IWC Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun 5029-02 Luxury Watch Review

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The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun 5029-02 splits the difference between a fighter jet and a stealth bomber. While its cockpit-inspired "instrument" dial draws from IWC's eighty-year history of aviation watches, the sleek black 48mm ceramic case (nearly scratch-proof) evokes technology born of the 21st century.

Top Gun - the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School - needs no introduction to fans of luxury watches and high performance machinery. As the home of advanced aerial maneuvering combat instruction since 1969, "Top Gun" has become an icon of global popular culture and the dream of armchair aviators.

With the IWC Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun, part of that dream comes true. This 48mm aviation instrument is styled in the image of IWC's original 1940 "B-uhr" military aviation watch. All calibrations and hands jump from the matte black dial with legibility born of their no-nonsense "milspec" origins.

Originally designed for fighter pilots, the "Big Pilot's" combination of broadsword hands and altimeter-style hour track continue to exemplify the form-follows function philosophy.

But practical considerations and modern refinements are present as "force multipliers." A discreet date window at six o'clock provides a convenience that many luxury watch owners now consider indispensable. The impressive seven-day power reserve is tracked by an indicator subdial at three o'clock.

While the concept of the IWC “Big Pilot” hails from military roots, the case back is anything but stealthy; a large red, white, and blue "Top Gun" logo from the 1986 film poster adorns the solid reverse side of the IWC Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun.

A traditional IWC Big Pilot dial with instrument-inspired calibrations charts the progress of civil time. The departure from tradition is IWC's incorporation of a comprehensive perpetual calendar display. Based on an original IWC mechanism envisioned by legendary watchmaker Kurt Klaus, the IWC perpetual display tracks the day, date, month, year, decade, century, and phase of the moon. Both northern and southern hemisphere moon phases are displayed concurrently.

Best of all, IWC's system is as easy to set as a conventional date window; just turn the crown, and all indications advance in coordinated sequence. The IWC perpetual calendar displays cannot go out-of-synch with each other.

Beneath the intricate flight deck-style dial is a movement to match. IWC's caliber 51614 keeps the beat with a seven-day power reserve, a rugged free-sprung escapement, and a graceful Breguet hairspring to resist positional timing variations.

IWC's Pellaton winding system has benefitted from high-efficiency ceramic rotor bearings, but cal. 51614 enhances the celebrated IWC winding device with new ceramic pawl components. As a result, IWC has declared this movement to be the most durable and low-maintenance variant of the caliber 50000 series since its year 2000 debut.

See this exceptional IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Top Gun 5029-02 in high-resolution images on www.thewatchbox.com. Video and content by Tim Mosso.