Colored ceramic watches

Colored ceramic watches
Colored ceramic watches from IWC Schaffhausen
Two chronographs featuring “IWC TOP GUN Miramar”

A striking contrast of black and white
The Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 TOP GUN Lake Tahoe features a 41-millimetre case made of striking white ceramic. The ceramic color Lake Tahoe is inspired by the winter landscape around Lake Tahoe, a mountainous area frequently used as a training ground by aviators from the nearby Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor Program (SFTI). The distinctive and subdued white shade has established itself as one of IWC Schaffhausen’s most emblematic ceramic colours.

Born in the desert
The Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 TOP GUN Mojave Desert features a meticulously crafted 41-millimeter case made from sand-colored ceramic. The ceramic color “Mojave Desert” is inspired by Navy pilots’ flight suits and the desert landscape around the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, home to some of the Navy’s most skilled pilots.
From powders to ceramic bodies
Ceramics are lighter and harder than steel, scratch-resistant and have a velvety surface. These properties make it ideal for use in wristwatches. Technical ceramics are based on polycrystalline powders such as silicates, aluminium oxide or silicon carbide. They are mixed with additives, shaped to a so-called “green body”, machined close to the final geometry and then sintered at high temperatures in a kiln. During this process, the additives vaporize and leave behind extremely stable ceramic bodies. The manufacture of a ceramic watch case is particularly demanding because the material shrinks by about a third during the baking process. This shrinkage must be factored in as early as the design phase.