The IWC Pilot’s watches dedicated to pilots and aviators.The watch have been constantly improved, redesigned and equipped with more and more complicated functions. This replica IWC Pilot’s chronograph watch ith an elegant design given by the choice of materials used and with a completely restyled dial, Pilot’s Chronograph has become the outstanding classic.
This watch grew by 1 mm to 43mm and wears large on the wrist. Luckily, the black alligator strap falls straight down from the lugs confining its wrist presence to the case itself. At 15mm, the case sits a bit tall on the wrist. That isn’t a problem except when wearing fitted dress shirts, where it stubbornly insists on blocking the cuff from laying flat, breaking the shirt’s line. However this is a small price to pay at a more formal event, where the facets and curves of the steel catch the light in surprising ways, making this tool watch more jewel-like than it would appear in the harsh light of day.
The dial is deliberate and obvious in its desire to evoke an airplane’s cockpit instrumentation, with day and triple date windows at 3 o’clock and a small seconds sub dial at 9. These contain the only red accents on the matte black of the watch’s face. Besides the minuscule IWC logo in the seconds subdial, another clue to the watch’s luxury status is the radial etchings of the sub-dials themselves, but these tell-tales require close inspection and speak to the restrained elegance that is the hallmark of this watch throughout. Extreme legibility and a strong lume, means the 3777 makes taking rapid glances to tell the time easy on my weakening eyes. Its ease of use is only matched by my G-Shock Aviator, which at 51mm shouts the time from my wrist and makes short or rolled-up sleeves mandatory.
The chronograph complications are invoked with a satisfying click of the pusher at 2 o’clock and can track events as long as 12 hours through the sub dial at 6 o’clock and as short as 30 minutes through the sub dial at 12. Minute increments are indicated precisely with the 12 o’clock sub dial’s hand advancing forward in definitive 1-minute intervals, making measurement a precise affair.
For me, it was the intangibles associated with the fantasy the brand taps into: the history and the participation in that bit of aviation history through this watch. Also, and crucially, the execution on each of the elements is so expert that this particular incarnation of a pilot’s watch crosses the boundary from extreme craft into refined luxury.
