Flying High
IWC Schaffhausen gets a little help from Lewis Hamilton to showcase its latest Spitfire pilot’s watches
Twenty-nineteen is the year of the pilot’s watches at IWC Schaffhausen. Apart from an SIHH booth decked out like an airplane hangar, the Swiss manufacture also introduces a whole new line of Spitfire aviation-inspired watches. Named after the legendary British fighter jet, the watch design itself is based on the Mark 11 timepiece worn by the Royal Air Force pilots in the late 1940s. One of the surviving Spitfire planes will be making a journey around the world next month. Dubbed the Silver Spitfire—the Longest Flight, IWC is supporting this ambitious expedition to be piloted by Steve BoultbeeBrooks and Matt Jones. For the new collection, IWC came out withwi guns ablaze, unveiling no less than five referencesre from a three-hand automatic to a perpetualpe calendar. The collection features the first in-house chronographch movement for an IWC pilot’s watch.wa Calibre 69380 is endowed with a classiccla column wheel design, a pawl-winding systemsy and a soft iron inner cage that protects againstag magnetic fields. There is also the Timezoner Spitfire Editioned ‘The Longest Flight’ dedicated to theth Silver Spitfire circumnavigating the globe. It boasts a special mechanism where a second timetim zone can be set by rotating the bezel emblazonedem with 24 cities. Steve and Matt own a Spitfire training school,sc the Boultbee-brooks Flight Academy, locatedloc at Goodwood Estate in South England.en Which brings us to Lewis Hamilton, theth IWC brand ambassador starring in the recentlyre released Spitfire campaign movie shotsh on location at the Goodwood race track. The Formula One champion may not be a pilot,pil but is no stranger to adrenaline-fueled activity.ac In the movie, Lewis races after the Silver Spitfire in a Mercedes-benz Silver Arrow W 125. The link between these pillars of the IWC universe (aviation and motor-racing) celebrates the brand’s passion for mechanics and engineering. Watch the film at iwc.com.