Laco is one of those brands I saw online for years and didn’t think too much about. Then last year I had an opportunity to handle a few at the ny windup show, and it was one of the brands that really stuck out to me in a positive way. Pilot watches are not really my thing, but when I inevitably get hit with the pilot watch itch, laco will be one of the first brands I turn to.
I LOVE Fleigers especially Laco with its heritage and affordable options. If it wasnt for the water resistance id probably prefer them over my divers. Just something about the simplicity and excellent legibility. A great no nonsense timepiece. When you get that itch to get one, you should definitely get it from Marc. An honest, authorized dealer and top notch customer service.
My first ever mechanical watch was a Laco Aachen I bought from Long Island Watch in 2012! I hope to get a nice Longines pilot watch when I finish my commercial pilot training but I will absolutely be getting on the Laco's more authentic vintage 45mm hand wound designs in future as well
Laco produces all of their watches close to my town in the city of Pforzheim ("the gold city"). I already visited the small headquarter and production facility there
I have a 39mm blue dial that i bought back in 2019. This was my first automatic watch an it's an amazing piece for the money. I does tend to run fast and after 2 weeks I'm ahead by a coupe minutes. Overall very happy with this with a bund strap!
If you take the watch off your wrist overnight, leave it face down on the table. I don’t know whether this works on Miyota movements, but I have found it works slowing down Seiko SNK movements that run fast.
The A and B dials weren't differentiated by role (all of them are B-uhr, observers' watches, they weren't issued to pilots), the A dial was the first version and the B was a later update.
@@jeanlefranc3817 I don't know of a good comprehensive source on this, but often they were two register chronographs, with a rotating bezel with a pointer or red index mark. Tutima and Hanhart both made them and probably others (also I'm not sure about issue vs private purchases - pilots who were officers may have been expected to buy their own).
@@jeanlefranc3817 To my knowledge, pilots would use chronographs from makers like Tutima and Hanhart, as backups to their dashboard instruments. I don't think they were issued but I didn't look too deep into it. I came across this info while learning about the b-uhren that inspired the models shown here. Edit: These chronos were issued to pilots, but they are not mil-spec like b-uhren. There's a great article on this on a site titled "A Crash Course In Flieger (Pilot) And B-Uhren (Navigator) Watches..." It's not blogspam and goes relaly into depth on the history of both categories.
Just a minor correction. The crew of a Heinkel 111, were Pilot, Nose Gunner who doubled as Bombardier and Navigator, Dorsal Gunner who operated the radio as well, a waist gunner and a ventral machine gunner. There was NO Observer.
Laco handwinding Leipzig for $1100 is the one. It's a lifetime watch. It's unique, the lugs are so cool, it's Swiss and German, great strap. Absolutely the best $1000 out there.
Own an ISL-47 and a ISL-17 is on the way. Both gray market, however ive been watching the gray laco for a bit. Super nice. Thanks for your watches and videos
Hi Mark, in case nobody has told you, Erbstuck would translate as "heirloom piece". They are great watches at the price. Hope you're selling lots of them. Love your reviews.
I love pilots watches. I personally have a Stowa, but I screwed up when I bought it by rushing, and I forgot to select no date complication or logo, as I wanted to make it more authentic. Still a beautiful watch and I won't fault it for me rushing lol. The Lacos were too big for my wrist though.
Love my oliv Aachen Laco. Wear a seiko solar diver as my daily as I bang it around and use it at night too My Laco my nice occation watch, its everything I wanted in a mechanical watch in design, history function and how it sits on my wrist
This video got me thinking about my Laco friedrichshafen I bought from you a few years back. Yeah it is 45mm and looks huge but I do have those big bucket hands where it just looks alright. Funny title but so true I got Laco to get rid of the itch to buy an IWC BIg Pilot. So glad I went with Laco, it still feels like an old school flieger.
Marc, this is a good opportunity to ask you to bring back the maroon Islander fliegers. I thought they were beautiful, but I put off picking one up until they were out of stock. I hope you'll restock them, and hopefully continue to leave them with no date.
Hi, you missed “Lange & Söhne” The original 5 Flieger manufacturers are: -IWC -A. Lange & Söhne -Stowa -Laco -and Wempe Great review and keep up the good work!
@@islandwatch Yes, Bro you mentioned it! Outstanding and I like your German. What about if, you come to Germany and learn a bit more about our watches and the culture and the people and the food…
Hi Mark! Great video as always. Forgive me if you've mentioned this before, but.. aren't YOU a private pilot? I seem to recall that you were taking flying lessons (as am I). BTW I opted for the virtually identical Stowa Flieger Classic 40 Baumuster B, the tie-breaker for me was the manual winder with a display case. Thanks for your work!
Why does the website show every individual color and size and bracelet type for every watch as a separate listing? It kinda makes it difficult and confusing to navigate and shop through all the watches. Would it be too difficult to condense all the color and strap options for each case size to one page with a pull down menu for all those options?
Pilot watches seem pretty popular right now. The ease of reading fhe time is a great appeal. I have three, two from Seiko (Type B, Mechanical) and one from Timex (Type A, Quartz). Never seen the appeal of worn from the factory look.
Es ist überraschend unlogisch, dass ein deutsches Unternehmen ein künstliches Erbstück-Zifferblatt für eine Uhr herstellt, aber verhindert, dass das Bronzegehäuse eine Erbstück-Patina annimmt.
Laco is one of those brands I saw online for years and didn’t think too much about. Then last year I had an opportunity to handle a few at the ny windup show, and it was one of the brands that really stuck out to me in a positive way. Pilot watches are not really my thing, but when I inevitably get hit with the pilot watch itch, laco will be one of the first brands I turn to.
Very true, thanks for watching!
I LOVE Fleigers especially Laco with its heritage and affordable options. If it wasnt for the water resistance id probably prefer them over my divers. Just something about the simplicity and excellent legibility. A great no nonsense timepiece. When you get that itch to get one, you should definitely get it from Marc. An honest, authorized dealer and top notch customer service.
The grey color is sharp! The blue hands are a nice touch.
yeah, I did the blue for sure
My first ever mechanical watch was a Laco Aachen I bought from Long Island Watch in 2012! I hope to get a nice Longines pilot watch when I finish my commercial pilot training but I will absolutely be getting on the Laco's more authentic vintage 45mm hand wound designs in future as well
Laco produces all of their watches close to my town in the city of Pforzheim ("the gold city"). I already visited the small headquarter and production facility there
I have a 39mm blue dial that i bought back in 2019. This was my first automatic watch an it's an amazing piece for the money. I does tend to run fast and after 2 weeks I'm ahead by a coupe minutes.
Overall very happy with this with a bund strap!
Bund straps are cool
If you take the watch off your wrist overnight, leave it face down on the table. I don’t know whether this works on Miyota movements, but I have found it works slowing down Seiko SNK movements that run fast.
@@Tesserae interesting, I'll put it face down in my watch case when I'm not using. Thanks for the advice!
LOVE Laco! 😃👍🏼
Thanks for sharing.
thanks for watching!
Absolutely love these grey dial Lacos. 😍
Thanks Mark! Still loving my Laco Aachen I bought from you last year. It's such a cool watch and the lume is fantastic.
I'm not into gray, but Laco somehow manages to produce a gray watch on gray strap design, which I would love to add to my collection.
The A and B dials weren't differentiated by role (all of them are B-uhr, observers' watches, they weren't issued to pilots), the A dial was the first version and the B was a later update.
thank you
What type of watches were issued to Luftwaffen pilots ?
@@jeanlefranc3817 I don't know of a good comprehensive source on this, but often they were two register chronographs, with a rotating bezel with a pointer or red index mark. Tutima and Hanhart both made them and probably others (also I'm not sure about issue vs private purchases - pilots who were officers may have been expected to buy their own).
@@jeanlefranc3817 To my knowledge, pilots would use chronographs from makers like Tutima and Hanhart, as backups to their dashboard instruments. I don't think they were issued but I didn't look too deep into it. I came across this info while learning about the b-uhren that inspired the models shown here.
Edit: These chronos were issued to pilots, but they are not mil-spec like b-uhren. There's a great article on this on a site titled "A Crash Course In Flieger (Pilot) And B-Uhren (Navigator) Watches..." It's not blogspam and goes relaly into depth on the history of both categories.
Just a minor correction. The crew of a Heinkel 111, were Pilot, Nose Gunner who doubled as Bombardier and Navigator, Dorsal Gunner who operated the radio as well, a waist gunner and a ventral machine gunner. There was NO Observer.
great watches + video, I'd like to see a video of your flieger collection
thank you
I already bought two Lacos from you Marc. Already coveting these. Thank you.
Laco handwinding Leipzig for $1100 is the one. It's a lifetime watch. It's unique, the lugs are so cool, it's Swiss and German, great strap. Absolutely the best $1000 out there.
Own an ISL-47 and a ISL-17 is on the way. Both gray market, however ive been watching the gray laco for a bit. Super nice. Thanks for your watches and videos
the republic is the best watch that long island watch has produced to date!
thank you
Hi Mark, in case nobody has told you, Erbstuck would translate as "heirloom piece". They are great watches at the price. Hope you're selling lots of them. Love your reviews.
You have won a prize! A free video!!!
I love pilots watches. I personally have a Stowa, but I screwed up when I bought it by rushing, and I forgot to select no date complication or logo, as I wanted to make it more authentic. Still a beautiful watch and I won't fault it for me rushing lol. The Lacos were too big for my wrist though.
Which model Stowa did you get?
@@Ferien7 Flieger 40mm
Stowa is really nice
CMIIW, almost every Laco watches come in 2 sizes, 42 & 38 mm.
Oooh, you're tempting me with a 45mm Flieger, I'll have to check that out! 😃
Love my oliv Aachen Laco. Wear a seiko solar diver as my daily as I bang it around and use it at night too
My Laco my nice occation watch, its everything I wanted in a mechanical watch in design, history function and how it sits on my wrist
I like Flieger type watches. A lot. Probably why I have four… 2 of them are Islanders 💙🛩
Awesome, thanks
Looks amazing on the bracelet
There were dozens of watches made to the German air force during WWII but they were Laco, IWC, Stowa, Lange, and Wempe.
This video got me thinking about my Laco friedrichshafen I bought from you a few years back. Yeah it is 45mm and looks huge but I do have those big bucket hands where it just looks alright. Funny title but so true I got Laco to get rid of the itch to buy an IWC BIg Pilot. So glad I went with Laco, it still feels like an old school flieger.
That's awesome, thanks for sharing.
Marc, this is a good opportunity to ask you to bring back the maroon Islander fliegers. I thought they were beautiful, but I put off picking one up until they were out of stock. I hope you'll restock them, and hopefully continue to leave them with no date.
Can’t forget Stowa! One of the best original flieger watch producers 💪🏻
The bezel on the Breitling not being centered exactly at the 12 triggers my OCD.
Another good value pilots watch. I have a Stowa which is awesome
Hi, you missed “Lange & Söhne”
The original 5 Flieger manufacturers are:
-IWC
-A. Lange & Söhne
-Stowa
-Laco
-and Wempe
Great review and keep up the good work!
I did, 1:57 I give an update.
@@islandwatch Yes, Bro you mentioned it! Outstanding and I like your German. What about if, you come to Germany and learn a bit more about our watches and the culture and the people and the food…
lWC. For. $4K. Laco. For. $500? Easy. Choice. ! New. Laco. Pilot watches
Marc, when will the Islander pilot watches be back in stock? Thanks!
The watch weighs 134mm? Hmmm.. I think you just discovered a loop hole for the equation E=MC(square). 😄
LOL. Whoops!
Are you going to use 9075 movements? I’ve seen other micros using them so I was curious.
Cool video. I am so interested in pilot watches, like Spitfire watch. 👍🏼
Thank you.
Nice timepiece for the money!
The type b flieger (aachen) has different lug shape compared with the erbstück. Was that intentional?
The bronze one will look amazing with patina. Unfortunately is too expensive for me.
Perhaps they just cover the back of the rivets with the inner lining of the strap?
Hi Mark! Great video as always. Forgive me if you've mentioned this before, but.. aren't YOU a private pilot? I seem to recall that you were taking flying lessons (as am I). BTW I opted for the virtually identical Stowa Flieger Classic 40 Baumuster B, the tie-breaker for me was the manual winder with a display case. Thanks for your work!
Yay, I won a prize hahaha. Just kidding! Laco is low key a sleeper brand. They make some super nice things!
Why does the website show every individual color and size and bracelet type for every watch as a separate listing? It kinda makes it difficult and confusing to navigate and shop through all the watches. Would it be too difficult to condense all the color and strap options for each case size to one page with a pull down menu for all those options?
Erbstück = heirloom
Nice
Thank you
😵💫So tempting.
thanks William.
Pilot watches seem pretty popular right now. The ease of reading fhe time is a great appeal.
I have three, two from Seiko (Type B, Mechanical) and one from Timex (Type A, Quartz).
Never seen the appeal of worn from the factory look.
Thanks Dave
Es ist überraschend unlogisch, dass ein deutsches Unternehmen ein künstliches Erbstück-Zifferblatt für eine Uhr herstellt, aber verhindert, dass das Bronzegehäuse eine Erbstück-Patina annimmt.
A.Lange & Sohne is the 5th
Surprised the polar came in 42 and not in 39
Love Laco, but the lugs is too slim and make straps option limited...
Okay, thanks.
Made in Germany with a miyota movement... well, they were allies in WW2
They could skip the rivets entirely and this watch would be sporty/techy enough, but also double as a dress watch.
True, thank you.
Don’t think this is weird but I cannot visibly tell a difference between Laco and islander type a / b models
I won't compain! LOL
Pitying this guy, looking at his facial look,he is forced to take his face to the camera