Buying Guides
AIM Watches - A Unique Approach to Aviation Watches
Aviation and Aeroplanes have been linked to wristwatches for decades, due to the importance of keeping the time while crossing timezones during flight, and early wristwatches were perfect for pilots who needed to check the time while maintaining control of their aircraft. Yet in the modern day, UAE-originating brand AIM Watches provides a new connection between Aviation and Timepieces.
Who are AIM Watches? They are possibly one of the most unique watch brands in the world, with a very specific target audience - Aviation Enthusiasts. While this target audience is not an uncommon group to market to in the watchmaking industry, with watches from top brands such as the Pilot's watch and Pilot's Chronographs from IWC and the entire style of Pilot's watches are somewhat aimed at Aviation Enthusiasts, AIM Watches takes it to the next level, with the entirety of their brand being aimed at this particular group, since their watches are made using parts from AEROPLANES.
A Brand founded in the UAE by pilot Greg Browne, AIM stands for Aviator Inspired Movement- reflecting their brand values and entire USP of their watches.
The watches created by AIM in their workshop, which is based in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, recycle the parts of salvaged Aeroplanes, using the materials to assemble watches.
The brand offers aviation enthusiasts ultimate personalisation and exclusivity, giving customers the choice of plane in which the materials are extracted from to create the watch, and therefore allowing specific engravings, as well as limiting the number of pieces for each collection of watches, due to the limited material, providing customers with the feeling of a unique piece and giving a few people the chance to even get a watch with materials made from a plane they travelled on, due to the wide range of choice, specifically for the Alpha Series A380 Watches, giving customers 7 Different models of A380 Aircrafts to have their watch manufactured with resources from.
The Alpha Series A380 was the debut watch for the brand and is the only current watch that is available as a mainstream collection on the AIM Watches Website (as of 30/06/2026), and they retail for $3,250, or £2,453. The collection is limited to 380 Pieces, a nod to the Boeing A380 airplane, used in the manufacturing process of the watches. Each watch is designed in the AIM Workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and is designed in the UAE, aptly engraved on the back of the case, surrounding the sapphire crystal display.
Surrounded by the dismembered aircraft materials is the movement, which can be viewed through the engraved open caseback, each one with it's unique number and plane registration, as well as the brand logo in the centre. The movement is the Sellita SW200-1, which is an outsourced, 26 jewel automatic movement that provides 41 hours of power when fully wound by the self-winding mechanism.
Based on the price of the watch at nearly £2,500, this movement could be better, however this could be a temporary movement to keep costs down while the brand launches with this unique selling point and more expensive material choice for the watches, or it could be a permanent function. This choice of movement highlights what the customer money is paying for, that being the aircraft material and the limited edition nature of the watches, showing that the brand is really aiming at aviation enthusiasts rather than the technical and demanding watch market.
It seems like we aren't too far from another release too, with the Supersonic Concorde available to preview on the AIM Watches website now, showing the details about the upcoming collection, using materials from two different Concorde models of plane, an English and French. Limited to 60 pieces, this will no doubt be popular with watch and aviation fans, due to the exclusivity and retirement of the world-famous Concorde aircraft, and getting the chance to wear a piece of that history on your wrist is not something aviation fans will want to pass up.
This model appears to be delivered with a leather strap instead of metal bracelet, yet this strap is made from the leather of the seats from the famous planes, and the negative space design on the side of the case resembles the nose-shape of the Concorde planes. It is also planned to be 42.5mm in diameter, and all materials used from the Concorde in the watches are able to be authenticated and traced back to the original aircrafts.
The movement and price of the watch is To Be Confirmed, but we can see that it will be a manual-winding movement inside this timepiece instead of the automatic Sellita SW200-1 from the Alpha Series.
It is also clear that there is a Boeing 747 Collection Coming Soon from the AIM Watches Website, however little details on this upcoming release are available. All we can tell is that it will be a GMT-Function timepiece, maintaining the strong aviation links in their designs and purposes in each watch.
In conclusion, the wristwatches produced by AIM are perfect for those who have a strong passion for aviation and planes and are looking for a time-capsule of the planes of bygone eras on their wrists, while getting a solid and reliable movement inside the watch, but yet to be anything for the scrutinising watch industry who have little affiliation with aircraft to write home about, at a price point increasingly dominated by brands with good value-for-money technicalities and specifications inside their watches.
What do you think of AIM Watches, and will you be keeping an eye on this brand for their future releases?
