Avi-8 Flyboy Lafayette Release: 110 Years in the Making

Jilliano Romano
7 days ago
3 min read

Imagine you're flying through the sky as faceless pilots do their best to shoot you down. Scary, right? Now imagine that you're doing all of this while piloting a machine that was invented less than two decades ago. This is what the volunteer pilots of the La Fayette Escadrille, a French Air Force unit comprised of both American and French pilots, during the First World War experienced every time they flew. Now that we are over a hundred years removed from the original aerial combatants, the aviation watch-focused brand Avi-8 has created the limited edition Flyboy Lafayette in honor of the legendary squadron.

Available for order from May 29, 2026, this beautiful new watch is available for 330 USD. Please note that the full review will be coming soon, and this article will leave out more detailed thoughts for the official review.

Avi-8 Flyboy Lafayette watch photo by Jilliano The Watch Brief

Avi-8 Flyboy Lafayette: The Design

There are so many iconic pilots watches from the fliegers of Stowa and Laco to the post-WWII Breitling Navitimer, so it's an uphill battle for any brand to come up with something fresh and visually interesting. If watches were judged solely on presentation, then Avi-8 has already succeeded.

The Flyboy Lafayette is available with a bold bronze case and a sunburst, textured black dial, or a stainless steel case with a green dial, a silver dial, or a blue dial. The dial is split into two discs with the center disc showcasing the textured sunburst finish, while the other disc has a matching glossy color, large numerals at 12, 9, 3, and 6, and a blacked out date window right above the 6 o'clock. The date window is nicely done, as they went with a circular frame, making it blend into the dial, and the date is still visible anytime you wish to check.

Like other heritage flieger or pilot watches, the minute track encircles the minute and hour hand, instead of putting it on the outside like your average watch. Instead, the entire dial is ringed with a pulsometer. The pulsometer - as the name suggests - is used to track a person's heartbeat, which may seem out of place on a pilot's watch, but this appears to be a reference to the fact that the La Fayette Escadrille Squadron was created in part because of Dr. Edmund L. Gros, who organized the American Ambulance Field Service. This isn't a a feature you often see on any watch, so this is quite neat.

Not Another Pilot Watch...?

I will admit it right now - I do not represent the average consumer. The reason is that I love pilots watches more than the normal person. I love them, whether they have a hundred years of history, or they're a completely new microbrand. Although Avi-8 isn't exactly one of the Dirty Dozen, they are not your average microbrand, and you can see that from the custom rotor in the movement, the signed crown, the beautiful packaging (it's better than my 2,000 dollar Seiko's packaging, that's for sure), and it was made in honor of a real dogfighting squadron from the First World War.

Limited to 180 individually numbered pieces per variant, the Flyboy Lafayette offers fantastic value at an amazing price point. Check out the Flyboy collection at the following link: Avi-8 Flyboy.

Stay tuned for the full review coming soon!