SIHH 2019: IWC

This year IWC Schaffhausen went all out guns-blazing with one of the most impressive booths that I have seen in years. Decorated in an aircraft hangar with a real-life Silver Spitfire plane, the iconic war plane from World War II was set in the middle of an open area of the booth, where everywhere you looked were details and touches of aviation instruments, mechanical tools, pilot’s uniforms and pilot’s helmets.

The overall theme is of course dedicated to their latest collection from their new Spitfire, Top Gun and Le Petit Prince range with an all-star cast who came and supported their incredible gala dinner hosted by CEO of IWC Schaffhausen Christoph Grainger-Herr. International celebrities included Bradley Cooper, James Marsden, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, Chang Chun Ning, David Coulthard, Dev Patel, Ronan Keating, Zhang Ruoyun and Valterri Bottas.

The Spitfire range was their latest line in the Pilot watch family. To celebrate the unique engineering expertise of the designers of the legendary British fighter aircraft, all Spitfire watches feature IWC-manufactured calibres. The design is inspired by the puristic instrument design of the Mark 11. The iconic navigation watch was produced in Schaffhausen for the Royal Air Force from 1948 and was worn by many of the pilots and navigators serving at that time.

Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Spitfire in 46.2mm. The heavy-duty components of the Pellaton winding are made from wear-resistant ceramic. The perpetual calendar identifies different month lengths and leap years automatically and will work until 2100 without needing any correction. Since all displays are perfectly synchronized, the watch can be easily adjusted via the crown. The double moon display shows the moon in the correct position in the northern and southern hemisphere and takes 577.5 years to require adjustment by one day. The watch comes in bronze case, olive green dial, gold-plated hands and brown calf leather strap and is limited to 250-pieces.

Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Spitfire Edition “The Longest Flight” in 46mm. This special edition is dedicated to the “Silver Spitfire –The Longest Flight” project. It has been specially developed for pilots Steve Boultbee Brooks and Matt Jones to coincide with their flight around the world in a Spitfire. The watch can be set to a different time zone by means of a simple rotational movement of the bezel. The hour hand, the 24-hour display and the date rotateautomatically at the same time. The 24-hour display has been designed as a rotating disc beneath the dial. This means that the dial moves closer to the front glass, making it easier to read. The watch comes in stainless steel case, black dial, rhodium-plated hands with green textile strap and is limited to 250-pieces.

Pilot’s Wacth UTC Spitfire Editon “MJ271” in 41mm. Used in aviation for all communication and navigation purposes, the “Coordinated Universal Time” (UTC) function makes it easy to set a second time zone. When turning the crown when in its central position, the hour hand moves forward or backward in hourly increments. If the dial crosses the International Date Line, the date display changes automatically. The time in the wearer’s home country can be read via the curved UTC display in the top half of the dial. The watch comes in bronze case, olive green dial, gold-plated hands with brown calf straps and limited to 271-pieces.

Pilot’s watch Chronograph Spitfire in 41mm. IWC has integrated a chronograph movement from the 69000 calibre family into its pilot’s watches for the first time. The two versions in stainless steel and black dial, rhodium-plated hand with green textile straps or in bronze case, olive green dial, gold-plated hands with brown calf leather.

The TOP GUN watches, which IWC has been producing since 2007, take their name from the U.S. Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program. Spending months at a time on an aircraft carrier also takes its toll on personnel and material. The TOP GUN watches are therefore specially designed with robust materials, such as ceramic and titanium, to meet the specific requirements of elite jet pilots. The matte black ceramic case, for example, ensures that pilots are not distracted by sunlight reflecting off their watches during the flight. The hard and scratch resistant ceramic is perfectly suited to daily use in a confined aircraft cockpit and can also withstand extreme G-forces. Ceramic and titanium are also extremely corrosion resistant and can withstand humid, salty sea air.Pilot’s Watch Double Chronograph TOP GUN Ceratanium in 44mm. Ceratanium case, black dial, black hands with black rubber strap.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert” in 44.5mm. The sand coloured ceramic is inspired by the Mojave Desert, home to the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake – the largest land area of the U.S. Navy. The colour perfectly matches the uniforms worn by Navy pilots and is the result of a combination of zirconium oxide with other metallic oxides. The watch comes in sand-coloured ceramic case, dark brown dial, sand-coloured hands with sand -coloured textile strap limited to 500-pieces.

Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN in 44.5mm comes in black ceramic case, black dial, black hands with black textile strap.

IWC Schaffhausen also presented two models from the Le Petit Prince collection as well as an “Antoine de Saint Exupéry” special edition in the Pilot’s Watches collection. These timepieces, characterized by their distinctive midnight blue dials, are dedicated to Antoine de Saint- Exupéry’s “Le Petit Prince”. It is the most important literary work by the French writer and pilot.

Big Pilot’s Watch Constant-Force Tourbillon Edition “Le Petit Prince” in 46.2mm. The watch comes in 18K hard gold case, blue dial, gold-plated hands with brown calf strap or platinum case, blue dial, rhodium-plated hands with brown calf leather both are limited to 10-pieces.

Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Chronograph in 43mm. The watch comes in 18K red gold case, blue dial, 18K gold hands with brown calf leather strap limited to 250-pieces.