Jack Mason Pursuit Pilot

The Pursuit Pilot Collection

Jack Mason, Dallas, Texas

https://jackmasonbrand.com/collections/the-pursuit-collection

The Pursuit Pilot is a 39mm steel pilot's watch from Jack Mason, a Dallas brand that assembles its watches in the USA. It's the 2025 reissue of the model the brand launched with, redesigned from scratch 10 years on.

The recipe is classic: a matte dial, a triangle at 12 taken from aircraft gauges, big Arabic numerals, a minute track. What makes it interesting at $1,399 is the spec sheet: a Swiss La Joux-Perret G101 with 68 hours of reserve, regulated in-house, an anti-magnetic cage, 150m water resistance and a tapered bracelet with a micro-adjust clasp.

$1,399

The 3 dials

All 3 cost $1,399 and ship on the 3-link bracelet. Jack Mason also sells 20mm Epsom leather straps for them, $115 each. The same case family appears in the sportier Pursuit Pro, also $1,399.

Specifications

The G101 is the useful detail. It's La Joux-Perret's 3-hand automatic, sized like an ETA 2824 or Sellita SW200 but with 68 hours instead of about 40. The watch keeps running over a weekend off the wrist.

Lumicast means the hour markers are solid pieces of luminous material, not paint in a printed outline. With Grade X2, they glow brighter and for longer than standard Super-LumiNova.

Background

Jack Mason was founded in Dallas in 2015 by Peter Cho, a watch designer who had worked at Fossil and Movado. It started as a fashion brand sold in US department stores, including collegiate licensed watches. Around 2022, it left retail, moved to direct sales on its own site, and switched to enthusiast watches. Fratello's brand profile tells the story.

The turning point was the Strat-o-timer, among the first watches with the Miyota 9075 flyer GMT. The Hydrotimer diver and the Ellum manual wind followed, then the Canton, the brand's first watch labelled Swiss Made. The Pursuit Pilot reissue fits the new direction: a Swiss movement and US assembly.

"Built in the USA" means assembled and regulated in the USA. Jack Mason doesn't say where the case, dial and bracelet are made, so don't read it as an all-American watch.

Pros and cons

Pros

• The right size. 39mm with a 46mm lug to lug fits a 16.5cm wrist, which most 42mm pilot's watches don't.
• A real movement for the money. 68 hours, regulated to +/-5 seconds, inside an anti-magnetic cage.
• A tool watch spec: screw-down crown, 150m and a hardness coating, so it isn't only a desk Flieger.
• A good bracelet, tapered 20 to 16mm, with solid end links, quick release and a micro-adjust clasp.
• Clean dials. No date, and 3 colours that each look different.

Cons

• Few independent reviews of this reissue. The only owner reviews I found are on Jack Mason's own site, 7 in total.
• US-only buying. No European retailer. The price excludes duties and VAT, and a 5-year warranty claim means shipping to Dallas.
• Not a true Flieger. The triangle and numerals come from the pilot tradition, but there's no B-Uhr dial and no onion crown. Purists will look elsewhere.

Who it's for

• Someone who wants a pilot's watch in 39mm, with a better movement than the usual SW200 at this price.
• A daily watch for a smaller wrist: 11.8mm thick and 152g on the bracelet.
• A buyer who likes the American microbrand story, Texas details included.

Olive is the one I'd pick: the green dial with the orange accent is the most distinctive of the 3, and it suits a brown leather strap as well as the bracelet.

Buying from Germany

• Official site only: the Jack Mason store. It has a EUR currency option and advertises free returns. Check that the free returns also apply outside the US.
• Add the import costs: 19% import VAT plus customs duty on the $1,399, collected on delivery unless the checkout says otherwise.
• Service: in-house, in the USA. Budget for shipping both ways if it needs work in the warranty period.
• Dallas showroom by appointment, for anyone travelling there.

Alternatives

My notes on them: see Stowa Flieger Classic 40 Sunray Blue, see Alpina Startimer Pilot Automatic, see Laco Augsburg 39 and see IWC Pilot's Watch Mark XX. Stowa and Laco are true Fliegers from 2 of the 5 original B-Uhr makers, and both sell from Germany. The Pursuit Pilot wins on size, reserve, water resistance and the bracelet.

Verdict

A well-specified 39mm pilot's watch at a fair price, and proof that Jack Mason is no longer a fashion brand. The G101, the X2 lume and the bracelet put it ahead of most watches at $1,399. Buying it from Germany is the weak point: import VAT, duty and service across the Atlantic. Before ordering, I'd want to see it on the wrist in a hands-on review, and compare the landed price with the Alpina Startimer Pilot, which has the same 68 hours and a European service network.

Further reading

The brand's story and its move to enthusiast watches:

The Story Of The Jack Mason Brand

Fratello, October 2024

https://www.fratellowatches.com/the-story-of-the-jack-mason-brand/

The full specifications, on the Olive's product page:

Pursuit Pilot Olive

jackmasonbrand.com, $1,399

https://jackmasonbrand.com/products/pursuit-green