IWC’s Big Pilot?s Watch became an instant classic when it was re-released in 2002. But its history stretches much further back in time. In this feature from the WatchTime archives, we explore the Big Pilot and its many evolutions over the decades.
The history of IWC?s popular Big Pilot?s Watch stretches further back in time than the histories of most wristwatches. IWC first made the watch for the German Air Force in 1940. Observation watches inspired the styling of this 55-mm-diameter timepiece, which encased pocketwatch Caliber 52.T.S.C. This timepiece has left its mark on the design of pilots? watches today ? together with comparable models from German manufacturers like A. Lange & So?hne, Wempe, Laco, and Stowa.
The Big Pilot?s Watch Heritage 55 with manufacture caliber and manual winding returns to the original diameter of 55 mm. ($14,800) Distinguishing characteristics were the military triangle flanked by two dots at 12 o?clock, a sans serif typeface for the numerals (which include a 1 that looks like an unadorned vertical bar), and rhombic hands. Each of these features can still be found today on almost all current IWC pilots? watches. Even the Mark XVIII preserves the family?s design, although its prototype, the Mark 11 pilots? watch created for the Royal Air Force in 1949, used other marks and hands.
But the successor of the original model wasn?t unveiled until 2002, when IWC re-released the Big Pilot?s Watch with a 46-mm-diameter steel case and in-house ...