Pilots training at the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School in Miramar.
1. Its colour combination - a matte-grey ceramic case with beige hands and olive fabric strap — is meant to evoke the look of well-worn military attire.
2. The flyback chronograph function is based on a vital feature that allowed pilots in the 1930s to instantly reset it for a new time measurement during flight manoeuvres.
3. The unusual hour display (marked by a red ring in the middle of the dial) references vintage deck-watches from the 1930s and 1940s.
4. The movement is the automatic Calibre 89365, which was fully developed in-house and boasts 168 hours of power reserve.
5. Its sibling is the Big Pilot’s Watch Top Gun Miramar, a three-handed model with power-reserve indicator.
6. It is possibly IWC’s most robust chronograph ever. It has a soft-iron inner case to guard against magnetic fields, while its sapphire glass is secured against displacement by drops in air pressure.
7. It is named after the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, the elite fighter-pilot training facility in Miramar, California, between 1969 and 1996.
8. The watch’s lineage stretches all the way back to 1936, when IWC debuted its first Big Pilot’s Watch.
Pilot's Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Miramar, $18,000, by iwc schaffhausen.
