Pilot’s Watches

Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month

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reference 3791

For the first time ever, an IWC Pilot’s Watch shows the date and month digitally in large numerals, inspired by instruments – like the altimeter – found in the cockpit. The four-year leap year cycle is also shown digitally. The dynamic interchange of polished and satin-finished surfaces on the 18-carat red gold case with sapphire-glass back gives the watch its premium-quality look.

Highlights

  • Mechanical chronograph movement
  • 68-hour power reserve
  • Perpetual calendar
  • Large double-digit displays
  • Stopwatch function
  • Diameter 46 mm

Price: $55,900

Please contact our concierge for purchase advice

DIGITAL MEETS ANALOGUE

The Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month is the first IWC Pilot’s Watch to feature a digital display showing the date and month in large numerals. It was inspired by cockpit instrumentation that shows vital data, such as altitude, in figures. The four-year leap year cycle is also displayed digitally. The energy required to move the numeral discs is generated by a quick-action switch designed specifically for this purpose. During the switching sequence that takes place every night around 12 o’clock, it siphons off a little energy, which it then saves and discharges instantaneously at the end of the month or year. The perpetual calendar can be set easily using the crown. It will not require intervention by a watchmaker until the year 2100, a year that breaks with the conventional four-year cycle and will not be a leap year. The hours and minutes recorded by the stopwatch can be read off on the totalizer at “12 o’clock” as easily as reading the time, while the central chronograph hand shows the elapsed seconds. Thanks to the integrated flyback function, the stopwatch hand can be returned to zero and immediately starts recording another period of time. The watch owes its premium-quality look to the vibrant interchange of polished and satin-finished surfaces on the 18-carat red gold case. The shimmering, slate-coloured, metallic dial has a sun-pattern finish that creates a captivating contrast with the warm gold tone and the brown of the alligator leather strap.

Variations

Details

  • Reference IW379103
  • Case Material 18-carat red gold
  • Bracelet/Strap brown alligator leather strap
  • Dial Colour ardoise
  • Jewels 52
  • Price $55,900
  • Mechanical chronograph movement
  • Self-winding
  • 68-hour power reserve when fully wound
  • Stopwatch function with hours, minutes and seconds
  • Hour and minute counters combined in a single totalizer at 12 o’clock
  • Flyback function
  • Small hacking seconds
  • Perpetual calendar
  • Large double-digit displays for both the date and month
  • Leap year display
  • Screw-in crown
  • Sapphire glass, convex, antireflective coating on both sides
  • Secured against displacement by drop in air pressure
  • Water-resistant 6 bar
  • Case height 17.5 mm
  • Diameter 46 mm

Watch Viewer

  • IW379103 Watch Front
  • IW379103 Watch Back

Enlarge

Digital Date Display

IWC produced the first “digital” watches in its history as early as 1884. The “Pallweber watches”, as they were known, displayed the hours and minutes using numerals, while the seconds were shown in analogue form with a hand. In 2009, IWC unveiled a surprise for watch lovers in the form of a newly developed perpetual calendar movement, which shows not only the date but also – for the first time in an IWC watch – the month in large numerals. The energy required to advance the month display discs is built up continuously throughout the month by a quick-action switch. A spring-loaded lever on the quick-action switch is lifted a tiny bit further each day by a cam. At the end of the month, the tension in the spring has reached its maximum, and it is time for all that energy to be released; the quick-action switch jumps instantaneously to its starting position and advances both of the month display discs individually, or together, by one position, depending on the month. On 31 December, the leap year disc is also advanced at the same time.

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