Starting in the early 2000s, the big watch craze hit…and it hard. It seemed every brand, from the established greats to the trashy-brash newcomer, and everyone in between, brought out new and ever larger wrist clocks to vie for the wallet jousting of a wealthy clientele yet to be diminished by economic calamities that would throw a lot of water on the party just a few short years later. Even now, big watches certainly retain their adherents, although some indications of market favor show demand shifting back to more, shall we say, modestly sized options.
With that preamble out of the way, few watches before or after it have ever worn their size as well–or more appropriately–than the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch. (Or as most of us affectionately called it, “The Big Pilot“.) Designed from the ground up around a large 7-day movement that fully filled its 46.2mm case, designed to evoke an airplane gauge, and legible in the extreme, it is one watch that remains beautiful in its full massive glory, undiminished by the winds of luxury fashion. (And on that topic, just watch John Mayer wax rhapsodic here about his relationship with this particular watch, which he wore not only during concerts, but kept in his hotel rooms as an easy to read clock.) And perhaps because of that fame and unmistakable presence, it was natural that this gargantuan IWC would spawn a family: after all, with all that expansive dial real estate to spare, the Big Pilot was a natural to become perhaps the perfect canvas for the perpetual calendar complication, and its multiplicity of indications.
The newest 2021 edition of the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar seen in the intro above is a perfect representation of the model, which has seen its share of limited editions and variants. All present the same information, which still takes a moment to digest given how much is going on. But clarity reigns, and this is “clear”! The time is never in question, thanks to the huge sword hands with gigantic helpings of lume, and the same can be said for the hours with their unambiguously clear Arabics and luminous blocks. A closer examination reveals all else we need to know: The subdial at 9 o’clock shows continuously running seconds as well as days of the week, the latter via red pointer. Looking rightward, to the 3 o’clock side, the date is shown via a red tipped pointer hand to the outer edge, while the other, luminous hand, shows the status of the movement’s power reserve over the 7-day autonomy. Easy so far? Absolutely! Just below that, the somewhat less important indication of the months appear, again, again, easily legible thanks to the red tipped pointer hand, and good size of the subdial relative to the enormous primary one. To the left of that is the 4-digit year indication, which to me has always been something of an IWC signature: rather than a leap year indication with a pointer, the brand from Schaffhausen has always boldly shown the full digital year on their perpetuals–something I always found cool, even if I couldn’t exactly articulate why I liked it so much. The same can be said of the distinctive moonphase indication at 12 o’clock, the final firework on the Big Pilot’s Perpetual dial. The double display doesn’t just show the standard phases of the moon from the Northern Hemisphere’s perspective, it gives you the perspective to the south as well. An apparently excessive detail, but honestly…even with as delightfully unnecessary as most mechanical watch complications are, the moon phase stands as one of the least used. So, why not make it something special? And IWC does. How many years will pass before the moon indication is off a single day from astronomic reality, assuming the watch continues to run? 577, to be exact–a figure so long that the discs showing the year will need readjustment first! Decidedly first world issues, if this is still the planet we inhabit that far down the line, that is.
One thing I always like to see in any watch, big, small, round, rectangular, or otherwise, is a movement that fits–and fills–the watch it is designed for, and IWC certainly nails it with their caliber 52615. To be honest, it’s even more egregious when we have an extremely large watch, that has had an off-the-rack smaller diameter caliber jammed into it, just for the sake of cost-cutting to get more large watches out the door and keep profit margins tidy. None of that nonsense is in place here. The IWC 52615 is a large movement, designed for a large watch from the get-go, and only pieces such as the Big Pilot, or its elegant Portuguese sibling can hold it. No spacers or silly visual trickery exists here: from edge to edge just a gleaming expanse of bridges, wheels, pinions, and the large signed rotor greets the eye, the latter of which feed the two mainspring barrels by means of IWC’s pawl-based Pellaton system for a very generous 7-day reserve. While one could argue there are decidedly prettier movements out there in terms of nuanced finishing flourishes, I will say what I find lurking inside the Big Pilot and its Perpetual siblings ranks among the most interesting and obviously “mechanical” ones out there. There’s a ton of visible engineering to enjoy and appreciate, beyond the obvious complexity of the calendar it powers on the dial side!
I’m inclined to simpler watches, so for me, the already anything but basic Big Pilot satisfies very well. But–there are few instances where a large watch and dial are better suited to their inherent presentation and purpose than the fabulous Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar. Like its time-and-date forefather, the Big Pilot’s Perpetual uses, and savors, every millimeter of its form, wasting nothing and letting its mechanical excellence speak for itself. While it may be best suited to the largest of wrists, the star power and excellence of this gargantuan IWC flagship make it a challenge well worth taking on, even for those of smaller stature. It may just be, the purest (and perhaps best?) supersized modern sports watch out there–at least in concept.