Last night, IWC Schaffhausen celebrated the launch of its 2019 Pilot’s Watches Collection at Kitty Hawk in Sydney with an intimate bespoke three-course dinner, curated specially by Australian celebrity chef Neil Perry himself.
Upon arrival, guests were treated to an offering of bespoke cocktails, inspired by IWC’s role in aviation and the Silver Spitfire’s longest flight. Florian Gutsmiedl, Brand Director IWC Australia & New Zealand, opened the event with a warm introduction and shared a short film on the upcoming Longest Flight campaign, before guests had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the new Pilot’s Watches collection.
Florian Gutsmiedl, Brand Director IWC Australia & New Zealand
The star of the evening was the brands’ new fleet of Pilot’s Watches, which made its debut, in January 2019, at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva. The collection features three highly distinct sub-lines: Spitfire, which captures the outstanding engineering expertise of IWC with 100% in-house movements; Top Gun, which sports a line-up of models machined from robust innovative materials; and Le Petit Prince, which translates Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s most famous literary work into stunning masterpieces of haute horlogerie.
Among the guests to grace the evening were IWC’s brand ambassadors – Hayden Cox and wife Danielle Cox, Monika Radulovic, Alesandro Ljubicic, friends of the brand Tom Derickx, Neil Perry, Matthew Abood and David Caon and members of the press and aviation enthusiasts.
Monika Radulovic and Alesandro Ljubicic
For over 80 years, IWC has brought man’s dream of flying to our wrists with its prestigious Pilot’s Watches. Its story in aviation started in1936 in Schaffhausen with the “Special Watch for Pilots”, which was developed by two keen pilots who knew the exact requirements of a timepiece for the aircraft cockpit. 12 years later, IWC’s engineers unveiled the Mark 11–a purist, game-changing navigational ticker that continues to inspire the design and functionality of the company’s Pilot’s Watches until today.
