Monday, February 13, 2012

IWC Top Gun collection of Big Pilot watches

Most people will like the subtle Top Gun branding on the watches. There is no mention of it on the dial or case sides. The old model I believe has some type of Top Gun logo on the side of the case. Only the rear of the watch talks of the Top Gun connection. While the steel Big Pilot watches look excellent, ceramic is a great material. It is very hard and will wear gracefully as it is very scratch resistant. For the most part these should be really durable watches in terms of looking good for a long time.

One person said something interesting to me about how they didn't like the metal crown and pushers as matched to the ceramic case. They felt the ceramic look was incomplete. I see their point but it doesn't bother me. The truth is IWC really can't do that. Machining ceramic is a pain in the ass, and the technology doesn't yet exist for tiny ceramic pieces with intricate details like crowns and pushers to be made in any cost effective manner. As it stands these watches use grade 5 titanium for the crowns, pushers, and casebacks.

At the top of the new IWC Big Pilot Top Gun collection is the Perpetual Calendar. It uses IWC's outgoing great perpetual calendar automatic movement with a seven day power reserve. In the cool ceramic case with bold dial, this is a killer timepiece. The chronograph models uses IWC's new 89365 automatic movement that measures up to 60 minutes. IWC opted for a two versus three dial look on the watches. Though three register chronographs are available in the non Top Gun Big Pilot line.

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