Thursday, October 1, 2015

IWC Le Petit Prince - And The Story Continues

And the story continues with the folks from Schaffhausen developing a rather special Doppelchronograph for the Le Petit Prince series of Pilot Watches.

Back in 2013, IWC celebrated the 70th anniversary of the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry with a special series of Pilot's watch and we were lucky enough to have been invited to the event for the release of the Edition Le Petit Prince.

The first series of the Pilot's watch was quickly sold out and I can fully understand why. Both the Pilot's watch Mark XVII and Big Pilot Edition Le Petit Prince are both very handsome timepieces. A friend saw it and had wanted one but was disappointed it was fully sold in a matter of weeks. So when they launched the new Doppelchronograph in September 2015, it was a must have...

Truth be told, this is not mine as much as I wanted it. But got my hands on one I did. The 44mm case looks and wears smaller than the actual size. The entire package is awesome - I had said "Nice" but was immediately corrected by Matthieu Dupont. "Nice is an understatement!" And you know what? He is absolutely right!

For a Doppelchronograph (double split chronograph), the layout of the dial is uncluttered and very legible. And for this edition, they also included a "Day" indication in the form of stars. The ring at the centre of the watch circles around the 7 star windows and only one star lights up in gold everyday. However, the jump from one star to another happens in a random fashion and not in any particular order. A new "complication" I must say.

The stars jump in a random fashion but the owner can set each star to represent the seven days of the week and make adjustment via the crown in position 2. Clockwise adjusts the jumping stars and anti-clockwise the date. The blue sunburst dial adds to the attractiveness of the timepiece.

On the case back, features the Little Prince and the names of the seven characters that he encounters while traveling the planets.

Clearly engraved on the case back shows the watch being limited to 1,000 pieces - all indicated as One out of 1,000. The automatic movement provides around 44 hours of power reserve and water resistant to 6 bars.

I particularly like the midnight blue sunburst dial in a cockpit design. The applied markers and numerals also add a nice touch to the whole package.

The watch is complemented with a matt brown calfskin strap with decorative stitching.

"One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eyes." says the Little Prince. But I disagree... The Doppelchronograph Edition Le Petit Prince is certainly visibly stunning and warms the heart for sure.

To view the watch, go down to the IWC Boutique.

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