IWC announces Spitfire range at SIHH 2019

IWC has already proven it can make pilot’s watches. Its Top Gun range is used by some of the world’s toughest flight instructors (at the Top Gun Academy in Fallon Nevada), while the Le Petite Prince Collection is an ode to the golden age of aviation.

Still, it seems the sky truly is the limit for IWC and its pilot’s watches, as 2019 will see it double-down on aviation-themed watches with an entirely new collection: the Big Pilot Spitfire.

This summer, a restored 1943 Spitfire with a silver-chrome finish will leave London on a round-the-world flight covering more than 43,000 kilometres and 30 countries. The adventure was born from two Spitfire training pilots and supported from IWC.

To commemorate the project, IWC created the Big Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Spitfire Edition “The Longest Flight”. It’s available in just 250 pieces and combines a patented IWC Timezoner mechanism along with an in-house movement. The watch features a 46-millimetre stainless steel case, protected against magnetism and is water resistant up to 60-metres.

Elsewhere in the Spitfire range sits the Pilot’s watch Chronograph Spitfire – now introduced in a 41-millimetre case. The self-winding movement now comes in bronze, along with a complementary khaki-green dial.