IWC launches Three Boutique Edition Pilot Watches

Although IWC dedicated this year entirely to re-engineering the Ingenieur collection (check our extensive coverage here, here and here), they still had time to launch three boutique editions of the Pilot Watch collection. A Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun, a Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun and a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun are preparing to take off and bring more colour into the fleet. This colorful trio features details in the form of red, green and blue hands and indices and they are available in limited editions at IWC boutiques around the world.

IWC Schaffhausen’s designers found inspiration for the three Top Gun Boutique editions from the cockpit instrument found in jets. The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW388003) comes with blue hands and indices, the Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW501903) with green and the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW502903) with red. All three come in a ceramic (zirconium oxide) cases – the back and crown are made of titanium – the timepieces are extremely scratch resistant, anti-allergic and relatively light and are fitted with a black soft strap.

The new Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Boutique Edition is limited to 500 pieces and comes at a retail price of € 12,600 Euro (incl. taxes). Like all IWC Pilot’s Watches the front crystal is secured against drops in pressure; something that might just happen in an aircraft and you can’t risk a crystal that pops out and leaves the dial and hands unprotected. Inside ticks IWC’s in-house chronograph caliber 89365­ with integrated flyback function, delivering  68 ­hours of power reserve. The date design also descends from the cockpit and resembles an altimeter. The central chronograph hand shows recorded times in seconds, while the hand in the sub dial at 12 o’clock registers elapsed minutes.

The ceramic case measures 46 mm in diameter and 16.5 mm in height. Black dial, blue hands and indices, a black soft strap and folding clasp in stainless steel. The convex front sapphire crystal features antireflective coating on both sides and the watch is pressure proofed to 6 bar (60 meters).

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW502903), with its red hands and indices, measures 48 mm in diameter and 16 mm in height and comes at a retail price of € 37,200 Euro (incl. taxes). It packs the in-house caliber 51614 that delivers 168 hours, or 7 days, of power reserve. This one is limited to 250 pieces and like the other two colorful special editions, only available in IWC boutiques around the world.

Its perpetual calendar features a four-­digit year display and a moon phase display. The running seconds and day of the week are at 9 o’clock and the date and 7-day power reserve indicator share the sub dial at 3 o’clock. The perpetual calendar takes into account all the leap years until 2100. All the displays are easily adjusted via the crown and advance automatically.

The Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW501903) is packed with the legendary in-house movement caliber 51111, consisting of 311 components, and delivering 7 days of power reserve when fully wound. It comes at a retail price of € 17,700 Euro (including taxes) and is limited to 500 pieces. Like the Perpetual Calendar, its ceramic case measure 48 mm in diameter, however its height measures 15 mm, which is exactly 1 mm less than the Perpetual Calendar.

Which of these three do you prefer?

For more details, please visit the IWC website.