Nearly a century after gold AVIGO watches were presented to record-setting naval aviators, the revived American watch company hopes to continue the tradition with a new generation of explorers.

September 2026 — AVIGO Watch Company

In 1935, six U.S. Navy aviators climbed aboard an experimental XP3Y-1 flying boat and set out on a journey that would make aviation history.

Their nonstop flight from Panama to Alameda, California covered approximately 3,443 miles, establishing a world distance record for seaplanes.

Among the crew was Lieutenant Commander Edward Vernon Sizer.

Following the historic flight, Sizer was presented with a 10-karat gold Elgin AVIGO wristwatch commemorating the achievement. Historical research indicates that matching AVIGO watches were likely presented to the other members of the six-man crew as well.

For a watch bearing a name created during the pioneering years of American aviation, it was a fitting honor.

More than 90 years later, AVIGO has returned — and the company believes that tradition deserves another chapter.

FROM THE AGE OF AVIATION TO THE AGE OF SPACE

The original AVIGO emerged during an extraordinary period in American history.

Aircraft were pushing farther, higher and faster. Pilots were becoming explorers. Records that once seemed impossible were being broken with remarkable regularity.

Today, a similar transformation is taking place beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

Government space programs and private spaceflight organizations are pushing toward longer missions, commercial human spaceflight, a return to the Moon and eventually journeys much farther from Earth.

AVIGO’s ambition is to become part of that story.

As the company rebuilds the historic name for a new generation, one of its long-term missions is to see an AVIGO watch travel into space.

But there is another part of that mission inspired directly by what happened in 1935.

AVIGO hopes to create a special solid-gold watch and present it to an astronaut who participates in a future mission with one of the world’s space organizations or commercial spaceflight programs.

The presentation would not simply be a promotional gesture.

It would be a continuation of a tradition.

A GOLD WATCH FOR THOSE WHO PUSH THE BOUNDARIES

In 1935, an AVIGO watch commemorated an extraordinary achievement at the frontier of aviation.

The company would like a future AVIGO to commemorate an extraordinary achievement at the frontier of space exploration.

The circumstances will be different. The technology will be almost unimaginable to the aviators of the 1930s.

But the idea remains remarkably similar.

Honor the people willing to go farther.

Honor the people willing to explore.

And create something lasting to remember the achievement.

AVIGO intends for any future astronaut presentation watch to be something truly special — a unique or extremely limited solid-gold timepiece created specifically to commemorate the mission and the individual who flew it.

The company has not yet announced an astronaut, space organization or specific mission for the presentation. Those relationships remain part of AVIGO’s long-term ambitions as the revived company develops.

NEARLY A CENTURY BETWEEN TWO FRONTIERS

There is something especially appropriate about the possibility.

In the 1930s, aviation represented one of humanity’s great technological frontiers.

Today, that frontier is space.

An AVIGO once accompanied a generation fascinated by what could be accomplished in the skies.

The company’s goal now is to build watches worthy of the generation discovering what can be accomplished beyond them.

And if AVIGO succeeds, one day a photograph may capture an astronaut receiving a gold AVIGO watch — almost a century after another gold AVIGO was presented to an American naval aviator for helping push the boundaries of flight.

The machines will have changed.

The frontier will have changed.

The spirit behind it has not.

From aviation history to space exploration, the AVIGO journey continues.