Latest Review
IWC’s releases this year are proving something that I’ve always felt was true, but lacked hard evidence: if you’re patient, the watch you’ve always wanted will one day appear. Perseverance takes many forms, and there’s no doubt that one of them is telling your IWC sales rep that you’ll actually pass on the Mojave Big Pilot, Perpetual Calendar, and Pilot’s Chronograph, and wait for the simple three hander in a casual, everyday size. Today, IWC announced a watch many in the Worn & Wound office have been attempting to conjure since the very first Mojave watch appeared back in 2019, a limited edition Pilot’s Watch Chronograph measuring in at 44.5mm. The aforementioned perpetual calendar and Big Pilot in the Mojave colorway followed, as did another chronograph in a smaller, 41mm size. But this is the one many enthusiasts, I think, have been waiting for, and it follows a larger trend of predictable (and desirable) iteration within the larger IWC family.
What we have here is relatively simple on its face: the Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert takes the tan ceramic IWC has been using in the Top Gun line over the last six years and puts in the most straightforward IWC pilot watch concept of them all. While it’s not technically a Mark series watch (IWC draws a distinction between the Mark line and their more experimental, ceramic dominated Top Gun pilot’s watches) the form factor and principle here are both similar. The 41mm case measures a compact 11.4mm tall and has the same muscular build as other watches in the IWC Pilot family. The color, according to IWC, is a product of blending zirconium oxide with other metallic oxides at just the right ratio, and capturing the distinct tan tone at just the right point in the high heat sintering process. Working with colored ceramics is a notoriously finicky endeavor, and IWC’s ability to industrialize the process with multiple colors across a variety of case shapes and sizes is a bit of a flex when it comes to their manufacturing capabilities.
The dial is a complementary brown tone, with lighter colored Arabic numerals and classic pilot sword hands. A date window has been cut at the 3:00 position, and the crown is rendered in titanium, providing a bit of visual contrast. IWC is using the 32112 automatic caliber here which has a power reserve of 120 hours when fully wound. A matching beige rubber strap completes what is ultimately a largely monochromatic look.
I expect that the release of this watch will be met with a chorus of “FINALLY” from many in the enthusiast community. But while it’s a particular combination of materials and features (or, lack of features, more accurately) that a lot of collectors have been asking for, it’s not exactly a surprise if you look at recent IWC history. The white ceramic “Lake Tahoe” watches have followed a nearly identical trajectory (just missing the Big Pilot) as have the green “Woodland” watches (no Big Pilot or three-hander yet, but we got a Timezoner). The under-the-radar release of the 41mm Tahoe time-and-date at this year’s Watches & Wonders event underscored the inevitability of these ceramic watches appearing in every conceivable combination. And, of course, the big news from IWC at Watches & Wonders this year was the filling out of the Ingenieur lineup, with new sizes, materials, and complications. Clearly the brand has entered a period where iteration is the focus, as opposed to purely new designs and tech. That is not necessarily a bad thing, and almost certainly a smart move in a watch market that’s taken a downturn recently. Returning to models that are proven favorites is just a safer play than wild experimentation.
As with the release of the Lake Tahoe three-hander earlier this year, price will be a point of discussion with the new Mojave. The retail price is $8,500 (the same as the comparable Tahoe). For the sake of comparison, to illustrate the price creep we’ve seen over the last five or six years, that very first Tahoe chronograph, a limited edition novelty announced at SIHH, retailed for $8,200. The updated 41mm Pilot’s Watch Chronograph in the Mojave colorway currently retails for $12,300. IWC
