Cars and planes and watches, Oh my!
RACING, cars, and planes: all of these come with a whiff of the masculine, and a masterful new watch by IWC Schaffhausen places all these worlds into one watch.
IWC Schaffhausen and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team have unveiled the first official team watch for its collaboration. The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team features a black dial with printing and luminescence in the team’s signature Petronas green color. The chronograph comes with two straps in calfskin and rubber that can be exchanged quickly.
IWC Schaffhausen, the Swiss watchmaking company founded in 1868, has been the official engineering partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team since 2013. For the first time in their partnership, IWC has developed an official watch for the team. This watch will be worn by the team, including designers, aerodynamicists, race engineers, strategists and mechanics.
The new watch is crafted from lightweight and rigid grade-5 titanium. Offering the highest strength-to-density ratio of any metal, titanium is also widely used in automotive engineering to produce car parts subject to immense stresses, such as engine valves — thus solidifying the connection between the watch and its professional wearers. It is powered by the IWC-manufactured 69385 calibre, a chronograph movement in classic column-wheel design consisting of 231 individual parts. A sapphire glass back makes this movement visible. The watch measures 41.00 mm in diameter
“Both fine watchmaking and racing are all about precision, craftsmanship and performance engineering. But it’s the human factor — the passion, the love, and the dedication, that make all the difference between good and great. This notion perfectly describes our long-standing partnership with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team and we are celebrating this partnership with the launch of the new team watch in Miami,” said Chris Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen in a statement. The watch was launched during the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, held earlier this month in Florida.
The team watch is available for purchase exclusively online on iwc.com. — JLG
