Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Hanhart 417 ES Tornado Maiden Flight Flyback
With this special commemorative edition, you won't miss an important date in aviation history.
2024 marks a significant milestone for the Tornado multirole combat aircraft: 50 years ago, on August 14, 1974, the first Tornado prototype took off from Manching, Germany. This event launched what would become Europe’s most extensive military aircraft collaboration program, resulting in nearly 1,000 Tornados delivered to the air forces of Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the export customer, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To celebrate this milestone, Hanhart has partnered with Panavia Aircraft GmbH, the managing company of the Tornado program, to introduce the limited edition Hanhart 417 ES Tornado Maiden Flight Flyback Chronograph.
As the name suggests, the new Hanhart Tornado Maiden Flight is based on the beloved 39mm 417 ES pilot’s chronograph, and specifically the recently launched flyback model. This version is a faithful recreation of the 417 ES service watch that Hanhart supplied to the Bundeswehr from 1955 to 1963. The watch features a 100m water-resistant, antimagnetic (up to 16,000 A/m) stainless steel case with polished and satin finishes. Its signature elements include a continuously rotatable (without notches) bidirectional fluted bezel with a distinctive red mark. The prominent ribbed crown, adorned with a historical “H” logo, is flanked by piston-style chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o’clock.
The Hanhart 417 ES Tornado Maiden Flight retains the bi-compax dial layout, featuring two wide-set and slightly recessed sub-dials that do not cut into the Arabic indices or interfere with the crisply printed minutes/seconds track. This design improves legibility compared to the original 1950s 417 ES, which used a differently sized movement. The indices and pencil-shaped hour and minute hands are coated with old Radium Super-LumiNova, enhancing low-light visibility. The minute and central chronograph seconds hands are bent at the tips to follow the domed sapphire crystal’s shape, preventing reading errors caused by the parallax effect – a shift in the apparent position of an object when viewed from different angles.
The black dial is adorned with a Tornado logo and the cocarde in the colours of the three partner nations (Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom), representing the running seconds subdial at 9 o’clock. This design mirrors the emblem painted on the cockpit of the P.01 D-9591 Tornado aircraft that flew on August 14, 1974. Notably, Hanhart made the eye of the second hand smaller to make the cocarde more visible. The 30-minute chronograph counter at 3 o’clock remains unchanged, preserving the classic look and functionality.
The commemorative theme extends to the solid screwed-down stainless steel caseback, which features an engraving of the Tornado aircraft with its sweep wings at a 67-degree fold, positioned for attack and intercept speeds. Accompanying this image is the Tornado logo. Additionally, the caseback is inscribed with the date and duration of the maiden flight (0:33 h), the aircraft’s registration number, and the limited edition number (XXX/148).
The Hanhart 417 ES Tornado Maiden Flight is driven by the manually wound Sellita AMT 5100 M flyback chronograph movement with column-wheel (you can see it here, in the standard version of the Hanhart 417 ES 1954 Flyback), which operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour and offers a power reserve of 58 hours.
This watch comes with a black calfskin strap featuring white stitching and a leather underlay, complemented by Alcantara on the inside for added comfort. The strap is secured with a pin buckle adorned with the historical Hanhart logo. Limited to 148 pieces, commemorating the date of the first Tornado flight on August 14, the Hanhart 417 ES Tornado Maiden Flight is priced at EUR 2,590. For more information, visit www.hanhart.com.
