IWC adds two Ceratanium models to its Top Gun collection, and each debut also represents a specific technical breakthrough for the Schaffhausen-based watchmaker.
One of the pair, the Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium, includes a Timezoner complication, marking the first time IWC has placed its unique world time display system into a Top Gun watch. The second debut, The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ceratanium, marks the debut of IWC’s first Ceratanium bracelet.
You may recall that IWC introduced its black Ceratanium titanium-ceramic alloy in 2017 on its Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “50 Years Aquatimer.” IWC then added the proprietary alloy to the Top Gun collection two years later in the Pilot’s Watch Double Chronograph Top Gun Ceratanium.
IWC explains that Ceratanium combines titanium’s inherent lightweight and strength with a hardness and scratch-resistance similar to ceramic. The alloy is also skin-friendly and highly resistant to corrosion. Plus, the material is black, which makes for a perfect livery hue on any adventure or sports watch.
The Perpetual Calendar
IWC places its excellent 52615 caliber with Pellaton winding system (visible through the tinted sapphire caseback) into the new Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ceratanium (Ref. IW503604). The watch’s two barrels, in combination with its Pellaton winding system, offer an impressive seven-day power reserve.
The perpetual calendar is a complication that IWC has pioneered over decades. This example features a mechanical program that automatically recognizes different month lengths and leap years and will require no correction until 2100. The watch’s moon phase display, which depicts the moon as it is seen from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, is also unusually precise. It will deviate by one day after 577.5 years, according to IWC.
Price: $48,000 (Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun Ceratanium, ref. IW503604). A limited edition of 150.
The Worldtimer
As noted earlier, IWC’s new Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium (Ref. IW395505) is the first model in the collection with the Timezoner complication. The technology makes it particularly easy to set the watch to a different time zone. When pressing down and rotating the bezel, the watch’s hour hand, the 24-hour display and the date will move forwards or backwards in one-hour increments.
IWC has printed this dial in grey and generously coated the numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9 with a luminescent material. Here IWC uses its 82760 caliber, also with the Pellaton winding system, which boasts a healthy sixty hours of power reserve. The wearer can view the movement via the watch’s tinted sapphire glass caseback.
Price: $16,900 (Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium, ref. IW395505). A limited edition of 500.
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