“The Cirrus dealership was right next door to the flight school,” she said. While most who desire careers in aviation become flight instructors to build experience, Welch built her hours by working as a demo pilot for Cirrus Aircraft. One year later, I left with a commercial rating and 230 hours of flight time.” The questions I asked each of the five flight schools were, ‘Can you teach me how to fly quickly? Do you have any jobs available? And will you pay for my flight training?’ To my surprise, one school said yes to all three questions and I began a paid internship there that involved trading work for flight lessons. “In 2006 I walked onto Santa Monica Airport to interview each of the schools. Welch’s flying career began at the same time her manufacturing career did, just after college and a stint in the Peace Corps. “The faces are pink, or blue and green and all sorts of brightness.” “As you can see, they are all sorts of brightness in addition to functionality,” Welch said, proudly displaying the two watches she wears, one on each wrist. The watchbands are available in silver metal or black or white leather. “The watches have Zulu time on them, a stop watch, and an E-6B slide rule - everything you need to make calculations in the cockpit.”Ībingdon watches are finished with mother-of-pearl faces, crystals and diamonds and pastel colors. “A bunch of women got together and we did the first two designs, which were the Jackie model and the Amelia model,” she recalled, noting that they felt it only fitting to name the first two models after Jackie Cochrane and Amelia Earhart, two of the most famous female aviators. Welch reasoned she wasn’t the only woman pilot who wanted the functionality an aviator watch that didn’t feel like a boat anchor on her wrist. “You could buy a man’s watch, but it was bulky and black or brown, and you know a MAN’S watch,” she said. “I knew from about the age of 14 that I wanted a career in aviation,” Welch recalled, but admits that she didn’t plan to go into manufacturing timepieces for pilots.Īccording to Welch, the idea for the company got its start in 2006 when she was pursuing her private pilot ticket and discovered that no one made aviator watches sized or styled for women. And that’s just fine with 28-year-old Chelsea Abingdon Welch, the company’s founder. Chances are high that the first - and possibly only - company name that pops up will be The Abingdon Co. Type “women’s pilot watch” into an Internet search engine.
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