Let There Be Light! IWC Schaffhausen introduces the Pilot?s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces, the latest timepiece inspired by its collaborations with U.S. Navy squadrons. The most striking feature of this picture-perfect pilot’s watch is the fully luminous white Lumicast dial. Developed in collaboration with pilots from the ?Black Aces?, a Strike Fighter Squadron 41 (VFA-41) based at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California, the dial is the result of a complex manufacturing process.

In the first step, high-grade Superluminova pigments are mixed with a binder, cast into a circular mold, and hardened in a specially developed curing process to give the material a ceramic-like durability. The resulting solid disc is then fixed onto the soft-iron dial blank. Finally, the dial is imprinted with black indices and numerals and the ?Black Aces? patch, resembling the ace of spades from a card deck. In dark chamber tests, the dial emitted a bright greenish light for more than 23 hours, taking legibility and night visibility to a new level. 
The case of the Pilot?s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces is made of black zirconium oxide ceramic with a stealthy matte-black look. With a Vickers rating second only to that of diamonds, ceramic ranks among the hardest substances on Earth, making it not only make it the perfect case material in the restricted space of a jet cockpit but also for everyday use.

The case back is made of lightweight titanium and fea...