WIRED
“
NOV — DEC 2012
The oscillating weight of the Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital DateMonth has the shape of an elegant Spitfire silhouette which can be seen through the sapphire-glass back.”
indicator marks leap years and will require resetting only in 2100 when unusually, it will not be a leap year. At 12 o’ clock, a totaliser records the elapsed time for reference during use of the watch’s chronograph function; a universally crucial tool for pilots. The Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month 2012 also records more than one time via the chronograph due to an integrated flyback function; offers self-winding, and holds a substantial 68 hours of power reserve when fully wound. All of this is achieved beautifully by IWC’s 89800 movement. “It takes a complicated mechanical act of force to advance four display discs at the end of the month and thanks to the digital leap year display, no fewer than five discs, synchronously at the end of the year,” says Knoop. “This complicated mechanism must not affect the watch’s accuracy, even if the tension in the spring is almost exhausted or if the chronograph is running.”
For enthusiasts, one of the most fetching aesthetics of the Spitfire watch is on its caseback. “As a premiere in the Pilot’s Watch family, the oscillating weight of the Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month has the shape of an elegant Spitfire silhouette which can be seen through the sapphire-glass
back,” says Knoop. “This design element was inspired by the Supermarine Spitfire Mk II, a Rolls Royce Merlin powered variant.” Gliding in circles beneath the see-through sapphire caseback, the beautifully detailed Spitfire will probably tempt wearers to keep the watch off as much as on.
IWC and WWII IWC’s development of watches for pilots stretches back to 1904. Their first pilot’s watch (the Mark IX) emerged in 1936 boasting shatterproof glass, a rotating bezel with an index for recording short periods of time and an anti-magnetic escapement, together with high contrast luminescent hands and numerals for easy reading in poor light conditions. In fact, so steeped in history is IWC’s development of precise mechanical watches that it harbours a classic irony common to so many luxury brands that endured through the world wars. IWC had developed a Big Pilot watch based on a pocket watch movement that it used on deck watches provided to the British Royal Navy. Not one to lag behind, Hitler also desired IWC’s horological supremacy for his Luftwaffe pilots. As a result, between August and December 1940, IWC delivered close to 1000 Big Pilot
watches to the German Luftwaffe. Till the 1980s, IWC continued to receive commissions from the British Royal Air Force for custom made pilots’ watches.
Due to its long association with aerial and naval forces, IWC continues to maintain particular characteristics of its early pilot watches in its timepieces today. For example, the Spitfire bears a hacking second hand (one that stops when the crown is pulled out) which is necessary for watch synchronisation during team missions. Further, each watch has a soft-iron inner casing (first unveiled in 1936) which protects the movement from magnetic fields, allowing it to maintain accurate time and distance in the air. And lastly, the Spitfire is also protected against pressure displacement – handy for those jerky monsoon flights over India. It is also waterproof up to six bars (should you have to use your ejector seat) or make use of your life vest during an emergency water landing. Whether you’re considering the Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month 2012 for your personal collection or for your next aerial mission into foreign airspace, you can rest assured that its superlative elegance, sophistication and accuracy will keep you up to speed, in or outside the danger zone.