The Platinum IWC Big Pilots Watch 43 Tourbillon Le Petit Prince

IWC solid a fruitful partnership with the heirs of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 2006, the well-known French writer of Le Petit Prince, who was additionally a pilot and adventurer. The primary Huge Pilot’s Watch to seal the connection appeared in 2013, setting the flight path for the Le Petit Prince sub-collection with retro styling and emphasis on issues. Launched in tandem with the extra difficult Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon in a blue ceramic case, a 150-piece restricted version tourbillon in an expensive platinum case joins the Le Petit Prince assortment.

Equivalent to a mannequin launched in 2023 however with a special case materials, the newest Le Petit Prince adopts the proportions of the downsized, extra manageable 43mm time-only model produced in 2021. Whereas it’s 3mm smaller than the 46mm+ behemoths within the assortment, it’s nonetheless a big watch, reflecting IWC’s historic Grosse Fliegeruhr or 55mm Huge Pilot’s watches of the Nineteen Forties fitted with giant pocket watch actions.

The 43mm platinum case, with a thickness of 14.58mm and a depth score of 100 metres, shows the whitish shine of the valuable steel and is adorned with brushed and polished surfaces. A nod to the historic fashions with giant crowns for pilots carrying gloves, the case shares the outsized conical crown of the Huge Pilot’s household. Legibility is an integral function of a cockpit watch, and the utilized Arabic numerals, propeller fingers, dots and triangle at midday are crammed with Tremendous-LumiNova. The stylised rhodium-plated numerals and fingers add to the classic enchantment.

A big aperture on the dial reveals the flying one-minute tourbillon. Composed of 56 elements and weighing solely 0.635 grams, the tourbillon will be stopped to set the time precisely. Seen on the caseback is the IWC 82905 calibre with Pellaton winding, a 4Hz frequency and a strong energy reserve of 80 hours. As a particular version, the Prince seems on asteroid B 612 surrounded by unique baobab timber.

Restricted to 150 items, the watch is paired with a brown calfskin strap and a platinum folding clasp. It retails for CHF 85,000 / EUR 95,200.

Extra data at iwc.com.