There are many reasons to love the 42mm Hemel Airfoil Black chronograph, but these four in particular made this a simply must-have for our inventory:
A gorgeous exhibition case back, showcasing a decorated hand-wound movement, with blued screws. With no rotor in the way to block the view, this can make observing the chronograph in action quite a treat. The movement itself has some interesting history as it is directly descended from the Venus 175, a famous Swiss column-wheel chronograph used in Swiss watches such as the Breitling Chronomat. Seagull acquired the plans and the original Venus equipment to manufacture the Venus 175, and went on to produce the improved version you see here.
A swan neck regulator, for those who fancy the idea of more easily regulating a watch themselves for even greater accuracy. We'll share more information on this for the curious in our video review.
Vintage military styling done right. The dial design is based on 1970s British military pilot watches. Hemel themselves have other military tie-ins, including a partnership with the US Air Force, and their focus on military watches really seems to be paying off with great attention to detail. The magnifying curvature on the edge of the dial glass is reminiscent of a vintage hesalite dial, but the dial is a modern scratch resistant double-domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, which goes nicely with the scratch resistant gloss ceramic bezel and 100 meters water resistance.
Attention to detail. This extends to a very clear and legible design, and the selection of 12 hour lumed markers on the 120 click bezel, which enables the bezel to be used to extend the chronograph timing function by simply setting the bezel pip to the hour hand location right after starting the chronograph timer. Of course it also doubles as a second time zone, and can be used as a traditional dive watch timer as well.
