Recent events have convinced me that we indeed live in interesting times. On the back of three strange pandemic years, war in Europe, and other factors leading to all kinds of shortages and price hikes across many industries.Do we find ourselves in a similar situation with watches? Some of us found comfort in the fact that we could all grab a slice of omega at a very affordable $380AUD with the launch of the bioceramic moonswatches but even that release has let many people down. It’s almost like a depression with hyper inflated prices for goods that would have otherwise been reasonably attainable but without a depression. Well there is comfort in knowing that there are watches out there that are still attainable for around the $400 mark that do pretty much everything a moonswatch does, built better, in my opinion look better, and have more functionality by far. May I introduce the Seiko Flightmaster SNA411, AKA “flighty”.

So you’re wondering what’s so good about the Seiko Flightmaster SNA411? Well if you are new to the hobby there are a few key things that stand out. First, it has 200m of water resistance and a screw down crown. Nothing like a rolex double or triple lock but still a very good feature for the price. Not bad for a pilots watch and useful to have in case you have to ditch your aircraft into the sea. Second, the functionality is superb. Subdials are for the compass, stopwatch, and alarm, the hands are for telling the time (yes really), it has a rotating bezel, a utility bearing compass scale, a conversion scale, a logarithmic scale on the bezel ruler, the fixed dial ruler, a logarithmic scale on the dial ruler, a time index for time conversion and a time scale. If you’ve worked out how to use these (using the supplied seiko rotary slide rule manual included with the watch) you’ll be able to calculate remaining fuel in the tank and perform complex calculations needed as a pilot. Bet you can’t do that with a moonswatch! Other features that also stand out are:

– High-quality stainless steel construction

– Great design and craftsmanship

– Chronograph functionality

– Two screw lock buttons to go with the screw down crown

– 42 mm case diameter with 12 mm thickness which may seem big but wears well even on smaller wrists than mine

– Hardlex crystal for good shock and scratch resistance

– Decent lumed indices and hands

– Killer looks on nato and aftermarket straps (especially the fifth wrist chook strap)

Clearly the Seiko Flightmaster SNA411 isn’t the best watch around, nor is it the best aviator. It hasn’t been to the moon or any of our planets let alone left our atmosphere but with its looks, solid build quality, functionality, excellent price point, and most importantly availability without ridiculously inflated reseller premiums, I believe it’s the watch to buy to help fill that void left behind by unobtainable watches. It’s been my reliable companion for many years and will be rotated in my collection for many more to come.