| Watch Specs |
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| The Story Behind This Watch |
Introduction
The Debaufre Airforce is second entry by the company into the instrument or cockpit style of watches. That is, watches modeled after and meant to look like it could have been found on the inside of an airplane cockpit. These are usually found having a large, square shaped case with easily legible markers and hands as normally found on the interior dials and gauges (and yes, clocks). The style tends to be large and bold, and the Airforce is no exception. And, as well as having a large stature, the Airfoce contains a popular and tried-and-true movement inside. This review focuses on the Airforce Orage by Debaufre; their “other” entry into the instrument style watches is the Aircraft-8, which one can find on the Debaufre site.
Packaging and Presentation
The Airforce Orange shipped well packaged in Debaufre’s standard packaging. The standard watch box (you can upgrade for an additional cost to a wood display box) is black with a red stripe, and the Debaufre coat of arms on top of the box. The box is actually contained inside a black cardboard sleeve with a rectangle cut out of the top so you can see the logo. It’s 4.75″ wide, 4.75″ deep and 3.5″ tall. Opening the box one finds the Debaufre name on the inside of the lid, and of course the watch, protected by an additional piece of foam. It’s always nice when people (be they an individual seller or a company like Debaufre) take the time to make sure the watch is protected inside whichever vessel it is to be shipped in. It’s not like the top of the box is not padded, but the foam just provides that little extra protection. Also inside the box is an International Guarantee card (size of a credit card) that has the details of the 2 year guarantee, signed and dated along with a strap changing tool needed for the special lugs (more on that in the case/strap sections). It’s a well designed box suitable for presentation, should one desire.
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1. The box and outer sleve
2. Box showing the Debaufre coat of arms
3. Inside the box
Case, Bezel, Crown and Crystal
Let’s start by looking at the case. The watch is actually one of two in the Debaufre collection with this case: the Airforce and Le Mans both share this case, the difference being the PVD for the Airforce cases and the regular unfinished stainless steel for the Le Mans. I’ve never handled the Le Mans, but from the photos I can see on their site, they do appear the same. It is interesting that Debaufre uses the same case for two very differently themed watches (racing and instrument), and it works in both instances (although I prefer the case for the Airforce series personally).
As stated, the Airforce case is done in a PVD finish. PVD, for those who do not know, stands for Physical Vapor Deposition. It is a process by which a material is vaporized and deposited on the base material (the stainless steel case), bonding at a molecular level with said base material (read more about PVD here). Unlike other instrument style watches, the case is not completely square (like, for example, the Bell & Ross BR-1 or the Debaufre Aircraft-8). The Airforce case has some curvature to it on each side and the top, just a gentle curve out from the lugs and sides then back in. It gives the watch a “softer” look than those completely square and still retains its navigation/instrument quality. The four hex screws on the front of the case are not just for decoration. The case is actually in a total of three pieces: the top bezel portion, the bottom portion containing the lugs and back and lastly the screw on exhibition case back. One could actually replace the top section (or any other) if there were a need. A most interesting and not as common of a case design. The screw heads on the front of the watch match the ones at the lugs holding the strap in place for a consistent look. The screws themselves differ between the case and the strap, with the case screws being much beefier than their strap counterparts. Logical given the task that the screws have, and that screws that size wouldn’t fit into the strap anyway. Debaufre ships with the watch a tool that is used to change the strap, the same tool can also be used on the screws on the front of the case as well. I do recommend that you check these regularly, loosing a spring bar is no big deal, one of these screws is (and I am speaking from experience). The overall finish of the case is clean. I could not find any defects or oddities in the case, with the exception of the screw at 4:00 which needed to simply be removed and re-threaded. The watch is very well constructed with a clean finish.
The case dimensions spell out Big with that capitol B. It comes in at 44mm across without the crown, but the extra large crown gives it some additional width (49.8mm worth). The watch is proportionally tall at 14.5mm with a lug to lug distance of a hefty 56mm. As I have said in other reviews, this is what can really kill