SIHH - IWC and Roger Dubuis Over the Top

#wtsihh | Under the vigilant eye of Georges Kern, both IWC and Roger Dubuis showed they were moving full speed ahead at the SIHH.

WORDLTEMPUS - 6 February 2012

Roberta Naas


From the minute you entered the IWC “booth” at SIHH, you found yourself transported from the “normal” world to a universe comprising the best pilots and their machinery. The brand transformed its booth into an aircraft carrier complete with simulator plane. All of this was in celebration of what IWC is dubbing the “Year of the Pilot’s Watch,” and for those who already love IWC’s pilot watches this year will be a stealth one.

The IWC booth was decked out in best Top Gun manner, including a flight simulator © Worldtempus / Miguel Seabra

At the fair, the brand was clearly focusing on its Top Gun connection (the U.S. Navy’s top air fighting corps), and thus unveiled the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Miramar in celebration of the California city where the story of these elite pilots began. This particular watch incorporates camouflage colors and high-tech materials such as zirconium oxide and titanium. It is powered by a new in-house caliber with flyback function and 168 hours of power reserve.

Also new this year is the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun – a stealth black ceramic calendar watch housing the IWC’s own Caliber 51614 and displaying the correct time until the year 2100. A couple of other Top Gun models emerged asdid a couple of new Spitfire pieces and a few other pilot’s watches. All of these pay tribute to the long and storied past IWC has had in the world of pioneering tough instruments for pilots. They also attest to the brand’s visionary look ahead.

The name of IWC’s Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Miramar celebrates the California city home to the elite navy unit © Worldtempus / Kristian Haagen

Roger Dubuis’ new worlds

At SIHH the Roger Dubuis booth was an amalgam of old and new: here the Pulsion “beams” next to a replica of the Seal of Geneva © Worldtempus / Carlos Torres

Over at the Roger Dubuis booth – whose recently reinvented profile is due mostly to Kern as President – an extremely high-tech video-game atmosphere melded with futuristic x-ray beam lighting for an energetic mood that celebrates the brand’s sophisticated sports watch world of Pulsion and its bold world of Excalibur. New this year, the brand rolls out the new collection’s the Pulsion Flying Tourbillon Skeleton housed in lightweight and the Pulsion Chronograph, available in titanium, blackened titanium and rose gold. Each of these watches houses an in-house manufactured caliber finished to the tiniest detail. The sandblasted matte cases remain bold and well finished.

The newest Excalibur Automatic watches are powered by Caliber RD620 with 35 jewels and côtes de Genève finishing. This year, too, Roger Dubuis releases stunning new high-jeweled ladies watch in its Velvet collection in an effort to offer women more diversity in the luxury watch segment. Now that Roger Dubuis himself has rejoined the company, we can expect to see many more such delights coming throughout the year.

One of Roger Dubuis’s new worlds was created expressly for women: here is Velvet’s most expressive timepiece set with amethysts and spinels © Roger Dubuis