IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe” and “Woodland”
For Watches and Wonders 2022, IWC presents two new Top Gun chronograph watches with a beautiful coloured ceramic: the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe” with a white ceramic case and the “Woodland” edition which has the ceramic case, the dial, the crown and the pushers all made in a dark green colour.
Playing with colours and advanced materials, IWC released in 2019 the Pilot’s watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert”, a watch that has a beautiful sand coloured ceramic. Now the brand from Schaffhausen delights us by adding in their collection two chronograph watches in white and green coloured ceramic.
With these two new colours, as Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen says, the brand offers to watch lovers a way to express themselves as a bold style statement: “These new chronographs not only underscore IWC’s longstanding and extensive experience in the fields of in-house chronographs and advanced materials. The white and green ceramic used for the cases also illustrates the current evolution of TOP GUN from a collection primarily focused on performance to a bold style statement and an expression of a distinct way of life”.
The inspiration for this beautiful colour for these new chronographs came from the uniforms and the amazing landscapes that the pilots are seeing, explained Christian Knoop, who is the Chief Design Officer at IWC Schaffhausen.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Lake Tahoe” Ref. IW389105
Lake Tahoe is a lake in Sierra Nevada Mountains, straddling the border of California and Nevada. Above this mountainous area, pilots from theTop Gun School are flying frequently. The white uniforms and also the winter image surrounding Lake Tahoe inspired the design of the watch.
With a diameter of 44,5 mm, the watch comes in a white ceramic case, which IWC and Pantone named this ceramic colour “IWC Lake Tahoe”. It features a pitch-black dial which by the way is very legible and luminescent black hands. The crown of the watch is in stainless steel and also the pushers. Under the titanium case back you will find the IWC in house movement 69380.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Lake Tahoe” is paired with a white rubber strap, which has a distinctive embossing.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Woodland” Ref. IW389106
Like the Lake Tahoe Edition this one also had the design inspiration from aviation, the flight suits of naval aviators. The green ceramic colour of the watch is named “IWC Woodland”. The design of the dial is spectacular. It has a green colour and the numerals as well as the hour markers are printed in a lighter hue.
For this watch, IWC also used Ceratanium like for the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN Ceratanium (please read more about here). The case back of Woodland is made of matte black Ceratanium and also the pushers of the watch. The watch comes with a green rubber strap with textile inlay.
The Lake Tahoe and Woodland Edition are driven by the in house IWC 69380 calibre. This is an automatic movement with a column wheel, that replaced the ETA 7750 that IWC used it in some of their chronographs. It runs at a frequency of 28,800 vph and has a power reserve on 46 hours.
Both watches have a soft-iron inner case that protects the 69380 movement from magnetic fields. The glass of the watches is secured to withstand sudden drops in air pressure.
IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe” and “Woodland”
Technical specifications:
Reference:
· IW389105 (Lake Tahoe)
· IW389106 (Woodland)
Case:
· Diameter: 44.5 mm
· Height: 15.7 mm
· Material: Ceramic
· Crystal: Sapphire
· Water resistance: 60 meters
Movement:
· Calibre: 69380 Automatic movement
· Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, day, date, and chronograph
· Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
· Power reserve: 46 hours
Strap: Fabric-covered rubber with folding buckle
The price for the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Lake Tahoe” and “Woodland” is Euro 11,300 included taxes and is available at IWC boutiques and authorised retailers. The annual production of these watches will be limited to 1000 pieces each.
