“Look up! It’s a field watch! It’s a pilot’s watch! It’s the new Formex AirField!”
There are two ways to make a pilot watch. You could dig through the archives, find a design from the 1940s, reproduce it down to the last rivet, and call it a day. Or you could take the practical foundations of a field watch, give it a cockpit-inspired makeover, and see what happens when you let it spread its wings.
Formex has opted for the latter with the new AirField Automatic 40 mm, a fresh addition to its Field collection that brings aviation-inspired design to a watch that doesn’t appear to have any intention of spending its life exclusively in an aircraft.
Rather than going full vintage aviator, the AirField retains the contemporary, purpose-driven design of the existing Formex Field, with a few changes to help it stand out. Think broad sword-shaped hands, recessed Arabic numerals, and a triangle flanked by two dots at 12 o’clock. If you’ve ever wanted to tell the time with the sort of urgency usually reserved for pilots trying to find a runway, you’re in luck.
“Field Watch, Meet Pilot’s Watch…”
The AirField’s most obvious change is its dial, which takes inspiration from aviation instrumentation without getting carried away with the whole cockpit aesthetic.
The broad hour and minute hands are designed for quick reading, while the long, slender seconds hand comes with an aircraft-shaped counterweight. It’s a subtle touch, the sort of detail that might escape your attention until someone points it out, at which point you’ll wonder how you ever missed it.
The finely grained dial surface is produced using a stamping process, with recessed Arabic numerals and hour markers individually filled with Super-LumiNova. A sloped chapter ring rises towards the sapphire crystal, adding depth around the dial without making the watch unnecessarily tall.
At 6 o’clock sits Formex’s signature beveled date window. Its angled construction is intended to improve visibility from different viewing angles, while the colour-matched date disc keeps the display from looking like someone pasted a calendar onto the dial as an afterthought.
There are four dial colours to choose from: Desert Sand, Horizon Blue, Jet Black, and Tarmac Grey. Each has its own personality, although none appears to require a flight plan before leaving the house.
“Lightweight, But Not Lightly Built”
One of the AirField’s more practical selling points is its Grade 2 titanium case, which measures 40 mm across, 10.5 mm thick, and 48 mm from lug to lug. The lug width is 20 mm, making the proportions fairly straightforward for everyday wear.
The watch head weighs just 54 grams, which should make it particularly appealing to anyone who enjoys wearing a watch but isn’t especially fond of feeling one tugging at their wrist all day.
Of course, titanium’s lightness is hardly breaking news. Formex has gone a step further by applying a hardening treatment that brings the surface hardness to approximately 900 Vickers (HV), around five times that of conventional stainless steel according to the brand. It’s a useful bit of reassurance for those of us who have the uncanny ability to find doorframes, desk corners, and other expensive obstacles with our watches.
The practical credentials continue with a screw-down crown, 150 metres of water resistance, and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. Flip the watch over and you’ll find a solid, hardened titanium case back decorated with a classic radial aircraft engine and propeller.
It’s a nice aviation-themed detail, even if most of us will spend considerably more time looking at spreadsheets than flying anything with a propeller.
“More Time Between Take-Offs”
Inside the AirField is the Swiss-made Sellita SW200-2 Power+ automatic movement, an updated version that extends the power reserve from the standard 41 hours to 65 hours.
The movement runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz), uses 26 jewels, and includes a date display. More importantly, the extra power reserve means you can take the watch off on Friday evening, leave it alone over the weekend, and pick it up again without necessarily having to reset the time and date.
That’s the sort of upgrade that sounds modest on paper but makes a meaningful difference in daily use. Not every improvement needs to involve a complication that requires a degree in aerospace engineering to operate.
“Strapped In for the Journey”
Formex offers the AirField with two strap configurations, depending on whether you prefer your watches to lean more towards outdoor practicality or something a little more polished.
The nylon option uses an elastic, water-resistant construction with a Velcro closure. Available in black, blue, khaki green, and sand, these straps are lightweight, washable, and suited to travel or warmer climates. They’re also a reasonable choice for anyone who prefers not to spend the afternoon adjusting a buckle every time the weather changes.
For a dressier alternative, there’s a selection of Bolgheri leather straps in black, leone brown, caraffa brown, blue, and violet. These are paired with Formex’s carbon fibre composite deployant clasp, which features a patented 7 mm gradual fine-adjustment system. This allows the fit to be adjusted throughout the day without having to move between strap holes.
Both configurations feature a quick-release system, so swapping straps doesn’t require tools or the sort of steady hands usually associated with watchmakers and surgeons.
Pricing and Availability
The Formex AirField Automatic 40 mm is available in four dial colours: Desert Sand, Horizon Blue, Jet Black, and Tarmac Grey.
Prices start at CHF 830 (RM4,063) on the nylon Velcro strap, rising to CHF 970 (RM4,749) for the leather strap with the carbon fibre composite fine-adjustment deployant clasp. Pre-orders opened on 24 September 2026, with deliveries expected to begin towards the end of October 2026.
Ultimately, the AirField isn’t trying to be a historically faithful pilot’s watch, nor is it pretending that every trip to the supermarket is an expedition into hostile territory. Instead, it takes the rugged, lightweight foundations of the Formex Field and gives them an aviation-inspired twist.
It’s a contemporary everyday watch with legibility, comfort, durability, and a little bit of personality baked in. And if it occasionally makes you feel like you should be checking your altitude, well, at least you’ll be doing it on time.
