Watches & Wonders 2021: IWC’s Latest Pilot’s Watches Take Us Back to Days of Traveling

IWC Schaffhausen’s Latest Pilot’s Watch Collections Will Make You Nostalgic About Air Travel

It could be a little ironic that IWC chose this year to focus on their Pilot’s Watch collection given that most planes have spent many months grounded on the tarmac, but our guess is that they are optimistic that this is the year when global flights resume, or perhaps it was just a part of their long term planning. Whatever the case may be, we think it’s still pretty great to be able to put an aviation-inspired watch on the wrist, bringing back a little bit of that aviation nostalgia.

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch 43mm

Despite what the name Big Pilot’s Watch may imply, this year IWC has decided to shrink it down to a not-so Big Pilot’s Watch. The spirit of this collection takes its inspiration from a time when these watches were made purely as functional tools for pilots. Legibility was the main concern, therefore the dials were often sparse with very conspicuous hands and the size of these watches was often humongous. Even by today’s standards 48 mm is a bit on the big side. Therefore, to make the Big Pilot’s Watch a little bit more accessible to a wider range of audiences, they decided to create a version in 43 mm.

With a more manageable size of 43 mm, we think there will be a lot more fans for this gorgeous Big Pilot’s Watch collection.

Iw329301 Bp 43

This new 43 mm diameter still keeps the spirit of an oversized case but makes it a little more manageable for those with smaller or mid-size wrists. The watch will be available with either a blue or a black dial and will be powered by IWC-manufactured 82100 calibre with their Pellaton 2-way winding system.

The crown for the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 mm is oversized as usual making it easier to wind even if you are wearing thick gloves as aviators back in the day usually did.

As the modern Pilot’s Watch was created not just as a utilitarian tool but also as a luxury item, it will feature compatibility with the user-friendly EasX-Change strap system allowing for quick changes of the strap.

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar

Yet another staple in the Big Pilot’s Collection returns this year, offering the perpetual calendar complication in a stainless-steel case, a blue dial and rhodium-plated hands. As with many other perpetual calendars, this watch will display the accurate day, date and month even taking into consideration the leap years and will not need any correction until 2100. The more interesting bit is that IWC has included a new century slider in the case which shows the year until 2499.

There have been many perpetual calendars within this collection and we forsee there will be many more.

The IWC-manufacture calibre 52615 calibre is made with 386 components and thanks to its twin barrels, the Pellaton automatic winding system can build up a power reserve of seven days.

There Have Been Many Perpetual Calendars Within This Collection And We Forsee There Will Be Many More 2

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a mechanical watch and the G-Shock had a baby, this may be the answer to your question. Jokes aside, this incredible system is IWC’s new patented shock absorber system called SPRIN-g PROTECT, which took eight years to develop. Through its unique shape and the use of a Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) material, the watch was shown to be able to survive accelerations in excess of 30,000 g.