The movement used for the AV-4021-01 FLYBOY is the Japanese self-winding Miyota 8215. The watch offers a power reserve of up to 36 hours and can also be manually wound by the crown in the set position. Hand-winding the Miyota 8215 is done with ease, as the construction of the crown on the FLYBOY is large, yet still streamline with the watch.
AVI-8 did a really nice job with the layout of the dial on the FLYBOY. There are two models of the FLYBOY, the automatic 4021 series and the quartz 4023 series. The automatic 4021 is equipped with a slightly textured dial face with very large, legible sword like hands. The 4021 dial is unique in a couple different ways. AVI-8 decided to go with the “0” opposed to the traditional “12” at the 12’oclock position. While I’m not sure as to what made them decide to go with the “0”, I must say that it adds a very unique and characteristic touch to the dial. If I were to make a guess, I would assume the “0” would reference 00:00 in military time, but again, that’s just my assumption.
Adding their flare of aviation, AVI-8 designed the second’s hand of the FLYBOY with a red plane-shaped tip. With both the hour and minute hands being bold, white sword shaped hands, the added flare of the red plane tip to the simple second hand is a definite unique feature that most watch lovers will admire.
The date window is found at the 6’oclcok position, and the AVI-8 logo can be found just under the “0” position. In the background of the dial is a simple “crosshair” configuration that adds the just needed touch of flair to keep this simple and clean dial from being too plain.
In darkness, the lume of the FLYBOY is easily legible with the bulky hands and oversized 0, 3, and 9-hour markers. While I was not able to obtain the lume lifetime, I was pleased and went unnoticed to the possibility of a short lume life frame.
