What is interesting about us watch enthusiasts and collectors is the fact that while we store too many watches in boxes or in a safe at the bank, we love hearing stories about someone’s heirloom piece they inherited from a parent or grandparent. They cherish that one watch with which their predecessors lived through many good and bad times, perhaps served with, or immigrated from one country to another, their reliable timepiece strapped to their wrist by way of an aging leather strap or over-extended expansion bracelet. The watch may not tick anymore, and won’t tick again even in the hands of the most skilled watchmaker, but it doesn’t matter because it is endowed with so much history, so many stories, and such a great number of scars that they would never dare think to get rid of it. And perhaps they are so attached to this watch not only because of who wore it before them, and the adventures it went through, but also because it was the only watch they needed or could afford to buy or ensure the upkeep of. 

And you and I may be the same: you got into horology with the goal to find that one watch you could do everything with, just like your parents and grandparents owned just one watch for the everything of life. And even though over the years you have accumulated more than one timepiece (because we know that you have,) you’re still hoping to find it. For, whenever I talk to fellow enthusiasts, or read articles written by other journalists, or watch videos produced by my favorite YouTubers, the idea of that perfect everyday watch keeps coming back into the conversation again and again and once more. One may have 100 watches but one might still be looking for the one. If you ignore the idea that you should have a watch for the office, one for the week-end, one for the holidays, and one for special occasions (i.e. a dress watch,) you might be open to the idea of only having one. And doing so wouldn’t mean you no longer are a watch enthusiast and collector, simply that you have found what you have been looking for. 

A year ago, I have found it and I’m going to tell you all about it in this review: the Laco Flieger Pro Stuttgart 37mm. 

Specifications 

There are many meanings to the word “professional” whenever we speak about horology, as the adjective denotes a watch’s aptitude to tick accurately for extended periods of times in harsh environments, to be ultra legible regardless of the environment—day, night, underwater, above ground, in mud or dirt or snow, freezing cold temperatures and Mars-approaching-levels of heat—and to be easily serviceable anywhere in the world—as the story goes—by any decent watchmaker. Laco, the German historical brand we’re so fond of, at some point in the recent past decided to create professional-grade versions of its iconic Type A and Type B fliegers, which are technically and financially at the opposite end of the “Basic” line up of pilot watches which are nonetheless excellent. And in Laco’s terms, being on the other end of the price spectrum doesn’t mean charging customers what IWC demands for a modern Ingenieur, far from that actually as we’re about to see taking apart my custom-spec’ed out Type A Flieger Pro Stuttgart 37mm. 

Indeed, the 1925-founded German brand offers the possibility for us to customize their watches, which is what I did of course. The price for a basic Stuttgart 37mm starts at €950/$1,083 USD including VAT (so remove that if you’re ordering from outside the European Union,) and my custom built came down to €1,190 or $1,354 USD including taxes and the following impossible-to-memorize reference number: FPA.37.G.D.X.A.E.U.D.L.M.R. As soon as we start going through the long list of specifications you will quickly understand how the latter justifies categorizing the Stuttgart as being a “professional” flieger, for I have personally rarely, if ever, came across such a generously spec’ed out tool watch that is also so well manufactured, assembled, and finished. If we were to reach for stereotypical adjectives to describe what makes German watchmaking stand out in the world of horology and superior to most countries are precision, precision, and precision. As well as hyper-focused attention to details and meticulousness. 

With the goal to satisfy all enthusiasts' requirements, the Stuttgart is offered in no less than three case sizes—37mm, 40mm, and 42mm—and I chose the smaller one of course because I wanted my perfect everyday/all occasions watch (EAOW instead of GADA which fits me better) to symbiotically fit my 6.50”/16.5.cm wrist. To the 37mm diameter we must add the 44.5mm lug-to-lug, 10.95mm thickness, and 18mm lug width for indeed a perfect fit as you can instantly see from the photos drizzling this article. The first piece of important specification which blew my French mind was the professional-level of water resistance this little guy is endowed with, 200 meters of it (which is too much) by way of an intensely knurled 6.9mm onion-shaped screw-down crown and screw-down closed case-back, which does mean I can do any type of everyday-life activities and intense adventuristic ones with not one shred of worry about what could happen to my new Stuttgart. (You can opt for a see-through sapphire case-back for an extra €50/$57 USD.) 

And I couldn’t be worried about it anyway knowing what follows. For instance, a Sellita 200-1-based and ETA 2894-2-inspired Laco 200 caliber of the élaboré grade, ticking at 4Hz, coming with 38 hours of power reserve, and regulated to run at ± 7 seconds per day. (Mine runs closer to ± 1 seconds for Genta’s sake!) A slightly domed piece of sapphire crystal with double-sided clear anti-reflective coating which, in the past two months, hasn’t shown any of the scratchiness people claim outer AR coating generates (maybe Laco does it better than Swiss giants?) which does guarantee effective time-reading at all times, at all angles, and under all lighting conditions. Moreover, C3-charged hands and printed dial elements to levels I’ve rarely experienced, as in this is the longest lasting and brightest lume application I’ve ever seen outside of the ceramic-composite lume blocks we encountered on the Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT, crisply and precisely applied on all printed elements indeed. It is remarkable. 

And moreover moreover, I opted to get the blasphemous date aperture at the three o’clock, although if people are ok with it on an IWC Mark XX, they should be alright with it on a flieger manufactured by a historical German brand that has legitimacy in the domain of aviation-themed tool watches. All versions of the Stuttgart also come with the option of having the brand’s logo and “Made in Germany” wordmark printed on the dial or not (which I opted for,) to have the case side “FL23883” engraving or not (which I said yes to as well for it hearkens back to World War II as being the historical military classification for German pilot watches where “FL” stands for “Flieger,” “23” for “navigation equipment” and “883” for “pilot observation watch.”) At last, I further opted for the stainless steel bracelet which comes with a butterfly deployant clasp, a secured pin-and-collar link attachment system, and half-links. Visually and technically, the bracelet is a perfect match for the Stuttgart and increases its versatility. 

Design 

It goes without saying that five previous paragraphs thoroughly explained the “professional” part of this flieger collection, and I was definitely seduced by the superb and comprehensive suite of specifications the Flieger Pro Stuttgart 37mm is endowed with, with as well as the superior quality of manufacturing, assembly, and finishing the German brand holds itself up to. As all of those elements are indeed meticulously put together and precise, something that resonates deeply with the tool watch nerd in me. What further tickled my hardcore utilitarian soul is the design of the Stuttgart, as German pilot watches are iconic, despite their notorious history, for epitomizing purpose-driven military watches whose superlative legibility is as paramount to their raison d’être as their technical capabilities are. For many years I have been looking for a version of a Type A Flieger which would work for me, and many hours and sleepless nights did I spend looking for one, albeit they were generally too large for my personal taste. 

Or too utilitarian, which I know is a thought you never imagined I would type out in a review for it is an anti-Vincent one. However, what I’ve come to understand about myself in the past few years, and something I’ve tried to express in the past few months, is the fact that I’m devoted to tool watches, sure, but those which are endowed with what I would describe as having a mature appearance. In my selfish mind this means elegant proportions for all dial elements and the case, where neither the hands nor the hour markers nor the date aperture are smaller or larger than they ought to be in order to create visual harmony. Think of it as wearing a tailored t-shirt instead of a baggy one (not to go into the antiquated black dress for women, tuxedo for men stereotypes,) or writing with a pen that has the right proportions for your hand—neither too short or too long—, or driving a car that doesn’t look like a dumpster on wheels but rather akin to a pleasant vehicle to travel in. It is my hope that all of this will make sense soon. 

What should have been mentioned from the get-go is the fact that Laco also offers the Type B as part of its Pro line in the Karlsruhe which can also be fully customized to your heart’s content. However, I thought, and always felt, that the Type A lends itself much better as an everyday watch as this is actually how I see the Stuttgart, hence the review’s subtitle. For we each have our own definition of what an everyday watch could be, what kind of design qualifies it to be so, as well as the specifications this sought-after timepiece should have. Thus we can now chat about the design of the Stuttgart starting with the case: as we know, perfectly dimensioned for yours truly, fully brushed making it situationally ultra versatile, with a narrow mid-case lending at its edges in the form of short rounded-off lugs which turn down towards the wrist. Seen from above, the lugs are narrow and perfectly mold themselves after the case’s perfect roundness, from which the superbly unguarded knurled onion-shaped crown pops on the right side. 

However, the jewel on the mainplate for me is the dial. (I attempted to stay clear of the “icing on the cake” catcha phrase.) Yes, I do find its execution on the Flieger Pro Stuttgart to be particularly exquisite, as I have rarely seen such a balanced symphony of time-telling elements on a dial. For example, the blue-heated Alpha hands are of the appropriate size to be easy to read and match, dimensionally, the Arabic numerals and minute tracks to the perfect T. The hour hand reaches just a little in the numerals, the minute hand’s tip flies over the minute dashes and ends exactly above the outer ring of the minute track. Similarly, the seconds hand, which is almost fully lumed and so to great excess, also reaches the edges of the minute track so that setting the time to the precise minute and second is an oh so greatly satisfying affair here. As mentioned somewhere above in this encyclopedic review, the printing of all elements is meticulous and crisp, deprived of any mistake even under louping micro, including the branding. 

A last note will be made about the date aperture: Laco offers the possibility to do black printed numerals on a white date disc or white printed numerals on a black date disc. I opted for the second option for it best matches the ultra-tine matte black texture of the dial, thus melting into it, by way of four sharply angled bevels and perfectly centered—I repeat: perfectly centered—date numerals which too are crisply and meticulously printed. Man oh man, Laco went above and beyond in the execution here and…as…it did for all other models I’ve reviewed thus far on Mainspring, i.e. the Kiel.2 Blau,, Hamburg GMT DIN 8330, and Köln MB & Grau. There is a pattern here, isn’t it? 

The Heart of the Matter

Circling back to the top of the cliff, you may now understand what makes the Laco Flieger Pro Stuttgart 37mm so special to me. First, there is the whole thing about being a titan of technical specifications which pleases my utilitarian watch soul to the fullest extent possible—too much water resistance, too powerful of lume, too precise of a Swiss movement, too clear of a crystal,  and too damn robust. I would never complain about having too many specs, alright, even though sometimes I can say that they are not everything. They don’t replace the design which drove our attention onto the watch in the first place, nor will they supersede the emotions we feel when handling and wearing the watch. But heck, so there is so much of it in such a compact format that I’m still having issues wrapping my head around them. Second, there is the superb dial whose design represents one of—if not the one—best description and example of what a purpose-driven watch actually looks like. It’s to the point, legible, clear and clean, and doesn’t come paired with any kind of fluff or fanfare pretend tool watches have. It does what it is supposed to efficiently without asking for a clap or a pat on the case-back. Period. 

Thus, when you put all of this together and tie it to Laco’s history and heritage of manufacturing professional tool watches, and trace the legacy of the Type A back to World War II, it makes for the perfect horological package. In other words: it’s robust, it’s legible, it has pedigree, and it flies under the radar like any proper tool should. The Flieger Pro Stuttgart 37mm truly is, according to yours faithfully, a perfect version of the everyday watch, mine at least. 

Conclusion

This review has been going on for long enough so I won’t bother you with more. I simply invite you to check out the Flieger Pro section of Laco’s website to learn more about the Stuttgart and Karlsruhe and what they can do for you. The Stuttgart 37mm is the best €1,190/$1,354 USD anyone can spend on a watch, according to the writer of this review. 

Thanks for reading.