ON WINGS OF SILVER

For IWC Schaffhausen, 2019 is the year of Pilot’s Watches. Besides releasing a range of new timepieces and conducting themed exhibitions (as covered in DAMAN August/September ’19) the brand has also thrown its support for “The Silver Spitfire—The Longest Flight” project. The Silver Spitfire itself is one of the many surviving specimens of the World War II era Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft. More importantly, it is one of the several dozen that are airworthy, having been meticulously restored and hand-polished to give it a unique silvery sheen. Last August, it began a 43,000 kilometer round-the-world flight, with British pilots Matt Jones and Steve Boultbee Brooks taking turns in the cockpit.

IWC’s support for the “Silver Spitfire – The Longest Flight” project came as no surprise. The brand has previously commemorated the Spitfire with several special edition watches. Furthermore, as any historian or aviation enthusiast can attest to, the Spitfire was one of the most successful British fighter planes in World War II and became an enduring symbol of British resistance, particularly during and after the Battle of Britain. The visionary engineering that made the Spitfire such a great airplane and the timeless design that made it such a lasting icon resonated deeply with IWC.