IWC has been making pilot’s watches since the early years of aviation - when precise wristwatches were an essential cockpit instrument for timing and navigation, vital for a pilot’s survival. In other words, their early aviator's watches come from an era when tool watches were truly used as tools.

Fast forward to 1992, IWC ushered in a new generation of pilot’s watches to an eager consumer public with great acclaim. The first of this new series was the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Ref. IW3711, which then evolved and iterated into every great model we've seen since, offering a multitude of innovative materials, case sizes, captivating colorways, and internal mechanisms. One of the most recent releases in the line is the effectively named Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41.

This example, a Reference IW388102, features a 41mm stainless steel case with pumper pushers, a signed screw-down crown and an exhibition caseback offering a view IWC’s in-house self-winding Calibre 69385 chronograph movement. Its blue sunburst dial features a triple register chronograph display, legible printed Arabic indices, a red small seconds hand, day and date indicator at 3 o’clock, and luminous quadrant indices and a matching oversized handset.

Fitted to a a beautifully engineered stainless steel multi-link bracelet with signed push-button deployant clasp, this piece remains in fantastic condition with minimal signs of wear from careful single-owner use. Accompanied by its complete set of factory collateral including outer box, inner travel case, booklet, polishing cloth, hangtag, sizing tool, and warranty card dated December 2022, this fantastic pilot's chronograph hits above its weight class.

Packing up some serious horological oomph, great design, and a legacy of IWC's long history of aviation instruments, this stunning Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 flies high on our must-have list for contemporary sports models!