Fortis and Aviation: How it all started

Fortis is the epitome of pilot’s tool watches. But do you know how it all started? Here is an insight…

In 1929 Lady Grace Drummond-Hay, a British journalist, took the first automatic watch in the world – the Harwood by Fortis for the first around-the-world trip in a Zeppelin LZ 127. The flight was completed in several stages, travelling eastwards between August 1st to September 4th, 1929.

The flight of Lady Drummond-Hay inspired Walter Vogt to pursue aviation inspired watches in the decades to follow.

Years later in 1987, inspired by the functional designs of the B-Uhr made during WWII, Fortis released the quartz Sky-watch, quickly followed by an automatic version based on the same design, effectively setting a trend for B-Uhr inspired watches.

At the advent of the new millenium, Fortis decided to refresh its collection and released a new version of the Flieger featuring a 42mm case, dubbed the B-42 case. The letter “B” was an homage to the legendary B-Uhr.