While we are waiting the UEFA European Football Championship – EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine to start, the Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen is launching a special edition timepiece that will be the “OFFICIAL WATCH OF THE GERMAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM”.
This year, after launching Big Pilot’s Watch Muhammad Ali Edition, IWC brought to us yet another re-designed edition of their aviation timepiece – the Big Pilot’s Watch Edition DFB (for those who do not know “DFB” is the German Football Association).
The new wristwatch with the referent number 500432 is the third edition of the DFB timepiece. Firstly, the German football team went into the 2008 European Championship in Austria and Switzerland equipped with the Pilot’s Watch Double Chronograph Edition DFB. The next one was the Big Ingenieur Chronograph Edition DFB which was selected for the World Cup in South Africa 2010. The latest DFB piece is a new Big Pilot’s Watch Edition DFB which will be produced in the limited quantity of 250 pieces.
The Watch that Radiates Harmony and a Surprising Simplicity
In tribute to the German national team’s colors, this newcomer features black indices, and the flashes of red on the small seconds hand and on the power reserve indicator, which makes a nice contrast with the rhodium-plated sun-ray finished dial.
Its light-colored dial comprises Arabic numerals as hour markers, a small date window displayed at the 6 o’clock position and two sub-dials. A 7 day power reserve indicator is situated at the 3 o’clock position, whilst a small seconds counter is located on the opposite side, at the 9 o’clock position. The yellow number 1 inside the power reserve display is a reminder that the movement urgently needs winding.
The third DFB wristwatch is housed in a round stainless steel case which measures a conspicuous 46mm in diameter and it is 16 mm thick. Its masculine case is coated with a convex sapphire crystal with an antireflective coating on the front side and it has a solid case back with special edition engraving, depicting the DFB logo with the eagle and the words “OFFIZIELLE UHR DERDEUTSCHEN FUSSBALL-NATIONALMANNSCHAFT” (“the official watch of the German national team”). The case is water-resistant up to 60 meters (200 feet) beneath water surface.
The heart of this watch is the in-house manufactured Caliber 51011 mechanical movement with Pellaton winding system. The enormous mechanism integrates all the best features of a self-winding watch.
The highly efficient movement can store enough power to keep the watch ticking for as long as 8.5 days, but the movement automatically stops after 7 days to eliminate the danger of diminishing torque in the mainspring. Thus, it preserves perfect precision. The 42 jewels movement oscillates at the frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour.
The new special edition watch comes with a black stamped leather strap fitted to a folding clasp in stainless steel.
The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Edition DFB is not only intended for football fans, yet also for the people who want to help less fortunate children since every purchase supports a good cause. A part of the proceeds will go to the Laureus Foundation Germany which, among other numerous projects, has established a street football league in seven cities that support disadvantaged children.
This watch is truly a real pleasure for any fan of German national football team. It looks very nice and it has a lot of fine functions. But that isn’t so surprising considering the fact that this watch was made by Schaffhausen which have a lot of great watches.
The strap on this watch is very interesting. I like it very much because it`s unusual and it looks nice in the combination with a silver dial. There are also two sub dials on the dial. Their functions are also nice. The right one has a function of power reserve indicator, while the left one has a function of a small seconds indicator.
I don’t know why everybody praises this watch, it isn’t anything special, on the contrary. There are a lot of better watches from a few manufactures, like Movado, Sector or maybe Tag Heuer. I don`t know the price of this watch, but I guess that it`s expensive. Am I wrong?
The design of this watch is absolutely beautiful. I like its dial which is so unique and interesting. It’s one of the main reasons why I like this watch. Another great thing on this watch is the back side of its strap. The red color fits perfectly with this kind of a watch.
Everything is great, the design, the movement, features….absolutely everything except one thing and that’s the buckle on the strap. I don’t like it at all. My friends and I don’t like those kinds of watches. One of the best watches from IWC company must have a much better buckle than this one. I hope that the next IWC watch will have a normal buckle.