SPIRIT OF THE DESERT
The new Top Gun collection by IWC, a series of military watches unveiled at the SIHH, includes a ceramic timepiece developed in an original camouflage colour.
After enjoying success in 2012 with the Miramar version, named after the Californian army base that is the home of the US Marines Corps, the Top Gun collection by IWC is back this year with some new, technically advanced pieces. Among the new models, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Edition “Mojave Desert” stands out with production limited to 500 watches.
Top Gun came to fame with the 1986 film that launched the career of Tom Cruise, but it is in fact the name of a course taught to elite pilots in the US Air Force, the United States Navy Strike Programme. The Mojave Desert in California is the home, among others, of China Lake, the Naval Air Weapons Station, a military complex created in 1943. The mainly arid landscape and the sand hills in the desert, as well as uniforms worn by some US soldiers, inspired IWC to design a 44.5mm-wide watch case in beige ceramic – a colour that has never been used in watchmaking before.
Matching this light and resistant shell, the dial nonetheless features a deeper colour with taupe brown tones. The time elements (indices, Arabic numerals, day, date and hands) are all coated in beige lume. The hours and minutes are placed in the centre, while the seconds are in a counter at 6 o’clock. For the chronograph elements, two sub-dials clock up the minutes (at 12 o’clock) and the hours (at 9 o’clock). Lastly, a double counter at 3 o’clock shows the day and date.
These features are driven by the calibre 69380, generating a power reserve of 46 hours.
Price: 8,900 CHF
By Sharmila Bertin