Creators & Partners
The Man Beyond The Little Prince
More than a writer: a life driven by curiosity and invention.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had many professional talents. Not just a writer, he was also a pilot, inventor, illustrator, humanist, and engineer, always driven by curiosity and the urge to look beyond the visible. Drawn to airplanes since childhood, he first piloted at 12. An airplane and its engineering fueled his imagination, as it was only from the cockpit of an airplane that he could see the world from above and try to make sense of it all. An engineer at heart, he constantly looked beyond the horizon, seeking answers to new questions and inventing problem-solving technologies. This spirit of innovation, which aims not only to advance technology but also to connect and inspire people, is a belief shared by IWC Schaffhausen and its Engineer Society members.
But who was this renaissance man, really?
Celebrating his 126th birthday and 20 years of partnership with the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation, a fund aiming to support educational youth projects, the IWC Journal spoke with Olivier d’Agay, the great-nephew of the beloved author and pilot, about the man behind one of the world’s most translated books, The Little Prince.
A man of skills and contradictions.
Who was Antoine de Saint-Exupéry beyond the writer?
“That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for 25 years,” Olivier says with a smile. “He was a man of many skills and many contradictions – like a lot of geniuses.”
Beyond the author of The Little Prince, Saint-Exupéry was a pilot, poet, inventor, filmmaker, philosopher and visionary fascinated by science, humanity and progress. “The only thing he was not interested in was politics,” Olivier explains. “He cared about philosophy, humanity and the progress of science.”
Privately, he was equally complex: a man of adventure and mechanics by day, surrounded by pilots and engines, and a writer by night, with coffee and late hours. “He needed both worlds” Olivier says. “They inspired his writing.”
Where Engineering Meets Humanism.
Why does Saint-Exupéry connect so naturally with IWC’s Engineers Society?
For Olivier, the connection goes far beyond aviation.
“There is science and innovation, of course,” he says, “but also humanist values.”
He sees a shared mindset between Saint-Exupéry and IWC’s engineers: rigor, honesty, refinement, and the constant pursuit of improvement. “Saint-Exupéry would write 1,000 pages to create a 100-page book,” Olivier explains. “He used to say a book is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.”
That philosophy immediately resonates with the world of engineering and watchmaking. “Remove, remove, remove – until you reach the diamond,” Olivier says. “Hayao Miyazaki once told me: Saint-Exupéry is a diamond. Perfectly shaped. Nothing to add, nothing to remove.”
Then he laughs: “So IWC watches are diamonds, too.”
The Philosopher’s Mind.
Was he more writer or engineer?
“In the end, I think the most important thing for him was not to be a pilot or writer, but to be a philosopher,” Olivier says. “A man able to give humanity important guidelines and thoughts.” Alt attr: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry sitting on a stone ledge in a city, holding a cigarette.
Still, Saint-Exupéry was undeniably an engineer at heart. He filed multiple patents, particularly around aviation technology, including systems designed to help pilots land in poor visibility. “He was always thinking: how can we solve this problem?” Olivier says.
Whether it was aviation, filmmaking, recording devices or astronomy, Saint-Exupéry was endlessly curious about new technologies and how they could serve humanity. “He was really a man of science,” Olivier explains. “But always aware of the dark side of technology too.”
What did danger mean to him?
Olivier insists Saint-Exupéry never chased danger for his own sake. “He wasn’t looking for risk,” he says. “Danger was simply part of the job.”
Like astronauts today, early aviators understood the risks but focused on something larger than themselves: exploration, innovation and pushing humanity forward. “Don’t admire us for facing danger,” Olivier says of Saint-Exupéry’s generation. “Admire us for taking on the challenge of developing this new technology and bringing humanity further.”
Olivier believes that the pilots of the 1930s were essentially “the astronauts of today.”
The World from Above.
How did flying shape his writing?
For Saint-Exupéry, flying offered more than adventure, because it changed his perspective on humanity itself.
“He loved flying because you could see the planet from above,” Olivier explains. “He had the ‘overview effect’ before astronauts did.”
Saint-Exupéry worried about humanity’s relationship with the Earth from early on. Seeing the planet from the sky, he realized how fragile and unique it was. “We cannot just spoil the planet,” Olivier says. “He felt deeply responsible for the future.”
This perspective shaped his writing too, and hislived experience became the base for his novels. “It was never fiction,” Olivier says. “He transformed real life into gold.”
Why His Words Still Matter.
He seems full of contradictions – was he?
“Completely,” Olivier says. “But not in a negative way.” Saint-Exupéry could command an entire dinner table with charisma and humor, then retreat into deep solitude. He drove Bugattis at breathtaking speed yet dreamed of spending his life in a monastery. He lived in two very different worlds: one of machines and technical rules, and another of poetry and deep feelings.
But that richness is exactly what made him who he was,” Olivier says. “The toughest side and the smoothest side existed together.”
What advice would he give younger generations today?
Olivier pauses before answering.
“I think nothing has changed,” he says finally. “So the best advice he would give today is simple: read The Little Prince.”
For him, Saint-Exupéry’s message remains timeless precisely because it speaks to something universal: curiosity, responsibility, empathy and wonder. Values that matter just as much today as they did nearly a century ago.