Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Foundation & IWC

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY AND THE FONDATION

As a partner of the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation, IWC Schaffhausen is committed to helping children and young people in disadvantaged circumstances. Founded in 2009 by the descendants of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the charitable institution works to preserve the humanist values of the French writer and pilot. IWC Schaffhausen contributes to the financing of the Foundation’s social projects by auctioning off unique timepieces every year.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in Lyon, France on 29 June 1900 and dreamed of flying even as a young boy. At the age of 12, he experienced his first flight aboard a Berthaud-Wroblewski plane piloted by its creator Gabriel Wroblewski himself. He was a pioneer of aviation for the first French airmail company known as Aéropostale in the 1920s (formally, the Lignes Latécoère Aéropostale, a pioneering aviation company and the first French transatlantic airmail carrier founded in 1918 in Toulouse by Pierre-Georges Latécoère), in Western Sahara and South America. Saint-Exupéry also undertook spectacular record-breaking attempts that on several occasions almost cost him his life, such as the Paris-Saigon (Vietnam) air race in 1935 and New York-Terre de Feu (Patagonia) in 1938.

Saint-Exupéry’s second great passion was writing, and he was an author of international renown during his lifetime. His most famous literary work is the tale of The Little Prince, which has been translated into more than 440 languages to date. In telling the young prince’s journey, the book explores themes of isolation, loneliness and friendship, seeking to determine the essence of human nature.

On 31 July 1944, Major Antoine de Saint-Exupéry took off from Borgo, Corsica, for his last assigned reconnaissance flight over occupied France aboard a Lockheed P-38 Lightning, from which he never returned. Only in 2000 were the remnants of his P-38 Lightning discovered on the bed of the Mediterranean Sea. To uphold the flying pioneer and aviator’s spiritual heritage, his descendants established the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation in 2009. The organisation focuses on fighting against illiteracy and supports school and educational projects explicitly aimed at disadvantaged children and youth internationally.

A PARTNERSHIP FOUNDED ON COMMON VALUES

IWC Schaffhausen has worked closely with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s descendants since 2005 and is loyally committed to the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation. The long-standing partnership is based on the many points they have in common. Supporting children and adolescents who face difficult circumstances is one of the central pillars of IWC Schaffhausen’s social commitment. Both partners firmly believe that knowledge and education can give young people long-term prospects and turn them into responsible citizens.

But apart from this, there is the notion of heritage: Saint-Exupéry’s pioneering achievements as an aviator date back to the time, about 80 years ago, when IWC Schaffhausen launched its Special Pilot’s Watch. The Pilot’s Watches, with their distinctive dial design and technical highlights such as an anti-magnetic soft-iron cage, have held a firm place in the Schaffhausen-based manufacturer’s collection to this day.

SPECIAL EDITIONS FOR THE SAINT-EXUPÉRY YOUTH FOUNDATION

IWC Schaffhausen has a long history of creating unique watches, inspired by the work of Saint-Exupéry. These exclusive timepieces have often gone under the hammer to benefit the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation. The proceeds of which have contributed to the funding of various schools and educational projects.