Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition “Toto Wolff x Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team”

The Big Pilot’s Watch PPC Edition “Toto Wolff x Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team” Story

In 2013, Austrian entrepreneur and former racing driver Toto Wolff became a shareholder and executive director of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1™ Team. During his time as the Team Principal & CEO, the team won eight consecutive constructors’ titles between 2014 and 2021 – more than any other team in the elite world sport. To honour Wolff’s achievements, IWC has engineered the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Edition “Toto Wolff x Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula OneTM Team”. Limited to 100 pieces, it features a glass dial and black hands. The printing and luminescence come in the team’s signature Petronas green. The case and crown are made of Ceratanium®, a ground-breaking material developed by IWC. It is as light and robust as titanium and almost equally as hard and scratch-resistant as ceramic. IWC’s perpetual calendar automatically recognizes the different lengths of the months and the leap years. The mechanical program will require no manual adjustment until 2100. The moon phase display shows the moon as seen from the northern and southern hemispheres and will only deviate by one day after 577,5 years. The calendar module is driven by the IWC-manufactured 52615 calibre. The automatic Pellaton winding system has been reinforced with ceramic components and builds up a power reserve of 7 days in two barrels. The movement is visible through the tinted sapphire glass back. This Big Pilot’s Watch is fitted with a black rubber strap with textile inlay, complementing the sporty design.

Calibre Family 52000

The highly efficient winding system is a refined version of the 50000-calibre family with a bidirectional Pellaton pawl-winding system. Two barrels provide an impressive 7 days’ power reserve. The winding pawls and the automatic wheel are made of black ceramic while the rotor bearing is made of white ceramic. These extremely hard high-tech materials make the automatic winding system practically wear-free. The indexless balance with a frequency of 4 hertz (28,800 beats per hour) and the Breguet spring guarantee maximum precision. The design and finish of the movement was also considerably enhanced. The proportions of the rotor and the inset “Probus Scafusia” gold medallion are noticeably slimmer.

Perpetual Calendar

In the early 1980s, IWC’s head-watchmaker Kurt Klaus set out on an engineering journey to translate the Gregorian calendar with its many irregularities into a mechanical program for a wristwatch. His ingenious perpetual calendar, which debuted in the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar in 1985, comprises only about 80 parts and displays the date, day, month, year in four digits, and the moon phase. The smart mechanical program automatically recognises the different length of the months, and even adds a leap day at the end of February every four years. The moon phase display is so precise that it will deviate from the actual phase of the moon by just one day after 577.5 years. All displays are perfectly synchronised and can be adjusted simply by turning the crown. Some models come with an additional century slide, so the watch can continue showing the date until 2499. The calendar only needs a small adjustment in those centurial years that skip the leap year, which is the case in 2100, 2200, and 2300. Some versions of the calendar feature a double moon phase display, showing the moon phase on the northern and southern hemispheres.