The IWC Schaffhausen Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph Perpetual Calendar

IWC Schaffhausen launches the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month at Watches and Wonders Geneva. This watch combines a case and bracelet made of Ceratanium®, a black ceramic bezel with a tachymeter scale and a black dial with a hammered texture. The perpetual calendar displays the date and the month in digital format using large gold-coloured discs. The watch is powered by the IWC-manufactured 89802 calibre with a power reserve of 68 hours. Visible through a tinted sapphire glass case back, this highly engineered mechanical movement consists of 474 individual parts and also drives a chronograph function.

In 2023, IWC Schaffhausen presented the Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41, its first chronograph with a ceramic bezel featuring a tachymeter scale. This year, the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer complements the collection with the first Performance Chronograph featuring a perpetual calendar.

The Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month (Ref. IW388801) impresses with a technical all-black design execution in Ceratanium®. The case, pushers, crown and bracelet are all made of this IWC-developed material. Based on a special titanium alloy that is forged to IWC’s stringent specifications, Ceratanium® combines the lightness and structural integrity of titanium with a hardness and scratch-resistance similar to ceramic. The case and bracelet components are machined from bars and then fired at high temperatures in a kiln. During this heat process, they obtain ceramic properties and also their matt black finish. The bezel is made of polished black ceramic and features a tachymeter scale. In combination with the chronograph, it lets the wearer determine the average speed over a reference distance of one kilometre. The black dial with a hammered effect is manufactured in a complex process and represents a masterpiece of craftsmanship and finishing. The subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock with openings for the date and month discs feature a circular technical structure. The black indices and hands are filled with Super-LumiNova® to ensure perfect legibility.

A Digital Version Of The Perpetual Calendar

The perpetual calendar displays the date and the month with the help of large golden discs at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock. These displays take inspiration from IWC’s emblematic Pallweber pocket watches from the 1880s, which displayed the hours and minutes in a digital format using single digits. The mechanisms driving these display discs is highly complex. While the advance wheel for the single-digit and tens disc advances daily, a little energy is stored away every night. This energy is then discharged precisely at the end of a month or the year when, in addition to the date and month discs, the leap year disc at 6 o’clock also needs to be moved forward. The perpetual calendar recognises the different lengths of the months and adds a leap day every four years at the end of February. The combination of “29” and “02” will, therefore, appear only once every four years on the dial. Despite the complexity with four discs, the calendar can be set using only the crown.

Powering this watch is the IWC-manufactured 89802 calibre, a high-end mechanical movement assembled from 474 individual components. The movement also drives a chronograph function. The stopped hours and minutes are displayed combined in a totaliser at 12 o’clock. A highly efficient double-pawl winding system builds up a power reserve of 68 hours in the mainspring. This engineered and complex movement can be observed through the tinted sapphire glass case back. The bridges are blackened and similarly the rotor is blackened and skeletonised.

IWC Schaffhausen is a leading Swiss luxury watch manufacturer based in Schaffhausen in the north-eastern part of Switzerland. With collections like the Portugieser and the Pilot’s Watches, the brand covers the whole spectrum from elegant to sports watches. Founded in 1868 by the American watchmaker and engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones, IWC is known for its unique engineering approach to watchmaking, combining the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge technology and processes.

Over its more than 150-year history, IWC has earned a reputation for creating professional instrument watches and functional complications, especially chronographs and calendars, which are ingenious, robust, and easy for customers to use. A pioneer in the use of titanium and ceramics, IWC today specialises in highly engineered watch cases manufactured from advanced materials, such as coloured ceramics, Ceratanium®, and titanium aluminide.

A leader in sustainable luxury watchmaking, IWC sources materials responsibly and takes action to minimise its impact on the environment. Along the pillars of transparency, circularity, and responsibility, the brand crafts timepieces built to last for generations and continuously improves every element of how it manufactures, distributes, and services its products in the most responsible way. IWC also partners with organisations that work globally to support children and young people.