I came across what I thought to be the last piece on the shelf of the 150th
Anniversary Jubilee Big Pilot Big Date, white dial in one of the local AD in
my town here, a little more than a month ago. Perhaps, I was too pre-occupied
with my purchase last year that I did not pay much attention to 2018's
releases.
Being the slacker I am, I seldom react quickly to an offer and would come up
with many faults as not to add this to my collection. The purist in me would
say ' it 's not a real or proper BP watch if it doesn't have a central
second' or ' the Big Date complication just doesn 't suit a tool watch' or
' It 's just a bit too shiny for my taste', so on so forth. In reality, it
was just me trying to resist the temptation, hoping to find something better
around the corner. Or so I thought.
The following couple of weeks, we went to Seoul for some sight-seeing and came
across an IWC boutique which happens to still carry many of 2018 and 2019 LE
releases such as London's LE and even the 150th BP Annual Calendar along with
several other unique pieces. I could actually compare a wide palette of BP
releases for the past 36 months in one place and eventually starts to
appreciate the 150th BP BigDate as one of IWC's important creation in the
range of Big Pilot over the years. The hand-wound 59000 calibre, limitation in
numbers, large date complication, white lacquer dial and the different
polishing style of the case is a true breakaway from the standard BP format
and variation, thus making it unique. The purist in me stay silent.
For a brief moment, panic seized me when I returned from holiday and found out
that another customer has already reserved it. When you snooze, you lose.
A quick search around town and a few phone calls later, found a second piece
(and certainly the last in the local stockpile) of NOS. I did not hesitate
this time.
_Shiny. Look carefully and you can see me grinning like an idiot in that
reflection. _
Loving the blue hands
Looks good with 'bokeh' too
The caliber within (shown here the back of Portugiser 75th Anniversary,
2015)
_The Squadron _
Thanks for reading.
