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INTRODUCING: Change the time with a twist of the bezel on the IWC Timezoner Chronograph INTRODUCING: Change the time with a twist of the bezel on the IWC Timezoner Chronograph

INTRODUCING: Change the time with a twist of the bezel on the IWC Timezoner Chronograph

Benn Marks

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IWC Schaffhausen’s Timezoner Chronograph is a good-looking watch that packs an impressively technical punch. On the face of it it’s a chronograph with a worldtime function. This could have been an overly complex watch, but the reference 3950 is also one of the most user-friendly we’ve seen in a long time – featuring a clever mechanism that allows you to adjust both home time and the 24-hour second time zones with a simple twist of the bezel.

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Of all the 24 pilot’s watches IWC released this year (that includes completely new watches and relatively minor upgrades to existing models) the highly technical Timezoner is the most obvious choice for frequent travellers or, of course, pilots not wanting to lose track of time while away from home. It’s certainly IWC’s most ingenious release of the year, pairing the brand’s in-house column-wheel chronograph movement with stacked totalisers at the top of the dial with the bezel-controlled second time zone, demonstrated in the below video.

If you’ve ever been frustrated fiddling with crowns, this bezel is a revelation. The spring mounted city ring is a joy to use. It’s a patented IWC system that builds on technology initially pioneered and developed by Michael Vogt, founder of Vogard Watches. IWC has taken this technology, re-engineered it and incorporated its own innovations, notably the spring mounted rotating ring and the linked internal/external bezel seen in the latest Aquatimer collection.

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The Timezoner Chronograph shares the same visual language as other watches in the Pilot’s collection, but in reality this 45mm watch wears far more modern and intuitive than its simpler brethren. If the rest of IWC’s Pilot’s collection is inspired by Spitfires and Hurricanes, the Timezoner is more suited to the cockpit of the Airbus A380 – big, complex and unquestionably state-of-the-art.

IWC Timezoner Chronograph Australian pricing

The IWC Timezoner Chronograph has an RRP of $18,100.