Last month, a rebuilt Spitfire from 1943 set off from an aérodrome on the southern coast of England, with the mission to complete a 43,000km circuit of the globe, passing through 26 countries, taking an estimated four months to complete.
Named The Silver Spitfire—due to the plane being stripped of its paint and polished to a mirror-like finish—the odyssey is the brainchild of two pilots based at the Boultbee Flight Academy in Goodwood, which restores old Spitfire fighter jets and offers flight training to pilots and joyrides to fans of these unique and iconic aircraft.
Steve Boultbee Brooks and Matt Jones are sharing the trip in collaboration with IWC watches, a pre-eminent specialist in aviation timepieces, whose relationship with pilots predates even the Spitfire itself.
In 1948 IWC delivered its made-to-order Mark 11 pilot watch to the RAF, founding a whole family of robust functional tool watches still in production today and that for much of its history has shared the name Spitfire. In early 2019 IWC launched its Year of the Spitfire, and a whole new generation of Spitfire watches inspired by the original Mark 11.
Naturally, Esquire was on hand for the star-studded event. You can watch the whole thing below:
.jpg)