The IWC Pilot Top Gun Boutique Edition

14 June 2013 | IWC , Aviator Watches

Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen is upgrading its popular Pilot’s Watch collection. With three new models to choose from, the TOP GUN watch family now has reinforcements. The family 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, the IWC Pilot Top Gun Boutique Edition, from the cockpit instrument displays found in jets, which glow in various colours at night. The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW502903) comes with red hands and indices, the Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW501903) with green and the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW388003) with blue. 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 three new high-flyers, which are available in limited editions at IWC boutiques worldwide, are fitted with a black soft strap.

Haute Horologerie for the cockpit.

The power of the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW502903), with its red hands and indices, is clear simply from its appearance. The imposing timepiece in its high-tech ceramic case has everything on board to raise the pulse of watch devotees to new heights. It starts with the wealth of complex technological features, including a perpetual calendar with a four-digit year display, moon phase display and 7-day power reserve. The perpetual calendar takes into account all the leap years in the Gregorian calendar until 2100. All the displays are easily adjusted via the crown and advance automatically. The moon phase display represents the state of the moon in the northern and southern hemispheres. Tickingaway inside the black ceramic case is one of IWC’s largest automatic movements, the 51614 calibre, with its efficient Pellaton winding system. This timepiece, built to take control of the skies, is one of the most elaborate Pilot’s Watches ever made by IWC Schaffhausen. The Top Gun logo on the reverse side and the limited edition of 250 are an indication of its exclusivity.

Arrival in the Jet age.

The Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Boutique Edition (Ref. IW501903) combines the clear-cut instrument look of the 1940s with 21st-century technology. Fully wound, the IWC-manufactured 51111 calibre, consisting of 311 components, will keep the movement running for 7 days. The front glass is secured against sudden drops in pressure in the cockpit and underscores the fact that this watch was made for flying. With modern features like the green hands, indices and tiny silhouette of an aircraft serving as a counterpoise at the rear end of the seconds hand, the Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Boutique Edition has been catapulted into the age of the ultrasonic jet. The Top Gun logo on the reverse side of the watch, which is limited to 500, is an indication of its high aspirations.

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. 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 limited edition of 500 and the Top Gun logo on the reverse side make it clear that this watch is not available to everyone.