Calibre 79420 in Pilot Doppelchrono Let Petit Prince

Hi,

I'm considering buying the Pilot Watch Doppelchrono, ref. IW371807. During my search on the internet I found out that the watch is equipped with a Calibre 79420.

I started to research this calibre and was a bit disappointed to find out that this is a calibre based on the ETA 7750 movement. So it's not a fully IWC in house made calibre.

Can anyone give me some advise on this. Is it still worth wile to buy the Doppelchrono or would it be a better choice to purchase Big Pilot. I was thinking about the Big Pilot IW500908 which has the IWC Calibre 51111. What do you think is the best choice from a collectors perspective?

Really looking forward to see your reactions.

Thanx!

Best Regards,

Wibo

All the movements used by IWC are first class, built to high standards: whether a modified ETA-movement or an in-house movement. I have watches with either type of movement, all perform well. So, buy the watch you like best, it will quite probably never let you down.

Kind regards,
Paul

I own several IWCs that are "based" on the same ebouche/7750. Keep in mind that IWC completely rebuilds them, refinishes them, decorates them, and often, replaces some parts. Also, the Rattrapante complication is a completely additional IWC mechanism that is integrated to the base movement and is 100% IWC from start to finish.

Like the Rattrapante, many of IWCs iconic Perpetual Calendars are "based" on this platform - but again, they are remade, and integrated with the IWC perpetual Calendar mechanism. I certainly do not think any less of my watches, in fact, I really appreciate them - because I have found that my cal. 79000 based movement IWCs cost 3x-4x less in service costs than my Cal. 5XXXX based IWCs.

I really like that nostalgic screen shot, that font!

Kind regards,
Paul

This thread, although comes up all the time over the last 14 years - with this tangent on "service costs" I introduced - I wonder if other Collector's here, with larger collections of many of both Cal 5XXXX and 79XXX based movements have experienced similar service costs over the years.

Now, I'm the first to appreciate the cal 5000s and love them - all of my Portuguese Perpetuals are wonderful works of art. I associate it with owning a fine, vintage Jaguar V12 Coupe -

I've had a few Cal 5000s for 10+ years now, and a few 79XXX for over 14 years now - so I had all of my watches go in for service at least once (with exception of my CFI 3227 - still runs perfect after 10 years) and all of my cal 5000s have been to service more that 2x as often. One of my Cal 51610s has been in for service 3 times in 9 years, and each service tends to cost 25-50% more than the cal 79000s.... Just my experience.