IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Big Date Bucherer BLUE

A little over two years ago, MONOCHROME covered the Portugieser Chronograph Classic Bucherer BLUE – a red gold model with a blue dial, but other than that, an identical base design of IWC Schaffhausen’s Ref. 3904 made in 2013. Fast-forward to last year and we reviewed the IWC Portugieser Chronograph Bucherer BLUE, another collaborative effort between the Swiss watchmaker and the world’s largest watch retailer. To mark its fourth anniversary with the aviation watch specialist, Bucherer launches a timepiece that draws from IWC’s Big Pilot’s Watch collection for the very first time. Of course, it also features Bucherer’s signature blue colour on its dial. The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Big Date Bucherer BLUE, limited to just 100 pieces worldwide, is also the first partnership edition to feature a big date complication on its dial.

This new IWC Big Pilot’s Watch should certainly appeal to collectors of Bucherer’s BLUE lifestyle collection (which has celebrated partnering with some of the world’s most prestigious watch brands since 2016), but also fans of IWC’s classically styled pilot’s watches. The first IWC Big Pilot’s watch was a direct descendant of the 1940 B-Uhr model powered by an original pocket watch movement, thus where its understandably large case derived from. The Big Pilot’s Watch was specifically designed to survive the difficult conditions of a jet fighter’s cockpit and needed to withstand temperature and pressure alterations as well as magnetic fields. The watch met these demands with features like a soft-iron inner cage and a front glass secured against displacement by a drop in air pressure – two features still present in the new IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Big Date Bucherer BLUE.

Based on the design of the “150 Years” and “Mission Accomplished” editions of the IWC Big Pilot’s Big Date models, the new Bucherer BLUE watch features a 46.2mm steel case and is powered by the hand-wound 59235 calibre, offering an 8-day power reserve. This power reserve can be kept track of via a special sub-dial located on the back of the watch. The round sapphire glass signature window combines the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the movement with an 8-day power reserve scale located off-centre on a caseback engraved with the “Bucherer BLUE” lettering. 

The watch’s black dial commemorates Bucherer’s signature blue colour in its minutes scale, its small seconds sub-counter at 6 o’clock, the IWC lettering at 3 o’clock, a big date complication at 12 o’clock, a set of Arabic numerals and the central hour and minute hands. The latter two have also been coated with Super-LumiNova to assist with timekeeping in the dark. 

Availability & Price

Available exclusively at Bucherer stores and online boutique, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Big Date Bucherer BLUE is priced at CHF 15,900 and comes fitted on a black calfskin leather strap with folding clasp. It is limited to 100 pieces. 

More details at bucherer.com.