WATCHES & WONDERS: The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun collection expands
Fergus NashEditor’s Note: Watches & Wonders means a bombardment of fresh releases, so we’re offering a quick overview of each brand’s new novelties – touching on each new reference or collection and their headlining points. Stay tuned throughout the week for deeper coverage, some of which will include live pics and our hands-on perspective. But for now let’s run through each of the new watches – here are the IWC novelties of Watches & Wonders 2022.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Woodland” and “Lake Tahoe”
IWC have marked out the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition as a range for expansion, consistently drip-feeding new variants of the original low-production model into their catalogues. This year for Watches & Wonders, IWC have engineered two new colours of ceramic to use for the “Woodland” and “Lake Tahoe” special editions — with the mossy matte green playing into the forest theme and the glacial white watch evoking the the snow-capped mountains that surround the Lake Tahoe region.
At 44.5mm in diameter and lugs that don’t shy away, the Pilot’s attitude of bigger means better is alive and well within this watch. The 15.7mm thickness is a bold statement too, ensuring that the watch is easily visible and showcasing its personality. Using the IWC in-house calibre 69380, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph user experience is bolstered by automatic winding and column-wheel actuation. To keep some exclusivity, each of these models is limited to 1000 units manufactured per year.
| Case Material | White & Green Ceramic |
| Case Dimensions | 44.5mm x 15.7mm x 53mm |
| Water-Resistance | 60m |
| Dial | Black / Green |
| Straps | White / Green Rubber |
| Movement | Calibre 69380 |
| Power Reserve | 46 hours |
| Complications | Hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph, day, date |
| Price | $15,900 AUD / 11,000 CHF |
IWC Pilot’s Watch 41 Top Gun Ceratanium
In what seems like a release that IWC have been teasing for a long time, their proprietary blend of ceramic and titanium finds its home in the 41mm version of the IWC Pilot’s Watch Top Gun to create a dark, brooding watch full of stealthy attitude. Created from the need to make these watches more wearable for casual IWC fans with average to smaller wrists, the IWC Pilot’s Watch 41 is slowly gaining more variations to provide creative options to customers. Here, the Ceratanium case, pushers, crown and caseback all imbue the watch with a sense of subtle power, without being completely jet-black and illegible.
The use of smoke-grey luminous paint on the dial does lessen the after-dark glow somewhat, but the effect in regular lighting conditions is simply stunning. The 14.5mm thickness and 100m water resistance make it eminently wearable as a daily watch, although if you’re wearing it underwater you should probably be cautious not to activate the chronograph pushers. The sapphire crystal has antireflective coating to keep the dial visible in direct light, as the grey-on-darker-grey colour scheme is admittedly not the easiest to read. The tinted display caseback shows off the calibre 69385, dulling the decorated sheen to better blend in with the watch. The fabric strap also has a rubber backing, adding to the overall sportiness.
| Case Material | Ceratanium |
| Case Dimensions | 41mm x 50mm x 14.5 mm |
| Water-Resistance | 100m |
| Dial | Dark Grey |
| Straps | Dark Grey Fabric-Rubber Hybrid |
| Movement | Calibre 69385 |
| Power Reserve | 46 hours |
| Complications | Hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph, day, date |
| Price | $18,800 AUD / 13,000 CHF |
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Top Gun
IWC’s most iconic watch finally meets their most iconic range in an ergonomic size in the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Top Gun. Although we’ve seen this killer combination before, the 46mm and 48mm sizes are just unfathomable to a lot of people. It may be the point of the Big Pilot to be worn like a dinner plate on the wrist, but for the people who want that specific look in a more wearable package, IWC would rather be the ones who sell it to them.
The 43.8mm case is hewn from a pure black ceramic that has a matte finish, but still managed to capture the deep inky lustre that black ceramic always carries. The dial is pure legibility, with large printed Arabic numerals in white above clear minute markers and minimal dial text to distract your eye. The small pop of colour in the thin red ‘Top Gun’ text livens up the monochromatic watch greatly, and the titanium jumbo crown also adds just a bit of visual variety. It comes on a fabric strap with a folding clasp, and uses the IWC calibre 82100 for 60 hours of self-winding power.
| Case Material | Stainless Steel |
| Case Dimensions | 43.8mm x 53mm x 13.9 mm |
| Water-Resistance | 100m |
| Dial | Black |
| Straps | Fabric with folding clasp |
| Movement | Calibre 82100 |
| Power Reserve | 60 hours |
| Complications | Hours, minutes, seconds |
| Price | $15,400 AUD / 10,600 CHF |