Messages: 41210 Location: Washington, DC
Registered: November 2003
SIHH 2019 - IWC Le Petit Prince and Antoine de Saint Exupery Special Editions
Sun, 13 January 2019 21:41
PILOT'S WATCH PERPETUAL CALENDAR CHRONOGRAPH EDITION "LE PETIT PRINCE"
Ref. IW392202 - Limited Edition of 250 Pieces
The case, in 18kt red gold, measures 43mm x 15.9mm. It has an AR-coated arched edge sapphire crystal, a sapphire display back, and it is water resistant to 60 meters.
Movement is the Swiss automatic IWC in-house caliber 89630 with 51 jewels, 28,800 vph and a power reserve of 68 hours. 18kt gold rotor. Functions are: hours, minutes, seconds. Perpetual calendar with displays for the date, day, month, year in four digits and perpetual moonphase. Chronograph function for hours, minutes and seconds. Hour and minute counters combined in a counter (totaliser) at 12 o'clock. Flyback function.
The perpetual calendar developed by Kurt Klaus in the 1980s automatically detects the different number of days in the month as well as leap years. The mechanism, which is built from just 80 or so parts, will work until 2100 without needing to be adjusted. The displays for date, day, month, moonphase and year are perfectly synchronised and can be easily adjusted via the crown if the watch is not worn for a prolonged period.
The blue dial has luminous gold-plated hands.
It comes on a brown calf leather strap with an 18kt red gold buckle.
BIG PILOT'S WATCH CONSTANT-FORCE TOURBILLON EDITION "LE PETIT PRINCE"
Ref. IW590302 and IW590303 - Limited Edition of 10 Pieces Each
The case, in 18kt hard gold, or in platinum, measures 46.2mm x 13.5mm. It has an AR-coated arched edge sapphire crystal, a sapphire display back, and it is water resistant to 60 meters.
This is the first time IWC has produced a watch with hard gold, a special new version of red gold. The microstructure of the alloy is modified in a sophisticated manufacturing process. Hard gold is therefore significantly harder and around 5 to 10 times more wear-resistant than conventional red gold. As a result, the material is perfectly suited to the large case and the crown of a Big Pilot's Watch.
Movement is the Swiss hand-wind IWC in-house caliber 94805 with 41 jewels, 18,000 vph and a power reserve of 4 days. Functions are: hours, minutes, seconds. Power reserve display. Tourbillon with integrated constant-force mechanism. Perpetual moonphase display.
The patented constant-force tourbillon is the IWC engineers' answer to a centuries-old challenge in the field of watchmaking: As the tension in the spring of a mechanical wristwatch slackens over time, less force is transferred to the escapement via the dial train, which in turn decreases the amplitude of the balance. This has a negative impact on the precision of the watch. The patented constant-force mechanism separates the escapement from the direct flow of force from the dial train and with every second re-tensions a balance spring, which serves as temporary energy storage and transfers absolutely even force pulses to the escape wheel. Integrated into a tourbillon, which also eliminates the influence of gravity on the oscillating system, the result is extraordinary precision.
It has a blue dial with rhodium-plated or gold-plated luminous hands.
It comes on a brown calf leather strap strap with a gold deployant.
