From IWC comes a superb trio of boutique only TOP GUN Pilot’s watches, each featuring cockpit-styled indications which are vivid  by day, and lumed to glow in their individual colourways after dark.

If you are hooked on the big black face + white numerals aesthetics of IWC’s Pilot collection then this cosmetic overhaul may not be for you.  Indeed, many may consider these pieces to be rather adventurous, but this departure from monochrome has not been a hasty one.  We have already enjoyed a gradual evolution of the collection as seen with last year’s Muhammad Ali Big Pilot’s edition and the Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar model.

Whatever your preference, these limited edition pieces will sell like proverbial hot cakes and if you manage to nab one for your collection then you will no doubt enjoy the added swagger of their restricted production numbers.

First up the most complex of the three, the IWC Big Pilot’s Perpetual Calendar model, limited to 250 pieces.  With such a compendium of indications this dial should be cluttered, but combined indications ensure equipoise is maintained.  It’s calendar complication takes into account the variation of days in each month as well as leap years needing no intervention or adjustments by the wearer until  March 1st 2100 as this is a secular year and will not, as ruled by the Gregorian calendar be a leap year, and it’s moonphase complication displays both hemispheres, but that is not all – there are sufficient hidden features to satisfy even the most calibre-savvy wearer- a Breguet spring, a Glucydur balance and of course the smooth precision of the Pellaton winding system which will power the piece for 7 days.

Next the most uncluttered of the three, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Boutique Edition featuring green indications.  Powered by the IWC Manufacture Calibre 51111, it still maintains that generous 7 day power reserve but with the indications reduced to a minimum there is plenty of empty matt black  space against which to enjoy that cool little aircraft overhang on the seconds hand as it encircles the dial.  This one is limited to 500 pieces.

Saving the best to last, this is the IWC Pilot’s Chronograph TOP GUN Boutique Edition, and it really is seriously good looking.  This one shaves 2mm off the case size of the other two, measuring up at 44mm across offering face-on perfect proportions.  The blue/black combination is outstanding, the chronograph has a flyback function, and the contrasting whiteness of its altimeter-style date indication is marvelous.   Limited to 500 pieces, if given the chance… I just would.

More details at IWC here.

Also, a look-back at the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar here and the Big Pilot’s Watch “Edition Muhammad Ali, ONE OUT OF ONE” here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Fans of the IWC Portuguese collection, do not adjust your eyes.  This 2013 model is not an unattainable special edition, but the new Portuguese Chronograph Classic, and it is magnificent, is it not?

Better still, the improvements are not simply cosmetic, inside is the in-house Calibre 89361, an addition which I feel will elevate this piece to “grail watch” status for this collection’s many enthusiasts.

Firstly, the aesthetic amendments, because they are commendable – an up-size to 42mm with case choice of either steel or rose gold.  On the dial, the 12-hour counter features a two-handed display which offers utmost readability and adds instant symmetry, as it forms an affinity with the hour and minute hands – especially when posed in the most common “photography o’clock” position of 10.10-ish as shown.  This in turn is balanced by the small seconds counter at 6 o’clock.

Both subdials are recessed and snailed, adding subtle styling details, and the applied numerals are still reassuringly diminutive.  Not even the busyness of the reinstated railtrack edge, nor the various indications including a date window, detract from the overall character of this piece – it still manages to retain the face-on bareness and empty dial space synonymous with the Portuguese collection.

The in-house calibre 89361 features a fly-back chronograph and it is meticulously decorated with Geneva stripes, all visible through rear-case sapphire.

The IWC Portuguese Chronograph Classic is available with slate grey or silver dial editions and the addition of supreme quality Santoni leather straps is but an added bonus.

Incidently the IWC official website is also praiseworthy, packed with news, a blog and a moderated forum. Not merely a brand calling-card, its regularly updated content is a showcase feature and one which puts so many other sites in the shade. View it here.

Or perhaps a look-see at our IWC articles – no nasty copy and paste press releases, all original stuff – here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

IWC nail it with a new tribute piece, the IWC Portuguese Automatic Edition “Tribeca Film Festival 2013″ – the Scaffhausen company are partners with the festival, hence the celebratory timepiece.

IWC are well known to be a benevolent watchmaking company.  We reviewed their 2013 Laureus Edition watch, complete with a magnificent blue dial only last week and it was quite a beauty…. but this one is totally delicious in every way – so much so that to release it as a “Piece Unique” is wasteful in the extreme – it would be outrageous if its handsome face does not find its way into IWC’s portfolio in a more attainable guise at a later date.

So – what makes this one such a corker? The platinum case? – ’tis a “Portuguese” rarity to be sure.  The slate dial?  The rose gold details? The Bordeaux subdials? All are meritorious.  All combine and add to the resplendency of its dial.

The Portuguese lends itself to such a makeover with finesse because it is already an impeccable timepiece.  There is equipoise in its arrangement, an abundance of empty dial space to enjoy and a certain mannerliness in the diminutive proportions of its numerals.

Inside this piece is the automatic IWC Calibre 51011 and, with a nod to its ceremonial beneficiary, its rotor is engraved with the festival’s logo.

The one of a kind IWC Portuguese Automatic Edition “Tribeca Film Festival 2013″ will be auctioned by Antiquorum on April 10th.  More details at IWC.

And more IWC from TheWatchPress.com including last year’s precision Pilots and this year’s ingenious Ingenieurs.

Popularity: 1% [?]

IWC continue to promote the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, of which they are global partners with a new watch, the IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph for Laureus 2013.

I love the concept behind these IWC Laureus watches – magnificent blue dials, a colour symbolic of hope and, on the caseback a unique engraving – one which captures the very essence of the charity for which the timepieces raise awareness and funds each year.  Some “tribute” timepieces are so square, but there’s  not a hint of fuddy-duddyness in these pieces, and bravo to IWC for getting those who ultimately benefit from the Laureus Foundation involved.

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation reaches out to underprivileged children and young people through 90 projects in some of the most challenging parts of the world.  Each year a drawing competition is held among the children who take part in the  projects, and the case back of the Laureus watch for that year features an engraving of the winning entry, a replication which works suprisingly well.

The theme for this year’s drawing was “time to move” and the winning entry which was drawn by 12 year old Hakkini Hasanga Sandumal De Silva of Sri Lanka, and which is thematic of the Olympic Games, will appear as a caseback relief engraving on the 2013 edition watch.

The IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation will be limited to 1000 pieces.

Details of the Foundation here.

Popularity: 1% [?]

IWC’s new partnership with the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team not only provides a superfast global billboard for the brand, it also inspires an array of new Ingenieur models including this one, the IWC Ingenieur Constant-Force Tourbillon.

Fans of IWC who value complexity and technical achievement will place this one uppermost on their wish list, because it features not only the superb unfussyness synonymous with the Ingenieur,  but also a very fine horological feather in IWC’s cap – the constant-force mechanism integrated in a tourbillon, which promises to ensure a regular supply of energy whether the mainspring is fully wound or running down – now available in an Ingenieur model for the first time.

Naturally such a technical triumph demands dial domination appearing at 9 o’clock, but there is more to admire.  An exceptionally realistic double moon phase at one o’clock shows both hemispheres with surface detailing visible even without a loupe and a new retrograde power reserve is located at 4 o’clock.

Inside, the IWC handwound 94800 calibre has two barrels producing a power reserve of 96 hours, its fine finishing and motorsport-inspired forms viewable through the sapphire caseback.

The new IWC Ingenieur Constant-Force Tourbillon comes presented in a 46mm platinum and ceramic case, more details at the official IWC website.

Or perhaps 3 other new fine and dapper Ingenieur timepieces featured here.

Popularity: 2% [?]

In the build-up to SIHH 2013, IWC announce details of their new fine and dapper Ingenieur Collection.  Last year IWC’s focus was firmly on their Pilot’s watches, this year the Scaffhausen-based brand turn their attention to the Ingenieur, an unpretentious, technical and highly usable timepiece – and with a new partnership with the Mercedes F1 team set to provide IWC with a superfast global billboard, naturally this provides an opportunity to produce some car-inspired styling without justification.  This will be a hoopla-creating collection, and is one which, like much of what IWC create, will have a broad appeal.

Those with an appreciation of the classical will gravitate towards the new stainless steel Ingenieur Automatic, reminiscent of Gérald Genta’s clean and unfussy1970′s design which is produced in a very vintage case size of 40mm.

Too restrained?  There is also an Ingenieur Automatic AMG Black Ceramic model, taking its name from the engineering company who Mercedes trust to eke every ounce of performance from their engines, a timepiece which looses some of the bezel-refinement by enhancing the screws and which showcases the brands expertise in the use of ceramic.

Sports timer?  Covered.  The new Ingenieur Chronograph Racer features a 12-hour chronograph with flyback function housed in a 45mm case.  A combined minutes and hour totaliser enables the dial to remain uncluttered and counters positioned top and bottom ensure superb dial balance.  Four editions will be available, with the choice of tactile textured strap or bracelet.

We will bring you more details on the new IWC Ingenieur Collection for 2013 in the coming weeks, in the meantime, IWC have a meritorious forum where fans can keep up to date, access it here.

Or peruse our IWC archives here.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Forming part of the Scaffhausen-based watch brand’s 2012 Pilot’s watch collection is the IWC Pilot’s Watch WorldTimer.

The WorldTimer complication is one which you either loathe or love.  You may be disinclined to appreciate its usefulness.  You may be scornful of the advantages to be gained from the ability to tell the time in 24 of the world’s locations instantly, at a glance.  You may be opposed to the clutter which a “city ring” brings to the perimeter of the dial.  Or just maybe those with a quest for new horizons and an adventuresome nature will find inspiration in a WorldTimer in ways which a Tourbillon or a Moonphase complication would fail to achieve.

The most important elements of a WorldTimer watch are readability, clarity and ease of use and without these it’s functionality will flounder.  The IWC Pilot’s WorldTimer fulfills all the criteria, white numbers and markings on a matt black dial, a black and white day and night ring and foolproof operation via the crown which can be turned back or advanced safely in one hour increments as required.  Globe trotters may appreciate the addition of an international date line, aviation buffs will enjoy the cockpit instrument-inspired triple date display.

Inside is the IWC automatic calibre 30750 with 42 hours of power reserve.  With such a wealth of dial information, IWC wisely do not scrimp on the size, this one measures a wrist-worthy 45mm across.

The legible, functional IWC Pilot’s WorldTimer is constructed from stainless steel and comes presented on a black alligator strap.

Think a Pilot’s watch has to be black-on-white? – think again,

…. here’s the very tasty IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar

…. and the rather fancy IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month

…. and a nifty sun-ray dialed  IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition DFB made for the German National Football Team (lucky ol’ them).

Popularity: 4% [?]

Hot on the heels of the one-of-a-kind IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Muhammad Ali Edition comes another re-styled edition of their acclaimed aviation timepiece, the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition DFB which although a limited edition, will be produced in a much more attainable issue of 250 pieces.  “DFB” is the German Football Association which means that this piece will be part of the National Team’s kit when they take part in the EURO 2012 Championship.

In tribute to the team’s colours, the piece features black indices, and flashes of red on the small seconds hand and on the power reserve indicator, all of which tones in rather nicely with the rhodium-plated sun-ray finished dial.  The stainless steel case measures a conspicuous 46mm across with convex sapphire on the front and a solid caseback with special edition engraving on the back.

Inside is the automatic Calibre 51011, producing a full 7 days of power reserve from its Pellaton Winding System which has been in use since 1946 and is named in honour of its creator, Albert Pellaton.

This is the third timepiece which IWC have developed in partnership with the Deutscher Fußball-Bund and like the previous editions, some of the proceeds from the sale of each piece will help support the Laureus Sport For Good Foundation projects in Germany.

Related Articles

IWC Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Muhammad Ali Edition

Popularity: 5% [?]

It’s a bit of a teaser, really – this is the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Muhammad Ali Edition, of which only one will be made, but my-oh-my isn’t it tasty?

The special piece will be auctioned for the Celebrity Fight Night charity, a star-studded annual event due to be held on March 24th, and IWC have styled it in honour of Muhammad Ali who will be a featured guest at the event.   This unique watch features signal-red indices and hands which have been coated using special red lume, so none of the expected readability of the piece is compromised, and a red-lined alligator strap – a colour which replicates Muhammad Ali’s famous red boxing gloves.  The case is made from white gold and on the case back is an engraving “Edition Muhammad Ali, ONE OUT OF ONE”.  Last month we reviewed the superb IWC Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and, it has to be said, the Schaffhausen brand are fast-becoming the most benevolent in the industry.

Muhammad Ali was of course, as entertaining out of the ring as he was in it, and here’s a taster of some of his famous quotes:

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, his hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see”.

“I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was dark”.

… and who could forget his sound bite on playing golf …”I’m the best.  I just haven’t played yet”.

More information on the Celebrity Fight Night here.

Popularity: 4% [?]

New for 2012 is the IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month.  You may be familiar with the IWC Top Gun Collection, in honour of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School – techy and exciting stuff.  Now IWC produce a piece at the other end of the aeronautical scale – a tribute to the iconic Spitfire, the plane described by those who flew her as the “closest to perfection, ever”.

The piece will be IWC’s first Pilot’s Watch to feature a perpetual calendar, digital date and a stopwatch display.  A Perpetual Calendar takes into account the variation of the days in each month, and also leap years using a marvellous mechanical memory comprising of several hundreds of parts which quite literally count 1,461 days – or four years.  On this piece the leap year is indicated in a small aperture at 6 0′clock.

The IWC Calibre 89800 inside has a few functional innovations – in order that the complex disc system required to advance the three digital displays does not drain the power or effect the amplitude, a power-saving mode kicks in, storing up energy released as each nightly date change occurs, power which will be used when the system is under most strain, at the end of each month and year – think of it as a horological KERS system.  A trick feature, but then IWC have been pioneers of digital displays for more than 100 years.

On the sun-burst slate dial everything is neat, legible, functional and balanced.  Another innovation, the stopwatch function which times the seconds using the central chronograph hand, has its hours and minutes displayed on a totalizer at 12 o’clock, and it is a flyback chronograph enabling a quick reset to zero – features which combine to produce ultra fast/read at a glance usefulness, features which lead IWC to describe this piece as a “watch-within-a-watch”.  Quite.

The automatic Calibre 89800 produces a more than generous power reserve of 68 hours and has a unique winding rotor in the shape of a Spitfire, which can be viewed through the sapphire crystal caseback.   Housed in an 18 carat red gold 46mm case, the IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month comes presented on a brown alligator leather strap.

Related Articles

IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar

A Fan of Pilot’s Watches?  – then you really must meet the Bremont Watch Company.

Popularity: 5% [?]

This is the IWC Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the sixth piece released by the Schaffhausen-based brand in honour of the Laureus Foundation.  A few details distinguish these special editions – they have magnificent blue dials, a colour symbolic of hope and each edition also features some rather unique case back engravings.  This is eye-pleasing philanthropy at its finest.

IWC are global partners for the organisation which reaches out to underprivileged children and young people through 90 projects worldwide and the annual release of the Laureus watches raises not only funds, but also awareness for the charity and its on-going work in the most challenging parts of the globe.

The spirit of both the Laureus Foundation and those who it seeks to assist is evident not so much in the perfection achieved by IWC’s dial design, but by what is going on on the back of the piece.  Each year a drawing competition is held among the children who take part in the  projects, and the case back of the Laureus watch features an engraving of the winning entry, a recreation which works suprisingly well.  This year’s picture was drawn by 7 year old Kumara Wadu Parami Apsara, from Sri Lanka who was born just one month before the tsunami changed her homeland forever.

The IWC Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation watch features a 42mm steel case and inside is the IWC automatic chronograph Calibre 79320 with 44 hours of power reserve.  The piece will be a limited edition of 2500.

Details of the Foundation here.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Just released are details of the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar.

Not everyone likes the fussiness of a decorated watch dial.  For some there’s nothing quite like the plain high-legibility of a classic Pilot’s watch.  IWC are more than accomplished in the creation of clean-cut aviation pieces – I know of no man who would not gain an extra swagger if he had one of their Pilot’s Chronos strapped to his wrist.

This one has the added bravado of IWC’s in-house Calibre 89365 with a flyback function and a mighty 168 hours of power reserve.  Maybe you’re more familiar with a pilot’s watch with a big black face and white numerals?  This one has a sharp combination of a matt anthracite dial with covert colours for the hands and chapter ring.  The case measures 48mm across (… great, the more the better when a watch looks this good …) and is made from anti-scratch grey ceramic.  A military-styled textile strap completes the utilitarian styling.

The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar will form part of the brands new releases to be presented a SIHH 2012.

Related Articles

The IWC Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium

The IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar 2010

Popularity: 6% [?]

If you like IWC’s Ingenieur collection then you will want this one on your wrist.  The Ingenieur has always been unpretentious, technical, usable.   The latest piece which is constructed from titanium means that the chunky 45mm case is even comfortable, not an essential requirement when a watch looks this good.

Instantly recognisable as an Ingenieur, the changes are subtle but effective.  Those five screw heads on the bezel are DLC coated and the crown and pushers are coated with grippy black rubber.  The blue-on-black touches on the dial give the design a slight revamp but the refinements are harmonious, this is an IWC after all.

Bringing added kudos to the Ingenieur for the first time is the addition of a rattrapante or split-seconds timer, notoriously difficult to construct and integrate into a movement but one which is extremely useful and highly addictive.  You will search for and find two entities to time at least once per day – children around the world often get fitter while running laps around the garden so Daddy can fiddle with his new rattrapante timepiece.

Inside the Ingenieur Double Chronograph Titanium is the Calibre 79230 with a power reserve of 44 hours and the piece comes presented on an integrated black rubber strap.

Popularity: 5% [?]

IWC present a new limited edition piece – the IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar 2010.

A Perpetual Calendar is a remarkable piece of micro engineering.  Comprising several hundred parts, a perpetual calendar module quite literally counts the days, taking into account the variations of days in each month.  This is a watchmaking complication so intelligent that it recognises leap years, one so precise that if it is maintained it will not need adjustment until March 1st 2100 – and only then because this will be a secular year and not, as ruled by the Gregorian calendar, be a leap year.

The latest Portuguese Perpetual Calendar has been give a new rather tasty colourway, a rich blue dial combined with an 18 carat rose gold case.

IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 2010

The slightly smaller 42.3mm case is just big enough to accommodate the generously proportioned IWC Calibre 51613 which features Albert Pellaton’s winding system in this case with a seven day power reserve, mechanically restricted to ensure constant accuracy.

This is a watch which knows everything.  Time, date, day, month, year and what the moon is doing whilst managing to look handsome, elegant and unruffled.

Presented on a black alligator strap, the IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar Limited Edition 2010 is an edition of 100 pieces.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Continuing the successful Jacques Cousteau editions of it’s superb Aquatimer model, IWC have lifted the covers from the fifth edition  to take it’s place among the range.

The IWC Aquatimer model has been a real grower on me over recent years, particularly the Cousteau editions, and in it’s latest guise, I think it just looks better than ever!

This edition stands out from previous releases in that it marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary French underwater explorer on June 11 and this is commemorated on the watch’s caseback with the engraved bust of Cousteau above the 1910 – 2010 centenial tribute.

As a diver’s watch it features stout luminous steel hands and applied hour markers set against the graphite grey coloured dial, a stainless steel rotating bezel with ceramic numerals ring and rubber-clad crown, all on a 44mm x 15mm stainless steel case, so it has all the features and will also withstand depths of 120m.

The recessed chrono subdials, being the same deep dark blue as the centering arrow on the bezel, really set off the effect of the watch and beneath the day and date windows is the Jacques Cousteau signature. It all sits on a natural black rubber strap with tang buckle.

The IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Jacques Cousteau Edition 2010 is powered by the IWC Calibre 79320 automatic movement.

Popularity: 10% [?]