It's been 75 years that IWC Schauffhausen's Big Pilot Watch (52-calibre T.S.C.) has dominated the scene.
In the implementation of the original Big Pilot, size had its important advantages.
Its unmistakable inspiration comes from aviation, seen from the dial design and colour of the luminescent numerals to the shape of the propeller-like hands, cone-shaped crown and historic leather straps, and it is also the largest wristwatch offering by the company.
In 2016, the Big Pilot gets a large size bite of an upgrade.
The Big Pilot's Heritage Watch 55 (Ref. IW510401) has a case diameter of 55 millimetres in sandblasted titanium, and weighs less than 150 grams, less than the 183 grams of the original in stainless steel. The movement inside is protected against magnetic fields by a soft-iron inner case.
Why the enlarged size? Firstly, it meant that the watch could have as big a movement as possible, guaranteeing the precision required for navigation watches. Secondly, a large dial was better able to accommodate clear numerals and offered much greater legibility. Back in those days, the dial design was very much based on historic cockpit instruments.
Back then, the big Arabic numerals and indices showing the minutes with a thick layer of beige-coloured radium, displayed on a matte black dial. Of course, the health hazard posed by radioactive luminescent coatings was only recognized years later, at which point radium was replaced by harmless materials.
Now, Super-LumiNova® coating provides and guarantees excellent legibility.
As in the original, the chapter ring, Arabic numerals and propeller-like hands are beige. However, the figure "9" – omitted in subsequent models after 2006 – is back in its old, familiar position. And taking the place of the "12" is a triangular index with dots on either side, which make it possible to recognize the relative position of the hands and read the time even with a cursory glance in the dark.
The fact that IWC’s designers did not integrate the triangle into the chapter ring is a further evocation of earlier IWC Pilot Watches.
The Heritage Watch 55 also does not feature a central seconds hand like the Big Pilot’s Watch (52-calibre T.S.C. – Tirette Seconde Centrale). Back then, pulling out the crown stopped the balance, thus allowing pilots and navigators to synchronize their watches with down-to-the-second accuracy.
Today, the small seconds is found at the 6 o'clock position, and the IWC hand-wound 98300 calibre can likewise be stopped by pulling out the crown.
The cone-shaped crown, unusually large and chunky, is a throwback to the early days when pilots in their unheated cockpits were forced to wear thick gloves and needed to be able to make setting and wind the watch easily.
Today, as in the past, the crown makes the daily ritual of winding the watch by hand a very special experience. The large crown is equipped with a friction clutch to prevent overwinding and damaging the mechanism.
Finally, a brown calfskin strap follows the historic version. Divided in two and sewn together at the ends, which makes it impossible to drop the watch accidentally when putting it on your wrist. Then, as now, two rivets on the spring bar hold the strap together.
The IWC Schauffhausen Big Pilot Heritage 55 is available in a limited run of 100 pieces only.
A slightly smaller but still imposing case diameter of 48 millimetres, the Big Pilot’s Heritage Watch 48 (Ref. IW510301) , is limited to 1,000 pieces, and is more practical for everyday use.
With Big Pilot Heritage editions, IWC has indeed taken us back in time to the pioneering days of aviation, alongside state-of-the-art watch technology.
Get ready to fly into the danger zone!
