Today on ?Vintage Eye,? we?ll be focusing our gaze on Alpina?s new Startimer Pilot Heritage Chronograph, a neo-vintage bicompax monopusher chronograph released earlier this fall. This new model takes its inspiration from a 1970s helmet-style case design common in racing watches during the era ? like this Bulova seen below via Analog/Shift? and an older-style monopusher, coming together to develop a unique watch uncommon at its price point.

The Startimer Heritage Pilot uses a 42-mm wide stainless steel ?helmet? style case, comprised of brushed and polished facets. At the two o?clock position its single chronograph pusher used for starting the mechanism, stopping it, and resetting it, with a signed crown just below it. The dial is available in three color options, the first a silvered white option with two anthracite subdials evoking the panda dial aesthetic which is particularly popular on neo-vintage chronographs; and the other two use a blue sunray dial with silver registers, differing only in the colors of their hands and their tachymetric scales. This scale is angled on the outer edge of the face, while printed markers are used for each minute, with applied metal markers accented with Super-LumiNova used at each hour position. The model has two subdials, one for running seconds at 9 o?clock,  the other for a 30-minute chronograph counter at 3 o?clock. Sweeping over the dial, with the printed Alpina logo at the top, are two slim hands accented with lume, while a simple ...