I recently purchased a watch as a holiday present for a family member. It has an ETA 2824-2 movement, and seemed pretty nice for the price (I got it sub $400). Upon reading about the company, I found that they make pilot-style watches (which I know nothing about). Is there anything about this watch which gives away its background? Is there anything I should know about this watch that would be neat to talk about with the recipient of the gift? Thanks!
Sure, you can tell the recipient that the company has a long and interesting history, and, that like most manufacturers, vintage is almost invariably preferable...
The connection to aviation isn't as strong as it once was. In its heyday, RT made both aviation instruments and high quality mechanical watches. As a watch manufacture they were maybe most known for their alarm watches, like their sister company Vulcain. The aviation instrument company sold the license to the brand name around 2000 to a different company called Grovana. They continue to make decent watches from what I can tell but their market penetration in the west is low.