In 2012, IWC Schaffhausen presented the very first Pilot’s Watch that shows the date and month digitally in large numerals and the four-year leap year cycle is also shown digitally. The first IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch is housed in an 18-karat red gold case (ref. IW379105). Now, this elegant timepiece gets its stainless steel companion (ref. IW379107).
IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch IW379105
IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch is housed in a round case which measures 46mm in diameter and 17.5mm in thickness. The case is water resistant up to 60 meters (approximately 200 feet).
The perpetual calendar can be adjusted via the crown and it will not require intervention by a watchmaker until 2100 which is a year that breaks with the conventional 4-year cycle and will not be a leap year.
IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch IW379107
Hours and minutes which are recorded by the stopwatch can be read off on the counter at the 12 o’clock position, whilst the central hand shows elapsed seconds. The watch has an integrated flyback function that provides the running stopwatch hand to be reset to zero and immediately starts recording another time.
The beating heart of the Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month timepiece is the IWC-manufactured caliber 89801 mechanical chronograph movement with the 68-hour power reserve. The self-winding mechanism is build on 51 jewels and oscillates at the rapid frequency of 28,800 alternations per hour (4 Hz).
IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch IW379105
Underneath the front saphire glass lies a shimmering, slate-colored, metallic dial with its sun-pattern finish which offers an enchanting contrast to either a warm gold tone or the silver one, and the brown of the alligator leather strap. The dial comprises bold Arabic numerals as hour markers, the two sub-dials for hacking seconds, which is complete with a small red hand and combined with leap year, and 12-hour and 60-minute totalizers. Flanking the white hour and minute hands there are the twin aperture digital date and month aperture, clearly marked under each set thus making it easy to read.
IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Watch IW379107
From the rear, the see-through sapphire-glass back gives the watch its premium-quality look. The reverse side of the watch also shows the rotor which takes the form of an elegant Spitfire silhouette. Furthermore, the anti-reflective crystal is secured against displacement by drops in the air pressure.
