RESERVOIR expands its Airfight collection by introducing a new chronograph model dedicated to the world of aviation. Paying tribute to legendary P-51 Mustang fighter plane, this timepiece also boasts the emblematic Bi-Retrograde display.
RESERVOIR Airfight Chronograph takes inspiration from the instrument panel of P-51 Mustang. The iconic hours and minutes hands, black with a large white luminous triangle at their tips, echo the design of the indicators used on the P-51’s instrument panel.
The dial design also evokes P-51 Mustang’s instrument panel indicators such as ‘Badin’ airspeed indicator, the vertical speed indicator, the tachometer measuring rpm, and other instruments.
At the same time, the Airfight Chronograph dial features sectors in green, orange, and black. Each indicates a different status: normal (green), danger (orange), and prohibited (red). While this colour code is universal, pilots in particular will recognise more specific indications relating to rpm, stalling speed (VS) and carburettor temperatures (with the risk of icing in certain weather conditions triggering carburettor heating).
Each of these features serves a specific operational purpose. At the heart of this system lies the key flight instrument, the chronograph, measuring elapsed flight time, marking off waypoints, and allowing range and remaining available flight time to be calculated.
Each flight is carefully timed, from engine on to full shutdown via every phase of flight. It’s vital for any aircraft to have a chronograph on board.
With that in mind, RESERVOIR has designed a highly readable chronograph with the large seconds at centre, the 30-minute counter is at 12 o’clock, and the hour counter at 6 o’clock.
This vertical layout along a single axis is user-friendly and easy to read. The distinctively different markings (0-30 for minutes, 12 hour increments for the hours) prevent any possible confusion. The jumping minutes avoid any risk of the errors that might arise with a display in which one minute gradually gives way to the next.
Either side of the chronograph’s central axis, RESERVOIR has arranged two 120° arcs displaying the green, orange and red colour scheme.
The first, on the left, has markings from 0 to 30, indicating retrograde seconds. Indeed, the retrograde complication has been one of RESERVOIR’s hallmarks, right from brand’s earliest days, embodying the desire to have a rare complication alongside a creative display that brings life to any dial.
To the right sits a second segment, graduated from 1 to 31 to indicate the date; this too is retrograde. The first day of the month is at the bottom, the last at the top: this vertical progression is also inspired by the various instruments on the P-51 panel, such as its temperature and fuel gauges.
Inside the RESERVOIR Airfight Chronograph beats an in-house complication within the RSV-Bi120 Calibre, an automatic winding bi-retrograde manufacture chronograph and column wheel with an LJP-L1C0 base. The movement boasts a 60-hour power reserve and can be viewed through the sapphire caseback.
RESERVOIR has also borrowed extensively from the P-51 controls for the externals, starting with the crown, which echoes the knurled knobs used by aviators to adjust settings such as the altimeter and QNH atmospheric pressure values.
Like any instrument panel, the dial is of course all-black. The bezel features a telemeter scale.
This timepiece is available with a 43-millimetre steel or black PVD case on a black leather and canvas strap with pin buckle, together with an additional NATO strap.
The Airfight Chronograph joins the Airfight collection, where it will be available in-store and online from September 2023 onwards.
Images@ Laura Evrat Photography
Technical details
Model: RESERVOIR Airfight Chronograph
References
RSV02.AF/136: Steel case
RSV02.AF/136.BL: Black PVD Steel case
Case
316L Stainless Steel Case or black PVD with brushed finish
Diameter: 43mm
Tachymeter bezel
Crown inspired by warbirds cockpit potentiometers and switches
Water-resistant 50m / 5ATM
360° Opened case-back
Domed anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Dial
Black Dial
Hands and main indexes with Superluminova BG W9
Movement
Calibre RSV-Bi120: manufacture bi-retrograde chronograph movement, automatic mechanical winding and column wheel (base LJP-L1C0)
60 hours power reserve
28,800 alt./h
Swiss Made
Functions
Chronograph (central second, 30-minute counter at 12, hour counter at 6), Bi-Retrograde date and seconds at 120°, Hour, Minute
Strap
Black canvas & leather strap
22 mm width
Black PVD stainless steel butterfly folding clasp
Additional NATO strap provided with quick release spring bars for easy changing of strap
Box
Prestigious wooden box
Price
5’750 €TTC, 5’750 CHF, 5’300 £ (including taxes), 5’750 $ w/o taxes
