AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster Automatic Review

Hourstriker has exposed me to a lot of brands otherwise I would have never known about. One such brand is Avi-8 which was established in 2012 and focuses on producing non-traditional pilot's watches inspired by innovations in aviation throughout the decades.

Every collection that AVI-8 releases is homage to the history of the important people and aircraft of military and civilian aviation. AVI-8 has even collaborated with such respected partners as the Tuskegee Airmen, Hawker Preservation Group and Laguan's Spitfire Legacy. These collaborations which include donations to each association shows AVI-8s commitment to the history of aviation.



For our first introduction to the Brand, AVI-8 sent us the now sold out Bell X-1 Machbuster Automatic to review. While other models in the Bell X-1 series are still available to order, this bright orange dial variant was a hit and sold out quickly. Of the series, the Machbuster is by far our favorite since orange is such an important color to our hometown of Austin, Texas and the University of Texas. Not sure how AVI-8 knew this…

The Bell X-1 series is named after the groundbreaking aircraft of the same name. In 1944 the X-1 became a joint project between the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and the U.S. Army Air Forces. The aircraft developed and built in 1945 had one clear goal, to be the first plane to break the sound barrier.



On October 14, 1947, Captain Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier in the X-1 nicknamed the "Glamorous Glennis". Yeager was able to hit Mach 1.06 at 43,000 feet officially setting the record for speed of a manned flight. The X-1 was designed after the shape of a .50 caliber bullet and would pave the way for future supersonic flight.

The AVI-8 Bell X-1 has big shoes to fill when honoring such an important aircraft in the history of aviation. There are small design touches that honor the X-1, but we will get to those later on in the review. To start out, let's spend some time talking about my initial impressions with the watch.



When the Bell X-1 arrived, the first thing that got my attention was the stunning orange dial. The dial on the Machbuster is an eye searing bright orange. Around the hour markers and minute track the dial texture is flat, while in the center of the dial there is a grained texture. This texture combined with the bright orange really make the dial pop and give it some depth.

The next thing I noticed about the Bell X-1 was the design of the case. The watch is more of a square shape eschewing the traditional round watch case. Recently I've seen a lot of square watches in for review including the watches from Gorilla as well as the Bell & Ross BR-X5 Racing we just received. Patek Philippe also just released their take on the square watch with the Cubitus. I guess there is a new shift to this design langue. The Bell X-1 isn't just a simple square shape either, but more of an octagonal design with multiple angles and facets that catch the light nicely. It's definitely a very unique design that maybe looks the most like a Bvlgari Octo Finissimo.



The final thing I noticed during my initial time with the AVI-8 Bell X-1 was the luminous elements on the dial. The 12 hour markers along with the 0 and 6 numerals as well as the hour, minute and seconds hands are coated with super bright Swiss Newlite and glow a stunning green in low light or when hit with a UV light. The brightness of the lume is extremely high, even getting close to what you'd see on a Panerai sandwich dial. One fun little thing I also noticed under the UV light was that the date window also lit up to a stunning orange color.

Now that I've gone over my initial impressions of the AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster, let's take a look at the technical specifications of the watch. The watch is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 43.8 mm with a lug to lug length of 50.6 mm. The thickness of the Bell X-1 is 13.4 mm and the watch weighs in at 102 grams.



The AVI-8 Bell X-1 has a raised 40 mm bezel that is capped off with a flat sapphire crystal. Under the super clear crystal is the bright orange dial we spoke about earlier. The outer track that includes the applied hour markers and minutes track is flat while the inner dial is textured. The bright orange dial combined with the yellow and black dial markers provides excellent contrast. The 12 hour markets as well as the oversized 0 and 6 numerals are covered with bright green Swiss Newlite luminous material. The hour and minute hands along with the tip of the seconds hand are also coated with lume. The counter balance on the blue center seconds hand is a model of the famous Bell X-1 aircraft as well.



Around the inner dial is also a sixty minute observation scale done in black. This is a nice touch since lots of classic pilot's watch from World War II would feature this scale instead of a traditional 12 hour scale. It's a nice touch to have both scales present on the AVI-8 Bell X-1. At 12 o'clock you have the AVI-8 logo and at 9 you have the Bell Aircraft logo.At 6 o'clock you have the "Automatic" text and at 3 there is the black backed orange date window. Around the outside of the dial there is also a yellow ring that is blue for the first 15 minutes or from 0 to 3 o'clock. While the Bell X-1 is a pilot's watch, this scale could be used for diving to signal the most critical 15 minutes of a dive.

The entire case of the Bell X-1 has a brushed finish while the chamfers have a light polish to them. Looking at the side of the case you can see the raised bezel and screwed-down case back protruding from the case. The mid case displays the contours of the octagonal case and the lugs also slope down nicely to conform to your wrist.



On the right hand side of the watch there is an oversized non screw-down crown with nice scalloping topped with the engraved US national insignia star which is also found on the X-1 aircraft. There is a blue line that goes through the middle of the crown that matches the seconds hand as well as the 15 minute dive scale. The crown provides nice grip and in its resting position allows you to manually wind the automatic movement. Pulling the crown out to position one lets you set the date while pulling the crown out all the way to position two sets the time. When pulled out all the way, the movement also stops the seconds hand allowing for precise time setting. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minutes hand either.

Flipping the watch over shows you the screw down case back with display back. With the non screw-down crown and display back the Bell X-1 still offers an acceptable 50 meters of watch resistance. 50 meters is more than enough for a pilot's watch and will allow you to go swimming and snorkeling with the watch. Serious diving would probably best be left to a proper dive watch though.



Under the display back you can see the Japanese made automatic movement with 24 jewels. The movement features a black and orange winding rotor that resembles the exhaust of the Bell X-1 aircraft. The movement beats at 21,600 vph (3Hz) and offers around 40 hours of power reserve. There is also a nice amount of finishing on the movement including striping. On our timegrapher we recorded an average accuracy of +4 seconds per day. We did see values as low as -5 seconds per day and as high as +8 seconds per day though. Those results are more than acceptable for the price of the AVI-8 Bell X-1.

The lug width of the Bell X-1 is 22 mm and the watch comes with a rubber backed leather strap. The leather is black while the rubber is a bright orange to compliment the dial. The strap tapers down from 22 mm at the lugs to 20 mm at branded stainless steel pin buckle. The strap is rather supple and requires no break in to be comfortable. On my wrist the watch stayed centered and didn't favor one side of my wrist over the other, mostly thanks to the thick strap and textured rubber backing.



When I review a watch I try to spend as much time as possible wearing the watch before I do my review. I wore the AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster out numerous times and the watch was a pleasure on wrist. With being just over 100 grams it wore surprising light for its size. The 50.6 mm lug to lug length is just in my goldilocks size for my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area. The Bell X-1 covered my wrist nicely and never wondered over to either side. The extremely bright dial combined with yellow numerals made telling the time at a glance super easy. Naturally having extra Arabic numerals would have made it even easier to glance at the time, but the large 0 and 6 being visible was more than good enough.



The black and orange of the strap really do a nice job of toning down the bright orange dial and the watch went just perfectly with my normal dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. I'd say with the bright orange dial, the Machbuster is mostly meant to be a casual or summer watch. The watch is a bit too bright to really be worn at formal events, which I really don't attend but it's worth noting. AVI-8 does offer the Bell X-1 is more subtle colors if that is your thing though.



The AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster got a decent amount of attention when I wore it out to dinner and drinks along with my normal errands. While I didn't have anyone come up to me asking about the watch, I definitely noticed a lot of people looking at it. With a very unique and large stainless steel case combined with the super bright orange dial, it's really not that surprising that the watch got noticed. The friends I showed the watch to mostly commented on how nice the texture dial looked. I'd say the Bell X-1 Machbuster is definitely not a wall flower of a watch, be prepared for it to be noticed while wearing it out.

Now we have to talk about the value of the AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster. The watch retails for a super low $275 which gets you a pretty accurate automatic movement, stunning dial, unique styling and tie in to one of aviations most famous planes. For less than some of the straps I've purchased for a few of my personal watches you can get a very handsome and capable watch in the Bell X-1. It would be interesting now to look at comparable watches to the Bell X-1 and see how it stacks up.



When looking at watches at or around $300, you kind of have to start with Seiko. Seiko has long been the go-to brand when looking for a well built budget automatic watch. The Seiko 5 Sports is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 40 mm. The 5 Sports has a slightly different look to it with its crown at 4 o'clock. It is powered by a Seiko 4R36 automatic movement with 41 hours of power reserve and a day / date complication. The Seiko 5 Sports offers 100 meters of water resistance and retails for the same $275 dollars as the Bell X-1.

Next up we have the Timex Waterbury Dive Automatic which is also crafted out of stainless steel and has a 40 mm case diameter like the Seiko. Also like the Seiko, the Timex features a day / date complication powered by an automatic movement. The Waterbury also has 100 meters of water resistance. Similar to the $275 retail price of the AVI-8 and Seiko, the Timex retails for $279.



Moving on to a more micro-brand watch you have the Vaer DS5 which is made out of stainless steel and has a slightly larger case diameter of 42 mm. The DS5 is powered by the Seiko NH35 automatic movement that offers 41 hours of power reserve. The DS5 is rated for up to 200 meters of water resistance and has the classic dive watch look to it. The VAER retails for a bit more than the other three watches at $349.



Finally we have the Nuun Official Origen Sahara. I just spent some time with the bit up market Nuun Official x The Wrong Wrist Edition V2 and loved the watch. The Origen has the general look of the Wrong Wrist V2, but goes a bit downstream on the movement and doesn't have the infused SuperLuminova in its carbon case. The Origen is crafted out of forged carbon and has a case diameter of 40.5 mm. The watch is powered by a Miyota quartz movement and features 100 meters of water resistance. The Origen Sahara retails for the highest of the group at $360.



Looking at the above four watches the AVI-8 Bell X-1 Machbuster falls in line rather well. At less than $300 even getting an accurate automatic movement is a pretty big deal. The Seiko and Timex are watches from huge companies and based on the number of watches made each year can have low enough production costs to offer quality watches in this price range. The VAER and Nuun Official pieces cost a little bit more but offer more of a boutique micro-brand quality to their watches. With the AVI-8 Bell X-1 slotted in-between the micro-brands and large corporations price wise, while being a micro-brand it shows the value of the watch.

So is the AVI-8 Bell XR-1 Machbuster for me? I have a pretty specific taste when it comes to personal watches and the Bell XR-1 ticks off most of those boxes. The lug to lug length is over 50 mm and the dial is bold and offers very nice lume, which are huge pluses for me. Having the watch crafted out of stainless steel versus titanium is a bit of let down, but the weight of the watch at 100 grams kind of nullifies the need for titanium which would also raise the price. I feel the Bell XR-1 would be a fun watch to wear during summer or to the pool, especially when you want a pop of color and fun.



Would I recommend the AVI-8 Bell XR-1 to somebody looking for an affordable mechanical timepiece? Yes I absolutely would. At under $300 it is really hard to fault this watch. The automatic movement used in the Bell XR-1 is more than accurate enough for the price and looks nice through the display back. The case has very unique design to it and with all of its angles really catches the light. The star of the show is really the bright orange textured dial and large luminous markers. While the dial color might be a bit too much for a daily worn watch, AVI-8 offers more than a few dial colors that would be better suited for daily use. There really aren't any negatives to the Bell X-1 that I can point out, especially for being under $300.

I'd really like to thank AVI-8 for sending us this Bell X-1 Machbuster to review. It served as a great introduction to the brand and I really can't wait to review some more pieces from AVI-8 in the near future.



For more information about the Bell X-1 Machbuster please visit : AVI-8

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: AV 4115 02

Retail Price: $275

Case Size: 43.8 mm

Lug to Lug: 50.6 mm

Thickness: 13.4 mm

Weight: 102 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Strap: Leather Backed Rubber Strap with Stainless Steel Pin Buckle

Movement: Japanese Made Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Power Reserve: 40 Hours

Water Resistance: 50 Meters