Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince
Featuring a blue ceramic case and a blue dial, the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince combines two high watchmaking complications and is limited to 100 pieces.
ABOUT THE WATCH
Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince
With the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetua Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince, IWC Schaffhausen continues its series of Pilot’s Watches dedicated to “The Little Prince”, the most popular novel from the famous French aviator and author, Antoine de Saint Exupéry. Limited to 100 pieces, it features a 46.5-millimeter case crafted from blue ceramic, a blue dial and a blue textured rubber strap. These are combined with a case back ring and the characteristic conical crown made of 18-carat 5N gold. The gold appliques and the gold-plated hands are filled with Super-LumiNova® to ensure perfect legibility. With a perpetual calendar and a flying minute tourbillon, this extraordinary Big Pilot’s Watch combines two fine watchmaking complications. The flying minute tourbillon at 12 o’clock consists of 82 parts and weighs only 0.635 grams. This sophisticated mechanism places the pallet lever and the escapement in a small cage that rotates around its own axis once every minute. The continuous rotation contributes to offsetting the effects of gravity on the watch’s oscillating system, thereby significantly increasing its accuracy. Originally developed by Kurt Klaus during the 1980s, the perpetual calendar displays the calendar information on three subidals. Thanks to a reduction gear with two intermediate wheels, its moon phase display will only deviate by one day after 577.5 years. The calendar automatically recognizes the different months lengths and will add a leap day every four years at the end of February. This version also features a four-digit year display. As all its displays are synchronized, the perpetual calendar can be advanced simply by turning the crown. Both complications are powered by the IWC-manufactured 51950 calibre, a highly complex movement consisting of 474 parts. Crafted from solid gold, the rotor of the automatic winding system takes the shape of the Little Prince standing on his asteroid. Just like in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s famous novel, asteroid B612 is covered with wild-growing baobab plants.
Perpetual calendar | IWC Schaffhausen
In the early 1980s, IWC’s head-watchmaker Kurt Klaus set out on an engineering journey to translate the Gregorian calendar with its many irregularities into a mechanical program for a wristwatch. His ingenious perpetual calendar, which debuted in the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar in 1985, comprises only about 80 parts and displays the date, day, month, year in four digits, and the moon phase. The smart mechanical program automatically recognises the different length of the months, and even adds a leap day at the end of February every four years. The moon phase display is so precise that it will deviate from the actual phase of the moon by just one day after 577.5 years. All displays are perfectly synchronised and can be adjusted simply by turning the crown. Some models come with an additional century slide, so the watch can continue showing the date until 2499. The calendar only needs a small adjustment in those centurial years that skip the leap year, which is the case in 2100, 2200, and 2300. Some versions of the calendar feature a double moon phase display, showing the moon phase on the northern and southern hemispheres.
Features
Case
Movement
Packaging
Perpetual calendar with displays for the date, day, month, leap year and perpetual moon phase
Sapphire glass, convex, antireflective coating on both sides
Pellaton automatic winding
Flying minute tourbillon
Glass secured against displacement by drop in air pressure
Hacking tourbillon mechanism
Limited to
100
pieces
Case
Ceramic
Case
Diameter
46.5
mm
Height
16.1
mm
Back case
See-through sapphire glass back
Water resistance
10.0
bar
Calibre
51950
Calibre
Movement type
Automatic winding,
IWC-manufactured movement
