large knurled crown, the
Hawker Hurricane does make a statement when worn. The big crown enables easy setting and
winding and is embossed with the AVI-8 bulls eye logo.
The watch measures
50.8mm including the crown. Lug width is
22mm, case thickness is 13mm. While this
watch is ‘large’ by most people’s standards, it is in keeping with the trend
toward 45mm and larger watches. More
importantly, it really doesn’t look clownish on the wrist, which is a testament
to its overall subdued style, as there are no garish touches that so many other
watches have these days. In a word, it’s
‘clean.’
The caseback is a
screw down display type with a polished stainless steel outer edge. The movement is really nothing special to
look at; it’s undecorated and the rotor is not signed or stylized in any way,
so what’s the point of putting a display back on this watch? It would be much nicer if AVI-8 installed a
solid caseback instead, emblazoned with a graphic of a Hawker Hurricane
fighter.
The Hawker
Hurricane pilot automatic is factory rated for a modest 50 meters of water
resistance.
Overall fit and
finish on this piece is good, with no unduly sharp edges on the case or dirt or
other discrepancies noted on the dial under an 8X loupe exam. One of the plates on the movement had some
discoloration or smudging on it, but it didn’t affect the movement’s
performance.
The dial is quite
interesting on this watch. The field of
the dial has a textured, slightly pebbly black finish with an overlayed chapter
ring that has the luminous minute and hour markers on it, with a luminous
triangle with a dot on either side located at the 12 position.
At the 3 position
is a rather small round date window ringed in silver. The date window is a tad bit too small, as it
almost obscures part of the date wheel, especially when the date is in double
digits. A larger date window is required
here. The date wheel itself is black on
white and alignment within the small porthole is good. Quickset date action through the crown works
fine.
The hour and minute
hands are semi-sword style and are black with inset lume. The seconds subdial located at the 9 position
(making this watch in popular parlance a ‘nine-eater’) is surrounded by a
screwed down silver frame, adding a bit of flair to the dial. The subseconds dial has small arabics every
10 minutes, with hash marks for the rest of the dial. The seconds hand is black with inset lume.
All the lume on
this watch is green colored in normal light, which at first I wasn’t too crazy
about. I like lume on a watch, but
sometimes if it’s too greenish in daylight, it detracts from the overall look
of the piece. I’ve grown accustomed to
the green lume on the Hawker Hurricane and in the dark, the lume quality is
acceptable.
The rest of the
dial is nice and clean, with ‘AVI-8’ and ‘Hawker Hurricane’ under the 12
position and ‘automatic’ above the 6 position.
The balance of the dial is slightly off-kilter due to the large
subseconds dial on the left and the small date window on the right, but it’s
not a major distraction and actually helps give this watch its own sense of
style.
Capping the dial is
a flat mineral crystal set perfectly into the case, with no distortion or
defects noted.
Inside the Hawker
Hurricane is a Chinese automatic movement, a DG-3809-3D, which AVI-8 tells me
is a ‘modified Seagull movement.’
Beating at 21,600 bph, the movement hacks and manually winds. Setting, winding and overall operation of the
movement has been fine. Accuracy has
averaged about +10 seconds/24 hours (even better on the wrist), which is completely
acceptable for this movement type. Power
reserve is a very fine 49 hours.
I still have
reservations on the long-term durability and reliability of Chinese-made
automatic movements, but so far, the one in this Hawker Hurricane has acquitted
itself quite well.
One pleasant
surprise with the AVI-8 Hawker Hurricane is the quality of the leather strap
that comes on the watch. It’s a smooth dark
brown leather with white contrast stitching, not really padded, but quite
thick. Many times thick straps are too unwieldy,
but this one has enough give to make it properly hug your wrist, even with the
large size of the watch itself.
The strap is signed
on the inside and has a brushed stainless steel buckle signed with the AVI-8
name. Two keepers, one fixed and one
floating keep everything in check. The strap measures 22mm at the lugs and
tapers slightly to about 21mm at the buckle.
The end of the strap is squared off with rounded edges, which is a nice
touch. The strap also doesn’t have any
offensive odors to it. Sometimes,
cheaper leather straps smell like a wet dog, but this strap is a quality piece
that compliments the watch well.
Presentation is
another strong point with the Hawker Hurricane.
A white cardboard outer box with a brown padded and stitched
leather-like inner box with a snap tab closure contains the watch. Inside this padded box is the watch, hang
tag, watch pillow, instruction manual, warranty card (a two-year warranty is
standard) and the Hawker Hurricane info. card mentioned earlier.
The way the box is
designed, the top half lays practically flat when opened, so you could use it
as a small jewelry box or watch holder on a dresser top if desired. At last, a watch box that can be used for
something useful instead of being relegated to a dark closet shelf.
Overall, the AVI-8
Hawker Hurricane is a smartly styled affordable (when bought at a discount)
pilot watch that certainly has its own unique look. It wears surprisingly well for its size and
has enough flair to keep up in today’s frenetic world. Props to AVI-8 (pun intended?) for coming up
with watches that have interesting designs, good quality and nice features in
the crowded watch world.
Pros: a watch that has its own design style, large
crown makes operation easy, nice quality leather strap, easy to read dial and hands
Cons: modest water resistance, a solid caseback
is preferred, date window too small, case size still too large for some
Verdict: stylish and bold but not brash, this
Hawker Hurricane automatic pilot watch shows that AVI-8 is serious about
bringing an affordable alternative to the crowded field of ‘me-too’ homage watches
and other look-alikes. Cheers! to the
company for making a pilot watch that stands on its own.
Thanks for reading
and enjoy the pics.
Excelsior!
-Marc
