Beautiful, but keep it out of the pool
By Rafael Ortiz, Mexico City ·
Blancpain built the Air Command on a 1950s prototype story, and you can feel the history in it: the black dial, the rotating bezel for timing, the flyback chronograph that lets you reset and restart in one push. Of everything in this bracket, it's the one that looks most like it belongs to a pilot from an older era, which I say with real affection.
The F388B is the part I'd brag about. Flyback, 50 hours of reserve, and you can watch it through the open caseback. I like the pusher logic on a flyback for my job, because in the air you don't want to stop, reset and start again with three separate pushes while doing something else with your other hand.
Here's the catch. It's 42.5 mm wide and 15 mm thick, on a leather strap, rated to 30 meters. Thirty. For 19,000 to 20,000 dollars. I'd be fine on the flight deck, but a hotel pool in Madrid in August would make me nervous.
For that money I'd seriously look at the Breguet Type XX next to it, which has 100 m and a longer reserve. The Air Command is for the person who wants the most romantic flyback in the room and is happy to baby it.