30. Pilot Watches Take Flight For Women and Everyone Else: A Conversation with Abingdon Co. Watches

We take to the skies on this episode of the Dogwatch and speak with Abingdon Mullin, who is a wide-ranging pilot who also started a watch company. When Abingdon became a working pilot, she wanted to reward herself with a pilot’s watch but couldn’t find one that was a good fit for her wrist. So she decided to make one herself. In this conversation we discuss Abingdon’s life as a pilot and her adventures from Alaska to the Caribbean in a host of different aircraft. We then discuss how she came to the idea for Abingdon Co. Watches, their design aesthetic, and the range of their watch offerings from pilot watches to racing watches to dive watches. We also save a bit of time to hear about the efforts of the Abingdon Foundation as well.Our feature today is Bessie Coleman, the first African American and Native American to become a civilian pilot. Born into a family of sharecroppers in Texas, Bessie eventually moved to France to complete her pilot’s training. She returned to the US to work in stunt flying until her death in a airplane accident in 1926. Bessie was a true pioneer.