IWC Schaffhausen unveils four new models in the Pilot’s Watch collection: the Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Antoine de Saint Exupéry”, the Big Pilot’s Watch Heritage, available with a case in either titanium or bronze, and the Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII Heritage. Today, let’s discover the latest special edition created in honour of the French pilot and author.
The Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Antoine de Saint Exupéry” is limited to 250 pieces: in 18-carat red gold with a brown dial and gold-plated hands (Ref. IW502706).
It is made to be a relatively high-quantity-production automatic chronograph caliber using a 7750-like layout but using a column wheel replacement the cam-actuation system being the most notable gap. Operating frequency remains 4Hz, and electricity book is 46 hours so other specs are quite near the famed workhorse chronograph caliber. Aesthetics-wise what is new about it compared to last year’s limited edition is that it now has the enormous and always impressive Iwc Watches Quality Replica winding rotor with big cutouts and beveled edges instead of the somewhat underwhelming stamped bit that has been current on the 2016 models. According to last year’s comparable models anticipate the IWC Ingenieur Chronograph’s cost to start from around $7,200. The IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Sport is a titanium-clad, 44mm-wide alternate to the above triple-register sporting a more complicated IWC Caliber 89361. It delivers a more striking 68 hours of power reserve, a more advanced automatic winding system and the more complex screen of chronograph minutes and hours on a single sub-dial at 12 o’clock. A neat design detail is that the lightning seconds hand at six o’clock, set as a reminder of this Ingenieur emblem (and the fundamental moments of a Milgauss, perhaps). In this high-contrast, legible, but arguably not-so-sporty black and white, the IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Sport will be a limited run of 500 pieces — but we wouldn’t be amazed to see different versions come together sooner rather than later.
The tobacco brown dial and the brown calfskin strap with decorative white stitching are reminiscent of the pilot suits from the era of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The annual calendar displays the month, date and day in three separate windows and only requires adjustment once a year, at the end of February. The IWC-manufactured calibre 52850 boasts a Pellaton winding system with components in virtually wear-free ceramic and generates a 7-day power reserve in two barrels.
Big Pilot’s Watch Annual Calendar Edition “Antoine de Saint Exupéry” © IWC
A special feature of this watch is the rotor in solid 18-carat red gold in the form of a Lightning P-38: it was in this particular model of aircraft that Saint-Exupéry took off on a reconnaissance flight across the Mediterranean from which he never returned. This watch is just the latest in a series of timepieces created by IWC to highlight its long-standing partnership with the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation.
Case back view with the rotor in the form of a Lightning P-38 © IWC
The new models are available from November 2017 in Iwc Watches Fake Replica boutiques and from authorised IWC retailers.