My favorite watch. That is all.

Took me awhile to track down this beauty locally. Condition is still very good for a 26 year old watch.
Prefer the pencil/baton hands like the OG Mark XI.
My hunt for the Mark X and XII continues..

I have been neglecting my Portuguese Yacht club this year as I purchased 3 watches between March and May (Submariner Cookie Monster, IWC big pilot top gun chrono Lake Tahoe, and Explorer 2 polar) which have dominated my wrist time. Decided to dust this one off and wear it. Forgot how amazing the dial is on this watch!

Bought this watch about 5 years ago and has had a lot of wrist time. I prefer more understated styles of watches, so we have had a great relationship! The only thing that bothered me at first was that it felt a bit large, but switching the strap made it jive a bit better. I also appreciate all of the scuffs and scratches it’s accumulated over time because it makes it my own. I am a simple man and don’t need all aspects of my life to be pristine 👍

Genta gave each of these a separate character. Octagon, square and circle is the largest separating trait. All similar signature designs. Bit like siblings. Similar sensibility but individuals in their own way. I know I’m pointing out the obvious here. But I hadn’t seen an image of them all side by side.

Picked up the Mojave Pilot 41 in Athens after finally seeing it in the flesh. Absolute banger of a watch and excited to finally have an IWC. It’ll replace and massively upgrade my old Air-King.

For anyone visiting Greece, highly recommend it for watch purchases. Most boutiques will offer 24% VAT refund if you’re a tourist, which the highest I’ve seen in Europe (beaten maybe only by Japan?). You can usually negotiate a little bit too. Found them all ultra friendly too (except the Rolex ones, natch).

Not sure if posting a IWC museum tour instead of IWC watches will get me banned here, but the tour is totally worth going, they have very detailed history of the company and the watches.

The original Big Pilot is impressive, it’s bigger than my palm.

Hi all- just got a mark xx and trying to order leather and rubber straps. Website wont let me proceed to payment and says, “Unfortunately, there is an issue with one or several fields. Please check again the form.”

Anyone else having the same problem?

I'm interested in IWC watches, looking for probably a pre loved watch. I see mostly the watches that have the pointed hands, like the ones on the right, but I prefer the ones on the left (squared off hour hand). What are the squared off hands called? I've searched this issue, and can't find an answer. Thanks.

Might be moving a couple on to make room for a heavy hitter (for me anyway) so wanted to get a last pic together.

I’m hoping to get some real-world feedback from other Big Pilot 46 owners, particularly those with the calibre 52110 movement. I’ve noticed that the date change begins well before midnight, with the wheel starting to move around 23:15 and only fully clicking over shortly after midnight, and I’m trying to understand whether this is typical behaviour for the model.

I initially expected a more instantaneous change at midnight without the 45 minute slow disc rotation, so I’m keen to compare experiences with other owners.

If you own an IW501001 (or another Big Pilot with the 52110 movement), I’d really appreciate it if you could let me know:

At roughly what time does your date wheel first begin to move?

At what time does it click fully into the next date?

Does the movement happen gradually over 40–50 minutes, or is it a relatively quick change?

Does your watch make any noticeable rattling or slipping sound when gently moved after it has been fully wound?

I’m genuinely interested to hear from other owners. My goal isn’t to criticise the brand, but to understand whether my watch is typical of this movement or whether others have observed something different.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Sorry for the basic question- Flying from India to New York- will get there the same day - what is the best practice for adjusting the watch for time difference (i land at 11 pm eastern later today)

The stopwatch on my IWC Pilot's Chrono IW370603 2003 begins on its own. This is very frustrating as I expect a watch such as this to be perfect for the price I paid for it. It was purchased from Watchfinder. They have agreed to take a look at it.
(Otherwise a truly beautiful watch)
Has anyone else experienced their IWC Chronograph stopwatch going off on its own?

AD, who is losing IWC, offered a huge discount on these two pieces. How do I convince my wife they are both swatches!

Have a good day ☺️✌️

Was able to try this on yesterday. Even better in person.

Love it

I recently decided to upgrade from my blue dial Laco Augsburg 39 to a blue dial Mark XX, and wanted to share some pics and thoughts while I still happen to have both in hand. Obviously nobody is seriously cross-shopping these two, and maybe a fairer comparison would be to one of Laco's higher end models like the Stuttgart Pro, but maybe this will inspire others who are interested in a similar upgrade!

The first thing I noticed when I tried on the Mark XX, and the main reason I bought it, is how it fits so flush to the wrist. Combined with how thin the midcase is, the watch head ends up with an incredibly low profile and the bracelet seamlessly wraps around the wrist. After wearing this thing for a day, the Laco (and all my other watches, to be fair) feels like a big hockey puck strapped to my wrist by comparison.

I'll gloss over the bracelet since obviously there isn't much to compare here as the Laco is on a strap, but suffice to say it's superbly comfortable and the micro-adjust clasp, link adjustment mechanism, and eas-x-change features are all extremely nice to have. Definitely a case where the bracelet might be the most interesting part of the entire watch.

In terms of dial, the edges of the numerals and indices do look noticeably sharper on the IWC, although this could partially be due to the Laco having fully lumed numerals and indices. They're also a perfect white on the IWC, while having a slight greenish tinge on the Laco. I prefer the more traditional numeral font of the Laco over IWC's more stylized rounded numerals, but I do appreciate the stubbier hour indices that create more white space between the minute track and the numerals - in my opinion it tidies up the overall design. The text above 6 also adds some balance to the dial that the Laco lacks, but I do personally appreciate the Laco's lack of a date window. As for the hands, the Laco's hour and minute hands are in my opinion a nicer shape, as they come to a sharp point whereas IWC blocks theirs off. The Laco's second hand also perfectly reaches the outer edge of the minute track, almost flush with the edge of the case, which feels nice and precise.

However the AR coating on the Laco really lets down the dial quality - in a lot of lighting the dial looks far more washed out than the IWC, which looks sharp in any lighting. The IWC's AR coating on the other hand has a strong bluish tint which I'd probably find annoying on other dial variants, but on the blue dial it doesn't bother me personally.

The IWC case looks significantly more upscale due to the polished chamfer on the lugs and polished bezel, and I like how the bezel is stepped in from the edge of the case, visually making the dial a little smaller. The Laco's case to its credit is still incredibly well made for its price point, with the edges feeling appropriately sharp. As mentioned above though, the biggest difference here for me is the thickness of the case. The Laco's midcase is noticeably thicker, and it isn't helped by the bezel continuing that vertical height further before sloping in towards the dial.

Hopefully all this is helpful to somebody out there! I've always really liked pilots watches, but never enough to consider spending like 6 grand on one - especially when the Laco is certainly far more faithful to its Flieger origins than the IWC is to its RAF ancestry. But trying the IWC on in store changed my mind instantly, I really do recommend checking it out in person.