A few quick impressions of my new Mark XVII, aka the Little Big Pilot.
Wed, 13 March 2013 03:00
I've had this one about two weeks or so now. This purchase started out as my "beater watch" or utility watch buy. The more I wear my new Mark XVII, however, the more and more ridiculous that idea begins to seem. I'm really falling for it, though I hadn't expected to, especially to such a degree. Suddenly, it's as precious to me as any of my other more, ahem, "rarified" watches.Â
As we all know, each watch company has, if they're lucky, one or two iconic lines/models. I believe that for IWC, they don't come any more iconic than their Pilots and Portuguese. While I admire the legendary Big Pilots, having seven inch wrists mean they, at 46 mm wide, will always be too big for me, and will therefore forever only be admired by me from afar. All of the previous Marks are fantastic watches; I believe they are all very well proportioned, and none of them seemed to lack anything, size wise. For example, I think the Mark XVI is about as tight and efficient a design as any modern pilot watch can be.Â
Despite the love I have for the XVI, I chose to go with the newer and larger 41 mm Mark XVII, because I wanted something slightly bigger and bolder -- something slightly more Big Pilot, without the actual size -- if that makes sense. The XVII, with its larger case and dial, and interesting (and functional!) triple date window, was exactly what I was looking for. It's a bit more playful and perhaps less a bit less austere, compared to the XVI.
Quite literally as soon as I paid for the watch, I placed an order for a bespoke strap from a strap maker I've used many times before. I was inspired by member Nishant's recent photos of his new BP M. Ali, specifically the shots of his black BP strap with red leather lining. I took that concept and ran with it. I love the dark chocolate brown American alligator skin and the cream colored stitching on the inside. The rivets are solid and very well embedded in the strap (I always am afraid that such rivets would eventually come loose or fall off; these feel like they'll be there forever). They even look perfectly spaced, even though they're confined to a smaller area, this strap being only 20 mm wide.Â
Anyway, it's not often an aftermarket strap is actually nicer and sturdier feeling than the OEM strap. While the new style Pilot straps are fantastic looking and very well made, my new custom strap is even thicker and more substantial feeling. It's soft and thick, and forms to the wrist right away. I'm in love with this strap!
Thanks for reading my quick initial impressions of my new IWC. Here are some quick photos. Hope you like them:
- Dixan