One of the truly fun things about Watches & Wonders (and Baselworld and SIHH in previous years) is that it allows brands to present watches that act as a pure flex. For some brands it?s wild gem setting and diamond applications that you simply can?t believe, and for others it?s mind bending super complicated watches that cram an enormous amount of vital (and not so vital) information into a single display (or, you know, four displays – but we?ll get to the new Reverso later). For IWC, it?s a chance to show off a next generation shock absorption technology that takes impact resistance to another level, and they?re doing it under the banner of a watch that?s a veritable modern classic. 

The Big Pilot?s Watch Shock Absorber XPL is the first watch to come out of IWC?s new engineering division, IWC Experimental. ?New? is a relative term here, as the brand tells us that it took 8 years of research and development to produce the final product. At a high level, this is a very tech-forward version of the classic Big Pilot, rendered in Ceratanium and measuring a healthy 44mm across. But it’s a lot more than that – this watch is all about protecting the movement from impact. Shock absorption is a problem that watchmakers have grappled with for years. From Incabloc systems designed to protect the fragile balance wheel, to space age materials developed for their lightness and rigidity used by the likes of Richard Mille, creating a robust watch that can s...