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Newsletter - Advent prizes galore
We are delighted to announce that Anonimo is the latest partner brand to join the WorldTempus fold. Find out more about the brand combining Swiss Made watchmaking with its Italian roots on our freshly published dedicated page and win one of their distinctive timepieces in our monthly competition from tomorrow (which also means that today is your last chance to win an Emile Chouriet watch in our November competition).
With the kind support of 22 of our partner brands WorldTempus aims to brighten up the end of the year with an Advent Calendar competition in which there are some great prizes to be won every day from tomorrow until 24th December. From the indispensable watchmaker's loupe to fragrances for ladies and gents up to VIP tickets to an Arsenal FC match, there is something for everyone. But you only have 24 hours to enter every competition, so don't forget to stop by every day to see what you could win!
Later this week Olivier Muller celebrates 10 years of the IWC Ingenieur collection, while I ponder the subject of central tourbillons and why there are so few of them. We also publish the first articles from the latest issue of GMT Lady magazine, which has just hit the newsstands.
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IWC - A new tractor for the brand
For a brand that already has its own high-end in-house movement production, the move towards producing base calibres in-house is an unusual one. Although supplies risk becoming scarcer in future, alternative suppliers are gradually improving the reliability of their movement s- one of the main requirements of these so-called "tractor" calibres. Why then go through the laborious process of duplicating all this work in-house? Not just once, but twice, as IWC reveals late-stage prototypes of its new 69000 and 42000 calibres in Geneva this week.
For Stefan Ihnen, Head of Research and Development, IWC, it is simply a question of choice, even if that choice involves considerable investment and long-term development work. "In terms of the meaning of "manufacture", the watches in which our 52 calibre movements are used are all above 10,000 Swiss francs, so this is clearly the "manufacture" segment," he explains. "These two new movements don't have the free hairspring or the Pellaton winding system, for example. They are very close to what you can get from ETA or Sellita but our strategy is to at least give us the choice between such external movements and an in-house option, which we did not have in the past."
With reliability being the main concern, testing the prototypes of the new 42000 and 69000 calibres alone is not enough. The entire semi-automated assembly line for these movements has also been tested in the development laboratories and will be disassembled piece by piece before being reassembled in the workshops in Schaffhausen where the new calibres will be assembled. Around 100 prototype movements have already been produced as part of this testing procedure, with 100 more set to follow in a second phase. "Of the next series of 100 prototypes, about 20 will be tested on the wrist and the rest will go into a 500-hour test. This will simulate wearing conditions," says Mr Ihnen.
But when the switch to production comes, the quantities involved will be thousands, not hundreds, which is why the quality and reliability has to be spot-on. "The ideal is that when we go into series production we are already reliable," explains Stefan Ihnen, "and we won't face any problems. We are looking at models such as the Aquatimer and the Pilot's watches, for example, which come in quite huge volumes. So when you take this step of switching to the new movement it's a big one and it has to be reliable."
Another thing that will set the new calibres apart from their competitors is their finish. In keeping with the philosophy of IWC's American founder, Florentine Ariosto Jones, who sought to industrialise watchmaking, these new calibres will have a different aesthetic from those produced in Grenchen or La Chaux-de-Fonds. "We have our own decorations and touches such as the gold oscillating mass and the blued screws, but we are coming from an industrial background," Mr Ihnen explains. "Our founder already had this idea of industrialising watch production so it's not a problem for us if our movements have some of this industrial character. The minute attention to detail that some brands lavish on their movements is not the main focus for us, it's more about robustness and reliability. This is in the heritage of IWC and I think if we did more decoration and finishing it could be too much."
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IWC - Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph "Ocean Racer"
The Volvo Ocean Race is back. From the start in Alicante in October 2014 to the final destination in Gothenburg in June 2015, seven teams will be battling for victory under the most extreme conditions. IWC Schaffhausen will be at the heart of the world's toughest offshore race as Official Timekeeper for the second time, and celebrates the event with a special edition: the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph "Ocean Racer", limited to 1,000 watches. IWC is also consolidating its partnership with the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team, which is taking part in the race for the second time, too.
This year's round the-world race sees the first appearance of a one-design boat class: the Volvo Ocean 65, which measures over 20 metres in length. For the first time in more than 10 years, an all-female crew will be taking part, with crewmembers from all over the world. In the course of a trial of endurance lasting nine months, the teams will make nine stopovers and one pit-stop and cover a total of 38,739 nautical miles, or 71,745 kilometres.
Befitting the unique sporting challenge, the new Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph "Ocean Racer" (Ref. IW390216) is a distinctly masculine sports watch. "We're dedicating this watch to the teams' sporting spirit and their commitment to extreme racing," says Georges Kern.
The levels of precision which are on a par with those of nautical instruments are part of the genetic make-up of any member of the Portuguese family. This manifests itself not least in the large size of the case - 45.4 millimetres- and the IWC-manufactured 89361-calibre movement, featuring a flyback function and aggregate timing of up to 12 hours, shown by an analogue display with two hands in a subdial. This timepiece is water-resistant to 6 bar and is the only Portuguese model with crown protection as well as luminescent hands and indices.
In an allusion to extreme sailing, the 360-degree rotor is modelled on a ship's wheel. The timepiece is supplied with a black rubber strap featuring an alligator leather inlay.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing puts to sea again
IWC Schaffhausen has renewed its commitment as official sponsor of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team, which took part in the last race as the first Arab challenger in the history of the Volvo Ocean Race. Two-time Olympic silver medal winner Ian Walker is once more in charge at the helm.
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IWC - Aquatimer Chronograph
The Aquatimer Chronographs are available with black or silver-plated dials in four different versions, with a black rubber strap or stainless-steel bracelet. The purist dial design and the quarter-hour scale on the internal rotating bezel reference the first Aquatimer released in 1967. The slim, chamfered shape of the external bezel with its gently rounded and recessed grips, on the other hand, was inspired by the legendary Porsche design of the Ocean 2000 of 1982.
The new external/internal rotating bezel mechanism gives the current Aquatimer collection overall a more sophisticated look and feel, despite the addition of a protective cover for the sliding clutch system on the left-hand side of the case. The polished and satin-finished surfaces contribute to the watch's premium-quality appearance.
From a technical point of view, the newly developed external/ internal rotating bezel represents a remarkable leap forward in the evolution of IWC diver's watches. For almost half a century, Aquatimers from Schaffhausen were fitted with either an internal rotating bezel or an external rotating bezel. One of the central functions of a diver's watch is to allow you to see at a glance how long you have already been underwater, and to calculate simply how long your store of compressed air will last. To facilitate this, the triangle marking the start of the dive, the zero point, is synchronized with the minute hand. From now on, elapsed dive time can be read off precisely on the scale. On the internal rotating bezel found in earlier models, the zero point was set with the help of a second crown at "4 o'clock": it was thus virtually impossible to move the bezel inadvertently. In addition, the luminescent coating beneath the front glass is perfectly protected against dirt and scratches.
On the downside, a crown is not as easy to set as an external rotating bezel. IWC's technicians therefore opted for an external bezel, which, for safety reasons, could only be rotated anticlockwise. This means that if a diver moves the bezel accidentally, he can only conclude that he has been underwater too long and should soon return to the surface: an annoyance, certainly, but harmless. The new external/ internal rotating bezel with the IWC SafeDive system in the 2014 Aquatimer collection combines ease of use with safety. The rotation of the external bezel is transmitted via a patent-registered sliding clutch system to the rotating bezelwith a triangular index and dive time scale on the inside of the case.
The increase in pressure-resistance from 12 bar to 30 bar provides a greater degree of safety when diving to great depths. Ticking away inside the 44-millimetre stainless-steel case is the robust 79320-calibre chronograph movement with a 44-hour power reserve. It enables stop times and aggregate timing up to 12 hours and is a reliable companion even on long dives. Even in a redundant system, divers appreciate an ongoing indication that everything is functioning normally. In the chronograph, this job is handled by the permanently rotating seconds hand in the subdial at "9 o'clock".
The new patented IWC bracelet quick-change system for the 2014 Aquatimer generation is sure and practical. It takes the hard work out of swapping from a stainlesssteel bracelet to a rubber strap and vice versa. All the new Aquatimer wristbands are compatible with each other.
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IWC - IWC's passion for the world of film expressed in Zurich
"We are proud of our new link to the much-respected Zurich Film Festival and of having the chance to support international filmmakers and promising young talent on a stage close to home," said IWC CEO Georges Kern, commenting on the start of a partnership destined to last for several years. "We are pleased that we can express our passion for the world of film with others who share it. Film directors tell stories with their works, and at IWC storytellingis a fundamental component of our branding," continues Georges Kern.
IWC Schaffhausen's collaboration with the ZFF underscores the company's commitment to promoting the filmmaking industry and ranks alongside established partnerships with the Dubai International Film Festival, the Beijing International Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival in New York or the British Film Institute in London.
Apart from these involvements, the company has maintained friendly relations over many years with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including famous actors like Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett and Ewan McGregor, or director Marc Forster. IWC watches also feature regularly - and prominently - in Hollywood films and American TV series such as Ocean's Thirteen, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and House of Cards.
The two partners' first joint venture will be the Zurich Film Festival from 25 September to 5 October 2014, which coincides with the Festival's tenth anniversary.
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IWC - Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun Boutique Edition
IWC Schaffhausen releases three new Top Gun models available in limited editions at IWC boutiques around the world: a Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar, a Big Pilot's Watch and a Pilot's Watch Chronograph, each with its own colour: red, green and blue.
The Top Gun collection takes its name from a special training course offered by the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, the "Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor", better known by the legendary accolade "Top Gun". Anyone who successfully completes this course is part of an elite comprising the best-trained, fastest-reacting and most courageous pilots in the world.
IWC Schaffhausen's designers took their inspiration for the three special editions from the cockpit instrument displays found in jets, which glow in various colours at night: thus the Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW388003) is dressed in blue.
PRECISION COCKPIT INSTRUMENTATION
The ideal choice for complex airborne manoeuvres is the Pilot's Watch Chronograph Top Gun Boutique Edition (Ref. IW388003) with blue hands and indices, protection against magnetic fields and a front glass secured against drops in pressure. And with the IWC-manufactured 89365-calibre movement, featuring a 68-hour power reserve, it is equally impressive on the inside.
Equipped with ceramic (zirconium oxide) cases - the back and crown are made of titanium - the timepieces are extremely rugged, skin-friendly and relatively light. The dial is in the classical cockpit design, all the way down to the date display, which resembles an altimeter. The central chronograph hand shows recorded times in seconds, while the hand in the subdial at "12 o'clock" shows the number of elapsed minutes. Thanks to an integrated flyback function, pressing the reset push-button causes the stopwatch hand to jump back to zero and immediately start another timing sequence. The small seconds hand rotating at "6 o'clock" indicates that the watch is running normally. The watch is issued in a limited edition of 500.
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IWC - Airmail Adventurer
IW Magazine - 15 November 2012
Born in 1900 at the dawn of the golden age of flight, Antoine de Saint-Exupery was a pioneer of aviation who helped to establish these dangerous airmail routes as part of France's Aeropostale.
He was also a war hero who was decorated with the Military Cross for accomplishing a dangerous photo reconnaissance flight over Arras during WWII, and who disappeared in 1944 over the Mediterranean while on an Allied flying mission in occupied France.
But while he was all these things, he is still best recognized around the world as the author and illustrator of The Little Prince. In recent years, IWC has honored Saint-Exupery with a special collection of pilot watches.
"With our long tradition of manufacturing Pilot's Watches, we feel that there are b bonds that bind us to Antoine de Saint-Exupery," explains Georges Kern, CEO of IWC.
"We were inspired by a man who was also a passionate designer and who obtained his first aeronautical patent in 1936, the very year that IWC, with the same obsession for engineering, built its first Special Pilot's Watch and unveiled it to the public. We have enormous admiration for a pilot who was prepared to risk his life in the name of technological progress. And we are honoring Saint-Exupery, the great writer and humanist, with whose works many of us grew up. Mankind and its pursuit of happiness are themes that are prevalent throughout his work."
Youth Foundation
As a humanist and award-winning writer, Saint-Exupery reflected on the human condition and accorded a very high value to man, believing in universal values of fraternity, friendship, duty, valor, selflessness and the invisible links that bind men together. And from these values the Antoine de Saint-Exupery Youth Foundation (www.fasej.org)was born. Believing that the world needs responsible young citizens, the Foundation was established in Paris in June 2009 by the Saint-Exupery - d'Agay Estate (the heirs of Antoine de Saint-Exupery).
With an increasing number of young people living in unfavorable conditions, the Foundation's objective is to offer them tangible support in domains like education and the fight against illiteracy by helping them build better futures for themselves so that they participate actively in society and contribute to enriching the world.
The IWC-Saint-Exupery partnership, begun in 2005, represents a tribute to aeronautics and IWC's longstanding pilot's watch tradition. Fascinated with technology and engineering, Saint-Exupery registered around fifteen patents for aviation-related inventions in his lifetime, echoing the hunger for technical innovation present at IWC.
The name "Antoine de Saint-Exupery" thereafter appeared alongside that of IWC through a series of aviation-focused projects, which debuted in 2006 with the opening of the IWC-Saint-Exupery Space at the Museum of Air and Space in Le Bourget near Paris and an exhibition on time, aviation and pilot's watches.
The exhibit also included wreckage from Saint-Ex's Lockheed P-38 Lightning that had been salvaged from the Mediterranean. Since then, IWC has paid homage to Saint-Ex's life's work as an aviator and writer by creating different limited-edition and single-piece pilot's watches.
The first four models were associated with his literary oeuvre and, each time, one unique example was created in platinum. That model was then auctioned with an original manuscript, or autographed first-edition copy of the book, with the entire proceeds sent to a charitable project jointly chosen by IWC and the Saint-Exupery - d'Agay Estate.
Pilot models
The Pilot's Watch Chronograph launched in 2006, which paid tribute to Exupery's book Night Flight, was followed the next year by the Pilot's Watch Automatic, in homage to Southern Mail. In 2008, the Pilot's Watch UTC honored Wind, Sand and Stars, and 2009's Big Pilot's Watch revered a lifetime's work. The fifth timepiece in 2010 was the limited-edition Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar, which marked IWC's renewal of its partnership with and commitment to the Foundation - a true vote of confidence in its humanitarian work.
The sixth and latest tribute is the Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition Antoine de Saint Exupery, launched last April, which marks the centenary of Saint-Exupery's first flight in 1912, when the 12-year-old convinced the pilot Gabriel Salvez to take him for a spin in a Berthaud-Wroblewski.
In a limited edition of 500 pieces, the new 43-mm red gold chronograph features a signature Saint-Ex tobacco-colored dial with sunray-pattern finish and brown calfskin strap with quilted stitching. The in-house developed and manufactured 89361 mechanical automatic caliber with 68-hour power reserve powers a date display, central chronograph seconds hand, chronograph hours and minutes combined on a single totalizer at 12 o'clock, flyback function and small hacking seconds at six o'clock.
A special engraving depicting a P-38 Lightning, the last aircraft Saint-Exupery ever flew on a mission from which he never returned, adorns the caseback.
Adventurous life
Saint-Exupery's life reads like an adventure novel. He started as an airmail pilot on the France-Spain route, then later on to Morocco and Senegal, before crossing the Atlantic to South America. He piloted legendary early-model aircraft and lived out incredible experiences in the Spanish Sahara as station chief of the Cape Juby postal stopover, as well as in Argentina where he set up the first functional airmail service over the snow-capped Andes from Buenos Aires to the southernmost tip of Patagonia. There he inaugurated night-time flights to beat ships and trains in the race against time.
Called up by the French Air Force in 1939, he resumed active service before his exile in the U.S. from 1940 to 1943, where he set about trying to convince the Americans to enter the war against Nazi Germany.
Internationally-renowned during his lifetime, he became a legend after his death. Today, such is his enduring notoriety that there exist two private museums dedicated to him in Japan and Korea.
At the same time, Saint-Exupery wove many of his personal experiences and flying adventures into his literary works. He wrote to feel less alone, as he chain-smoked and drank endless cups of coffee and Coca-Cola, working late into the night. His semi-autobiographical masterpiece, The Little Prince, written during WWII and first published a year before his disappearance, revealed his melancholic state.
He had constantly drawn sketches of this sad little boy with blond curls and a long scarf, the image of whom he had carried in his heart since the early '30s. He believed that to change the world, you had to be able to communicate with children.
No simple children's tale, The Little Prince is a philosophical declaration of a wounded man who foresaw his impending death, which not only criticized the world of adults, but society at large.
This pocket-sized book of poetic and philosophical significance, which has been taken into space by French, American and Russian astronauts, is the most widely-known French work of literature and has been translated into more than 260 languages and dialects.
The Foundation relies on an important international charity network already working on the ground carrying out local projects, which comprises hundreds of committed members, often volunteers, in approximately thirty countries.
Saint-Exupery wrote in Wind, Sand and Stars: "To be a man is, precisely, to be responsible. It is to feel shame at the sight of what seems to be unmerited misery. It is to take pride in a victory won by one's comrades. It is to feel, when setting one's stone, that one is contributing to the building of the world." The Antoine de Saint-Exupery Youth Foundation is following in the footsteps of this man who was as great a storyteller as he was an impassioned pilot, continuing on its path empowering youth across the globe.
Making all of Saint-Exupery's illustrations in The Little Prince accessible to visually-impaired children by 2013 in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the publication of the book's first edition in New York in 1943
Music for the Growing Mind, which offers free musical education to underprivileged children in Hong Kong and Mainland China.
First flights in light aircraft of 100 sick and handicapped children from the Ain region in France in collaboration with the non-profit Les Ailes du Petit Prince, which will take place at the French air base where Saint-Exupery flew for the first time in 1912
Opportunities for youth to discover the world of aviation and its various professions by visiting airbases and participating in airshows through a privileged partnership with the French Air Force
Creation of a youth and cultural center providing educational and sociocultural activities for disadvantaged adolescents from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, by Paris-Tegu.
SIPAR, which combats illiteracy in Cambodia by providing 10,000 children access to reading materials and literary activities every month, setting up libraries and educational centers, and operating mobile library buses serving remote areas.
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IWC - Portofino Chronographe Edition Laureus Sport
With a limited special edition for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, IWC Schaffhausen is showing its support for the sixth time to children and adolescents who are confronted with the most trying conditions in the course of their everyday lives. The watch manufacturer is launching the Portofino Chronograph in characteristic Laureus blue as a symbol of hope for a better future.
"As a Global Partner of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, IWC Schaffhausen is launching another watch with a mission that goes well beyond keeping the exact time," says CEO Georges Kern. "The Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is an ambassador for children and young people from all over the world who lead lives that are far from blessed and are in urgent need of our support. We are able - and willing - to lend a helping hand." Since 2005, the Schaffhausenbased company has been a driving force behind Laureus, which supports over 90 projects worldwide that give socially underprivileged children and adolescents the hope of a better life and show them ways of helping themselves. Every year, in keeping with a revered tradition, IWC Schaffhausen selects a model from its collection as a means of supporting the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. In 2012, it is the Portofino Chronograph's turn to sustain this sport-inspired range of watches.
The watch that gives fresh heart
The Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in stainless steel is available in a limited edition of 2,500 watches. The exclusive timepiece in the hallmark shade of blue combines understated elegance with a distinctive sporting flair and is a perfect example of successful design and modern technology. The stopwatch elements have been so skilfully integrated that the simplicity typical of the Portofino is retained. The chronograph dial, too, is equally restrained without sacrificing any of its functionality. The aggregate timing displays are joined by a small seconds at "9 o'clock", which elegantly counterbalances the day and date displays on the opposite side of the dial.
The Portofino Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is powered by the tried-and-tested 79320 calibre with a 44-hour power reserve and automatic winding with a ballbearing rotor. A special engraving embellishes the back of the case. This year, in keeping with tradition, IWC Schaffhausen organized its annual children's drawing competition among all the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation projects worldwide.
The subject "Time to inspire" motivated children and young people all over the world, aged between 4 and 16, to take part. The jury finally chose an illustration by 7-year-old Kumara Wadu Parami Apsara from Sri Lanka, who is part of the Seenigama Sport for Life project. The young girl, who was born exactly a month before the devastating tsunami, took inspiration from the subject to depict four young girls happily playing and enjoying themselves without a care in the world. The winning entry is engraved into the case back of the special edition and serves as a reminder that part of the proceeds from sales will help children all over the world come to terms with their difficulties and find renewed courage despite all the setbacks and losses
Sri Lanka struggles to create a new life
The last three decades in Sri Lanka have been marked by fear and suffering. A 30-year civil war that ended only in 2010 destroyed a large proportion of the island and violently ripped many communities apart. The effects of the horrendous tsunami that hit in December 2004 are still keenly felt, even 7 years later. In April 2005, 4 months after the catastrophe, representatives of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation first paid a visit to the devastated southern province of Sri Lanka around Galle. Under the leadership of cricketing legend and Laureus World Sports Academy member Sir Ian Botham, the team looked into ways of using sport to give children and adolescents in the crisisstricken region something they could count on and use, to make a large contribution to rebuilding the country. Following its visit, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation began cooperating with the locally active Foundation of Goodness and set up the Seenigama Sport for Life project as a means of actively supporting the region.
While the first priority was to heal the mental wounds and rebuild the country and its infrastructure after the tsunami, the focus today is on a long-term commitment. The Seenigama Sport for Life project offers coaching in cricket, volleyball, swimming, basketball and badminton from which more than 1,400 children and young people in eight village schools now benefit. Sport is also used as a means of tackling the many social problems, and this is having a positive effect on the entire region. The Foundation of Goodness has also extended its efforts to the north of the country. It is the only non-governmental organization involved and, together with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, is fostering post-war development in Sri Lanka.
New sports facilities are being built in the former wartorn zone of Mankulum in the north of Sri Lanka. In March 2011, Ian Botham paid a visit to the project region, which is still plagued by landmines. "Sri Lanka has had to face a number of challenges over the years including the tsunami and conflict, and I never cease to be inspired by the strength of the human spirit to deal with the challenges that affect communities," said a visibly moved Ian Botham.
Sport will continue to play a key role in the attempt to have a positive influence on the lives of as many children and adolescents as possible in Sri Lanka and to pave the road to a better future.
Further information can be found at: www.laureus.com/foundation/projects
Together against poverty
Seenigama Sport for Life is just one of over 90 worldwide projects supported by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. A charitable foundation, it has already assisted over 1.5 million children and adolescents who are victims of poverty, homelessness, war, violence, discrimination, drug addiction, racism and HIV/Aids. IWC Schaffhausen is a Global Partner and worldwide representative of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. With the support of the Laureus World Sports Academy, an association of sports legends who between them hold over 100 Olympic medals, 100 world championship titles and 200 world records, the aim is to help children and young people find a way out of drugs, poverty and violence. Following this principle, the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation is active in crisis areas all over the world, including the slums of Mumbai and Uganda, the South Bronx in New York and in the region torn by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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IWC - The Horological Wingman
WORLDTEMPUS - 24 January 2012
"We are a masculine watch brand," Robert Pennartz, newly appointed director of Benelux and Scandinavia, stated over a quick lunch inside the Palexpo premises that houses the annual SIHH watch show. A statement like that should not raise any eyebrows when you consider the popular Swiss watch brand's lineup this year. Masculine indeed, manly even.
The IWC collection is built around its pillars and every year one of the pillars is presented with new, updated models. This is the year of the Pilot's collection and this is what we saw when we visited the inside of IWC's booth: a life-size fighter plane leaving no doubts about this year's theme greeting you.
The 2012 Pilot's collection offers not only perpetual calendars with digital indication and a smart rotor shaped like an airplane, it also boasts more ceramic timepieces than ever before at IWC. Two of these even sport an "instant vintage" dial layout with pre-tinted SuperLumiNova, which seems to be the plat du jour of quite a few watch companies these days. This forced vintage look is perhaps wearing a bit thin already, but admittedly it is quite fitting on the new IWC Top Gun Miramar mode.
The Miramars
This model line is named for the Californian training grounds where the legendary Top Gun jetfighters were originally educated between 1969 and 1996 before the grounds were relocated to Fallon, Nevada. The 48 mm Big Pilot Top Gun Miramar (€ 16,100) and the pilot's chronograph Top Gun Miramar, only slightly smaller with a generous diameter of 46 millimeters (€ 11,200), offer new looks never seen before at IWC. Beside the pre-tinted look, these models are also equipped with a green textile strap that looks and feels like the material used for a jetfighter's overall.
Interestingly enough, the latter is now powered by an in-house chronograph movement, Caliber 89365, which offers a flyback function as well as a power reserve of 68 hours.
These are undoubtedly two very appealing timepieces for the man who likes to wear a large, masculine watch without being weighed down by a stainless steel case. The black light-weight ceramic offers better wearability and the soft textile strap adds to the comfort.
Steel wingman
If black ceramic and pre-tinted hands and hour markers are not your thing, don't worry. IWC also introduced other handsome wingmen such as the 45-millimeter Pilot's Watch Worldtimer crafted in stainless steel, which is apparently an editorial favorite at Worldtempus. In fact, this model rocks so much, we have to ask what took them so long to bring it out?
Of course a pilot's watch should be fitted with a world time function and this model is destined to be an instant classic. It will be interesting to see how this worldtimer retailing for € 8,550 will be received by the public, but it certainly deserves an all round degree of success. And who knows…perhaps IWC will even pamper frequent flyers with a future pink gold or titanium version of this Pilot's Watch Worldtimer.
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IWC - Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition «Plastiki»
As the official partner of the "Plastiki" expedition, IWC Schaffhausen is commemorating the successful mission with an addition to the Ingenieur watch family: a limited special edition of the Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition "Plastiki". This watch is the Schaffhausen watchmaker's homage to the feat of the British adventurer David de Rothschild and his crew, who sailed across the Pacific in 2010 in their pioneering and one-of-a-kind catamaran, the "Plastiki".
The "Plastiki" expedition made environmental history. Weighing 12 tons and held afloat by 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles, the catamaran sailed from San Francisco to Sydney on a mission to draw global attention to the health of our oceans, in particular the colossal amounts of plastic waste choking the waves. A remarkable man full of bright ideas, David is a lateral thinker and, by passionate conviction, an environmental pioneer. He and his team undertook the project as a practical realization of their vision of a society that views waste as a resource. The Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen backed the adventure as official partner, endorsing its efforts to draw attention to the untold quantities of plastic waste that litter our oceans.
This partnership is celebrated with the Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition "Plastiki", Reference 3236, which is limited to 1,000 timepieces.
A chronograph fit for an expedition
More than 30 gruelling tests have proved it: the Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition "Plastiki" is extremely robust and made for adventurers. The stainless-steel case is waterresistant to 12 bar and protects the crown with its firm protective shoulders. Nestling inside is the IWC-manufactured 80110 calibre with selfwinding, which is fitted with a soft-iron inner case for protection against magnetic fields up to 80,000 A/m and protected by an integrated shock-absorption system against impacts. The back engraving commemorates the "Plastiki" expedition and depicts the catamaran and its sea route from San Francisco to Sydney. This masculine timepiece is worn with a blue rubber strap. In fact, David and his crew were wearing watches from the robust Ingenieur family on their arduous sailing expedition, which took over four months. The team overcame innumerable challenges on board the avant-garde catamaran "Plastiki", whose hull consisted of over 12,500 reclaimed plastic bottles.
The mission of the environmental pioneer
It is David and his team's mission to captivate the imagination, motivate and ultimately activate individuals, groups, organizations and industry to act more responsibly towards our planet using adventure, expedition and exploration. David has no intention of merely pointing out the problems but is committed to driving the innovative real world solutions. "To sustain our ability to live on this planet as we know it, we are going to need to dream bigger, undertake bolder adventures, and deliver more compelling Environmental ambassador Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition "Plastiki" stories around why Nature voice needs to be heard more clearly," says David with conviction.
"As individuals and citizens travelling on spaceship Earth, we must not only learn to reconnect back into Nature and the web of life but we must as a matter of urgency prioritize the activation of the many pioneering solutions that are available to us today." The environmental adventurer's solution-oriented thinking also convinced IWC Schaffhausen. "David is a pioneer and passionate fighter for an intact environment," notes Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen. "He provides the stimulus for innovative ideas on ways of solving the ecological problems of our time. Such commitment deserves to be encouraged. That is why we had already decided on a cooperation in 2007." The avant-garde thinker and his organization are sure to find further unconventional ways of persuading people, companies and industry to eliminate the problem of disposal by understanding waste as a resource.
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Greubel Forsey - Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey
1960 Born into a watchmaking family, Robert spends hours observing his father work at his watchmaker's bench.
1975-1978 Studies at the French watchmaking school Ecole d'Horlogerie de Morteau and earns the CAP degree.
1987 Works as a watchmaker in the Greubel Horlogerie family shop in Alsace.
1986-1987 Pursues his watchmaking education at the renowned watchmaking school in Dreux, France and concentrates on complicated horology.
1987 Marries Outi from Finland
1987- 1990 Works as a prototypist at IWC, where he participates in the development of the Grand Complication, a key moment in his career.
1990 Joins Renaud & Papi SA (today's Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi SA) as a prototypist where he develops numerous projects in the field of complicated watchmaking. He later becomes joint managing director and shareholder in the company.
1992 Outi and Roberts' daughter Aina is born.
1999 Decides to leave Renaud & Papi SA to pursue his watchmaking career independently.
1967 Born in St. Albans, a city in England where tens of thousands of Marine Chronometers were once produced.
1987 Passionate about all things mechanical, as is his father, he attends Hackney Technical College in London to study technical horology.
1987-1992 After a rich experience in restoring antique clocks and watches, he becomes head of the Watch Restoration department at Asprey's in London.
1988 He perfects his watchmaking knowledge in Switzerland at the WOSTEP watchmaking school in Neuchâtel.
1990 He follows a course on complicated watches and restoration of antique horology pieces.
1992 Moves to Switzerland to join Robert Greubel's team at Renaud & Papi SA.
He works on diverse complicated watchmaking movements such as Grandes Sonneries, Minute Repeaters, Carillons, Perpetual Calendars and Tourbillons.
1993 Marries Phoebe from England.
1997 Their first child Sophie is born.
1998 Their second child Edward is born.
1999 Leaves Renaud & Papi SA to pursue an independent watchmaking career.
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Harry Winston - Opus X
In 2001, Harry Winston launched The Opus Series - a creative new initiative designed to reconstruct and redesign time. By partnering with the industry's most revered independent watch makers, each Opus reflects and unprecedented journey of collaboration and innovation, resulting in a groundbreaking timepiece that neither partner could have imagined alone.
True to the Harry Winston Timepiece DNA, technical innovation is impeccably reengineered and refined. Crafted in the finest materials, timepiece technologies are explored to the extreme to create an innovative and abstract expression of time.
OPUS X - The Shape of Time
Inspired by planetary movements and the space-time continuum, Opus X captures the shape and dimensionality of time through the synchronous rotation of circular motions. Replacing a traditional fixed dial and watch hands, time is displayed as system of rotating indicators mounted on a revolving frame. Presenting a new technical challenge, as the frame completes a full rotation, the dials of each indicator turn in the opposite direction, ensuring orientation remains constant in any position.
Recalling the celestial mechanics of the solar system, the hand-wound mechanical movement functions as a planetary gear train, consisting of solar wheel, satellite wheels, and frame. The indicators for hours, minutes, seconds, and secondary timezone, are set on the individual satellite wheels, which orbit around the central, solar wheel. Each indicator is set at a slight incline, allowing the dials to follow the curvature of the case, while ensuring fluidity in rotation. The frame is driven separately to complete a full rotation in 24-hours.
Creating coherency throughout the design, the 72-hour power reserve operates as special planetary gear train, in which the diameter of the satellite wheel equals the radius of the crown wheel resulting in a linear indication. Balance regulation and chamfered bridges enhance the stability and functionality of the power reserve. A transparent backing shows the geometric precision and beautiful finishing of the movement.
Modern and pure, 46mm white gold case is designed without a bezel, adding light and transparency to the design. Attached directly to case, rounded sapphire crystal enhances the overall visibility of the dial animation. In the collaborative tradition of Opus, the names of both partners - Harry Winston and watch engineer Jean-François Mojon - are marked on the bottom of the case. Pushing the innovative extremes and challenging the perceptions of time, the resulting design is a groundbreaking accomplishment that is the essence of the Opus Series.
COLLABORATION
JEAN-FRANCOIS MOJON: Fascinated by engineering from a very early age, Jean- François was introduced to the watch making trade through his father, who worked in the technical watch business. After earning his diploma in engineering and microtechnology in Le Locle. Mojon joined the industry working on research and development of movements and new complications for several international timepiece brands, including Swatch Group and IWC. In 2005, he began his own company, Chronode SA. Specializing in the development of high complication movements, the company is based in Le Locle, Switzerland. The historic heart of Swiss watch making, the industrial epicenter sits at the cross roads of timepiece tradition and modern innovation - the perfect place to continue the Opus experience.
[Rating: 5 / 5 stars]
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