It has indisputably been a big year for IWC’s flagship Pilot’s Watch collections ? the launch of the BP 43, a re-edition of the classic “Black Flieger” 3075, and high complications in the military inspired Top Gun family providing just a few examples. Now as 2021 winds down, IWC closes it out with yet another milestone: the first Big Pilot’s Watch model equipped with a chronograph ? and not just any chronograph. Here’s a closer look at our final “Watch to Watch” of 2021: the Big Pilot’s Watch Monopusher Edition “Le Petit Prince.”

Why did IWC wait so long to equip one of its most popular and historical models with one of the most popular complications" Simply put, a traditional two-pusher chronograph design would have been incompatible with the iconic look of the Big Pilot’s Watch, especially its unmistakable, extra-large conical crown. The solution was to integrate a single chrono pusher into that crown, allowing the robust rounded case to preserve its familiar silhouette. Fortunately, IWC makes such a monopusher chronograph movement in-house ? Caliber 59360, which it had previously installed in last year’s Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher “Laureus Sport for Good” edition. That manually wound movement, one of three in-house chronograph movements produced by IWC, now ticks inside the new watch’s 46.2-mm stainless steel case, behind the shiny sunburst blue dial charact...