[Watch Talk] One of the reasons why IWC watches are loved by watch enthusiasts is because of their iconic timepieces such as the Big Pilot, Pilot Chronograph, Portuguese Chronograph, Portuguese 7, Portofino, Ingenieur, and Aquatimer, which are all highly recognizable. However, when it comes to discussing the most representative and iconic watch from IWC, many watch enthusiasts might choose a very special watch, the Turbine Big Pilot.

During the recent holiday season, IWC released the new Turbine Big Pilot, which is the successor to the Markus Bühler Special Edition, a large pilot’s watch released in 2008. The official name is the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Tourbillon Markus Bühler Special Edition. Today, let’s discuss in detail this “resurrection” of the legendary IWC watch through this video content.

Video

Below, there is also written content.

The first-generation Turbine Big Pilot Watch Model: Ref. 5003
Image source: Internet
The Turbine Big Pilot is the “spiritual totem” of IWC and one of the most important watches in IWC’s history. If there is any IWC watch that can rival the “Turbine Big Pilot” in terms of reputation, it would be the most famous and complex watch in IWC’s history, the “Il Destriero Scafusia” (1993).

Markus Bühler, Director of IWC’s Watchmaking and Movement Assembly
Many watch enthusiasts also know that the first-generation Turbine Big Pilot, which was launched in 2008, was actually Markus Bühler’s competition piece during his apprenticeship at IWC’s Watchmaking and Movement Assembly. The first-generation piece used the Big Pilot as the design basis, with a 46mm steel case design for the exterior, and an ETA 6498 manual movement for the movement. On the dial of the watch, the small second hand located at 6 o’clock position was made into the shape of a turboprop fan blade, with a small red dot as an indicator, using the “turboprop fan blade” as the second hand. When the watch is flipped over, the winding box of the 6498 movement is also made in the shape of a “turboprop fan blade”, and as it is manually wound, you can see the winding mechanism in motion.

An interesting fact is that Markus Bühler himself kept the 11th Turbine Big Pilot, which does not have the vortex pattern on the turbine.
In fact, when you look at the first-generation “Turbine Big Pilot” itself, it is not complicated, but Markus Bühler’s creativity is impressive, and it matches perfectly with IWC’s pioneer status in the field of aviation. When it was first introduced, the “Turbine Big Pilot” became very popular, and IWC only made 12 pieces, with 1 piece kept by Markus Bühler himself and another piece placed in the IWC Museum, and only 10 pieces were available for sale. I have even seen that sometimes IWC has to borrow a Turbine Big Pilot from collectors for exhibitions because there are so few of them. There were senior players in China who were willing to offer a reward of one million yuan to find a first-generation “Turbine Big Pilot”. But what’s even more amazing is that all 10 first-generation “Turbine Big Pilots” are still being held by collectors and have not entered the secondary market through auctions or other means, which shows their allure.

The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot Watch Model: IW329901
Image source: Internet
Let’s take a look at the new second-generation Turbine Big Pilot. The specific details are as follows: platinum case, size 43mm, thickness 14.5mm, automatic winding, tourbillon, domestic price of 1,023,000 yuan, limited to 51 pieces (50 pieces for sale, the last one is still kept by Markus Bühler himself).

The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot retains the design language of the first generation, but in reality, it is completely different. The latest release of the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot is a tourbillon watch. In terms of functionality, this is something that the first-generation Turbine Big Pilot cannot match as a manually wound “small three-hand” watch. By turning the Turbine Big Pilot into a tourbillon, IWC has taken its complicated watches to new heights.

Big Pilot’s TOP GUN Navy Air Combat Corps Perpetual Calendar Watch “Mos Mojave” Special Edition
Watch model: IW503004

In the past, IWC’s complicated watches were mainly focused on perpetual calendars. Although IWC has also made tourbillons and minute repeaters, their reputation is not as great as IWC’s unique “one-touch adjustment” perpetual calendar. This time, IWC was able to turn the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot into a tourbillon, pushing IWC’s tourbillon watches to the forefront of the Swiss watch industry. There are two reasons for this: the unique style and the sense of luxury.

1. Almost all high-end watch brands have tourbillons. The most important thing is to see if the design of the tourbillon is “unique” and matches the brand’s style. In this regard, we can see from other brands in the same category that almost all tourbillons have their own unique features and distinctive characteristics. The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot, made into a tourbillon, integrates the turbine fan blade into the tourbillon cage, which not only corresponds to the connection between IWC and aviation, but is also unique and cannot be imitated or surpassed by other luxury watch brands.

2. In the world of luxury watches, because aviation watches carry the attribute of “tools” due to their inherent purpose of facilitating pilots in observing time, improving the luxury and complexity of aviation watches requires a high level of skill and technique. It is not that it cannot be improved, but while improving, it is necessary to pay attention to whether it is appropriate and does not appear abrupt. The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot uses fan-shaped tourbillons, placing it at the pinnacle of complicated watches in the aviation watch category. The fan-shaped tourbillon design is both appropriate and reasonable. Moreover, the new watch is equipped with a platinum case, using the most expensive material while maintaining the essence of aviation watches. In the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot, IWC has demonstrated outstanding creativity, technology, and design.

The details of the first-generation Turbine Big Pilot’s vortex fan blade second hand

Let’s take a closer look at the details of the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot’s tourbillon. The turbine blades on the dial at the 6 o’clock position serve as the upper cage of the tourbillon. Although the turbine blades of the tourbillon are still made up of 12 pieces, there are slight distortions in the shapes of the blades, and this time, due to being used as the cage of the tourbillon, the weight of the 12 blades needs to be strictly controlled to avoid excessive energy consumption during operation. Therefore, IWC’s solution is to use grade 5 titanium alloy for the blades, and they are all hand-polished. This is significantly different from the first-generation aluminum sandblasted blades. Thanks to the lightweight nature of grade 5 titanium, the weight of the entire tourbillon is only 0.6 grams, which is very light among tourbillon watches of the same level.

The details of the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot’s fan-shaped tourbillon

Although the turbine blades of the tourbillon are still made up of 12 pieces, if you look closely, you will notice that the shape of the blades has changed slightly. We can see that the center of the turbine blades in the tourbillon no longer has the vortex-patterned turbine cap of the first generation, but instead uses ruby bearings and shock absorbers for the balance wheel shaft. Therefore, this difference allows us to easily distinguish between the first and second generations.

The first-generation Turbine Big Pilot used a modified ETA 6498 movement

As for the movement, the first-generation Turbine Big Pilot used a modified ETA 6498 manual movement, as it was Markus Bühler’s competition piece during his apprenticeship. The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot with a tourbillon directly upgrades to the in-house 82905 automatic movement with a power reserve of 80 hours. This 82905 tourbillon movement is derived from IWC’s 82000 series automatic movements, which is one of IWC’s main in-house automatic movements. Currently, it is used in the Portuguese 40 and Big Pilot 43mm watches and comes with IWC’s signature ceramic “Peleton” winding system.

The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot uses the in-house 82905 tourbillon automatic movement from IWC

To match the “totem” status of the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot in IWC’s lineup, the 82905 tourbillon movement has been meticulously decorated. The upper bridge has circular Geneva stripes decoration, and the lower bridge has pearl decoration. Every visible and non-visible part of the movement has been carefully polished, and the entire movement bridge has been PVD-coated black.

It is worth noting that the 82905 movement is already equipped with a silicon escapement wheel and a silicon pallet fork. The use of silicon components has been seen in IWC’s recent Ingenieur with the 32111 movement. However, the addition of a silicon escapement wheel with a diamond-like carbon coating, which IWC officially calls “Diamond Shell®”, is a new feature on the Turbine Big Pilot and Hamilton’s tourbillon movements. This coating technology further reduces friction, increasing the efficiency of the silicon escapement, and when it comes to silicon escapements with diamond-like carbon coatings, the first brand that comes to mind may be Ulysse Nardin. However, currently, other brands under the Richemont Group, including IWC and Roger Dubuis, have also started using this technology.

The second-generation Turbine Big Pilot, in addition to applying one of the traditional three major complicated functions, the tourbillon, also has no major changes in the appearance compared to the first generation. There are more adjustments in the details, such as the finish on the dial. The difference lies in the case material and size, with the new version using a more luxurious platinum case and reducing the size to 43mm, compared to the original 46mm. This time, IWC undoubtedly aims to make the Turbine Big Pilot more suitable for the majority of people’s wrist sizes and improve the wearing comfort.

Overall, the second-generation Turbine Big Pilot, with its tourbillon function combined with a platinum case, a limited quantity of 51 pieces, and a public price of 1,023,000 yuan, has taken its place at the “top” of all IWC watches. A price of over one million yuan is the regular price range for top tourbillon watches in the watch industry. Just like Omega has its central tourbillon, Lange has its stop-seconds zero-reset tourbillon, Jaeger-LeCoultre has its spherical tourbillon, and Panerai has its “burning chicken” tourbillon. Now, IWC has its Turbine Big Pilot Tourbillon, which is destined to leave its mark in the world of luxury watches and maintain a high value.

In the near future, we will also have a special interview with Markus Bühler, Director of IWC’s Watchmaking and Movement Assembly. Interested watch enthusiasts can follow up on that.