This year’s all about pilot’s watches for IWC, but instead of just throwing out the previous collection in its entirety and updating all of the models, the brand is being much more thoughtful and selective with its new releases. There are a few new models in the Saint-Exupéry and Top Gun collections, but the real news has to do with Spitfire. Traditionally, the so-called Spitfire pilots have been silver-dialed versions of other, more traditional pieces in the collection. No more though. A new color scheme, new case materials, and new movements have been introduced, and the Spitfire collection can now be considered a semi-independent line in its own right that offers something unique and different from the other IWC Pilot’s watches.
Ahead of SIHH 2019, we had the chance to visit IWC’s headquarters and new Manufakturzentrum in Schaffhausen to spend some time with the new collection of Spitfires and to chat with IWC CEO Chris Grainger-Herr about how these new watches came to be, why they fit into the lineage of other Spitfire watches, and what they represent for IWC going forward.