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.
