Lacher & Co. (Laco) is widely considered one of the pioneers of the German pilot watch genre. They have been crafting Flieger style timepieces in Pforzheim since 1925 and have truly mastered the art. They are experts at blending almost a century’s worth of expertise with innovative new ideas and technology. Traditional Flieger watches are recognized for their large, high-contrast black dials featuring stark white hands, numerals, and indices. In an effort to add charm and flair to the traditional, Laco is introducing new variations of their classic Augsburg and Aachen watches with fresh green dials.
The difference between those two models lies in their dial configurations. The Augsburg follows the typical Type A dial layout, with a standard minute track surrounding the outer edge of the dial, and features beautiful, oversized hands. Alternatively, the Aachen has a Type B dial layout known as B-Uhr, or Beobachtungsuhren, which translates to observation watch. The latter’s perimeter displays the minutes, while a smaller track closer to the center shows the hours. As a result, the hands are quite different. The sword-shaped minute hand has most of its weight in the second half of its length, and the hour hand is shortened so that its tip stays within the inner circle.
With their polished steel-framed hands and new green dials, they most certainly feel more contemporary and fashionable. Powering these pilot watches is the Laco 2S, which is based on the Miyota 82S0 caliber. It features stop seconds and a 42-hour power reserve. If you wish to upgrade, you can replace it with the Laco 31 movement, which is a Miyota 8315, and get an additional 18 hours of reserve. For better nighttime visibility, SuperLuminova C1 is generously applied on the hands, numerals, and indices.
The Augsburg and Aachen both feature the same 42mm brushed stainless steel case with oversized crowns and case backs with display windows, allowing you to admire their inner workings. They are water-resistant to 50m and come on a beautiful stone-gray calfskin strap with green decorative stitching. These clearly aren’t your Vaters Fliegeruhr. Limited to only 250 pieces worldwide, they are now available for 440 Euros each. Laco
