IWC Chief of Design Christian Knoop on the New Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Limited Editions for Aquaman and the Last Kingdom

In a year already busy with watch company/movie studio collaborations, IWC Schaffhausen has provided a late entry to the genre just in time for Christmas—well, for those with $57,600 in their gift budget for loved ones.

The watch: The Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month

The movie: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

In the film, Aquaman (Jason Momoa) faces off against Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). What Black Manta lacks in virtue, he makes up with cutting edge tech, from his Atlantean armored suit and black IWC Aquatimer with fittingly villainous red lume highlights. Black Manta is joined by the Atlantis-obsessed Dr. Stephen Shin (Randall Park), who gets his own Aquatimer, identical except for the blue lume found on his model.

In an interview with Worn & Wound, IWC Creative Director Christian Knoop recalled director James Wan asking for the IWC creative team’s ideas on prop watches.

“So I said, ‘yeah, James, we have some concept studies, secret design concepts and probably nobody will ever see them, but we are happy to share them,’” Knoop said. Working with the film’s creative team, Knoop landed on the design they ultimately used and that both teams loved.

“We usually take a couple of years to develop a watch and then James and team got super excited and said, ‘okay, can you send over the watches in 10 days,’” said Knoop. The versions used in the film weren’t functional, assembled to meet the quick deadline necessary for the movie, but Knoop thought they had found something that would resonate with IWC fans.

“I said, ‘okay, I see already the disappointed faces from our customers when we come out with a story like this and there’s nothing they can buy from the brand,’” said Knoop. The result features a case as hefty as the watch’s price tag, coming in at 49 mm. Limited to 25 pieces per color, made of IWC’s proprietary titanium alloy, and with 100 meters of water resistance, what’s inside is even more interesting: the IWC caliber 89802, a movement rarely used by IWC.

The caliber 89802 doesn’t just combine a perpetual calendar that automatically adjusts dates from month to month and during leap years, it does so with wheels that give the subdials at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock the appearance of a digital display instead of the typical subdials that utilize hands. Throw in a chronograph complication and you’re looking at a highly complex movement. It is little wonder IWC has only used it four previous times.

“Every watch movement is about energy management,” said Knoop. “This movement means that it’s five disks, which need more energy than five hands.”

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom hits theaters today. The new IWC Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month is out now.