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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