Creating a special edition of big pilot

A while ago I received an invitation pack from IWC Hong Kong

The personalised Santoni Big Pilot strap is one of the best gifts I have seen in an invitation!  While I was overwhelmed by the strap, I was more thrilled about what this invitation is about.  Information of the event was under embargo back then so I could not reveal the page that’s most interesting to my friends.

IWC Hong Kong is going to conceive a Big Pilot dedicated to Hong Kong, and they were going to host a whole day session for a dozen of collectors to get ideas of how this Big Pilot should look like.  Being able to contribute to a design of Big Pilot is such an honour for us.Then on Oct 20th we gather for the project

The office of the day was an office space of a whole floor in a building, which IWC HK has rented for the session.  The place is very well decorated with IWC theme.

Without help from some real professional what we were trying to accomplish will just be random mumbles of unrealistic design dreams among passionate collectors.  Who would be our captain?

Christian Knoop, the Creative Director of IWC came all the way from Schaffhausen!  Christian came together with Gerd Plange, the designer who handle a lot of watch in the Portuguese and Pilot series.Before we start our brainstorming, Christian gave an introduction of some points that should considered when creating a special edition watch.  He also shared his experience of previous special watch projects.

Then we split into two groups and started our session.  There were a lot bombardments among great ideas from the collectors.

Gerd, who was sitting next to me, listened carefully to what we were proposing so he can have enough information to make the rendering later.

After the brainstorming, Gerd prepared the rendering of our designs and the two groups assembled back together and we picked one of the designs to move forward.  Further modifications will be made in the future phases of the project.  As expected, the design is confidential at the moment so nothing to show here.  We will get updates along the way and IWC Hong Kong will decide when and how to communicate the final design to the public when it’s ready.It’s such a pleasure to be able to contribute to this meaningful project, can’t wait to witness the further developments of this Big Pilot for Hong Kong.  Thank you Christian and Gerd for coming over to Hong Kong and help with the project, and a big thank you to the IWC Hong Kong team for making this project a reality! 

Absolutely fantastic !

Does it get any better than this? I doubt it. 

what a great initiative by Schaffhausen- I can imagine the pending anxiety!

Incredible post, Erwin!  This was truly a special event  in which you provided us with a window into the process..  I look forward to seeing the result "in the metal!"  Kudos to IWC for providing this opportunity!

erwin,

what an amazing very special and unique experience!

can't wait to see the fruits of your collaborative efforts...

best,
thang

An absolute dream to be part of such a project! Great photos as well, just fantastic - I can't wait to see the results.

That’s all kinds of awesome - phenomenal personalised invitiaion, excellent collaboration between brand and collectors, stylised preparation of the office space, Christian and Gerd attending with insights from previous projects thrown in for good measure too!

What a fantastic project to be part of - looking forward to seeing the results... as I’m sure are the Hong Kong collectors!

Great photos too, Erwin - thanks for sharing!

A great experience.
bravo to IWC for organizing!
Thanks for sharing and looking forward to the result!

Awesome report Erwin, thanks for sharing! What a great experience and opportunity from IWC to get the feedback from trully paisoned collectors.

I'm really looking forward to the outcome, as among the HK collectors are so many great people and minds that it will be very special.

Patrick

That has got to be one of the coolest things I have seen! Thanks for sharing I must say I am very jealous!

Wow, this is truely amazing! Thanks so much for sharing the story here with us.

Kind regards,

Clemens

I’m speechless!  Congrats IWC for allowing the creation of a “People’s Watch”.

Fantastic report Erwin 
Thanks for sharing this brilliant experience with us. 

Phenomenal! What a great idea to get collectors intimately involved and create a great piece at the same time.

It's going to be interesting to see what the final design of this CF BP will reveal. Although, we pretty much know that it will be largely the dial that will undergo the changes. I hope that a  steel case will be part of this 'new' BP. Just keep it simple chaps. There's not much that resembles the BP in its pure form at it stands from IWC. Certainly not with the increasing complications that are now mainstream with many BP models. I went for a very well looked after 5004-01,as my preferred BP. Not even the 9 on the dial,swayed my interest.
Kenneth.

Wow. Great story. So curious about the final result.

Cheers Chris

What a fantastic initiative!! I can't wait to see the final design

This will be a Hong Kong Edition BP, CF BP another day maybe?

Design-wise I cannot comment at the moment, we will see. 

Wow, thanks Erwin, so great of you to keep us posted here.
That sounds like a really cool project. I'm glad IWC got the real experts for HK involved.
Tension rises to finally see the result soon!