IWC Takes to the Skies (and Beyond) With Latest Launches

We’re making the call early: it feels like it’s going to be a blockbuster year in the watch world. Several brands seem to be taking a bigger swing than they have in the last handful of years, including IWC, who were kind enough to invite us down to Los Angeles this past February for a closer look at their new releases. Of course, we weren’t surprised to see a few simple line extensions and new colourways, but there were also plenty of important new watches worth talking about.

IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet

The Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar has been an icon of the IWC lineup for ages now, and while a “technical update” might seem small, there’s a lot going on under the hood. This new reference brings significant functional change to the table, making the calendar complication bi-directionally adjustable from the crown and allowing overall case thickness to drop by just over a millimetre. IWC spent roughly a decade on this new movement, initially going out of their way to work from the existing Kurt Klaus-designed movement.

To start things off, a handful of new references are on offer — including blue dial references in both steel and white ceramic cases for the brand’s Le Petit Prince editions (marking 20 years of IWC’s partnership with the charity), as well as a stunning gold-cased reference with a contrasting forest green dial. What makes this new model especially interesting? Its diminished case sizing. Steel and gold-cased models are now trimmed down to 42mm while ceramic variants are down to 43mm, marking a healthy size drop in contrast to the existing 46mm references.

IWC Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive

Easily the most unexpected release from IWC came in the form of the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive. Designed in partnership with VAST — a private space exploration company looking to deploy its first functional space station in 2027 — the watch was engineered with space travel in mind. In place of a crown, setting functions are operated via its rotating bezel, which is locked and unlocked via a left-side toggle switch. While this sounds a bit odd in concept, it functions quite seamlessly when in-hand, and feels like something that could (in a pinch) be operated through heavy gloves without issue. A ceramic case and Ceratanium bezel complete the package and, despite its significant 44.3mm diameter and 16.7mm thickness, the piece is quite comfortable on the wrist. Both VAST and IWC have been testing the piece significantly throughout its development, earning the piece its “space flight qualified” certification.