No sign of design - by Alexander Linz
The virile, technical design of the iconic Pilot's Watch reflects the masculine, technology-oriented world of IWC.
“In a sense, a Pilot’s Watch encapsulates the art of non-design. It’s a bit like the watch a child would draw: round, with a clear outline and two hands.” Those are pretty strong words, and they come from none other than Christian Knoop, Associate Director of IWC’s Creative Centre in Schaffhausen. Knoop has been with IWC for four years. Before that, he was an industrial and product designer with various agencies and companies. He’d designed just about everything from furniture to home electronics, “but before I joined IWC, never a watch,” he admits.
But today Knoop knows that he had “never before created a product as emotional as a watch.” As someone who completed an apprenticeship in a skilled trade, Knoop particularly appreciates the fact that watch production involves so much manual labour. “It’s the polar opposite of so many industrial processes where the designer no longer finds out what actually happens and where.”
But back to the “art of non-design”. When you take a good long look at the stuff Pilot’s Watches are made of, it’s clear that much of what Knoop says is true. It’s certainly not some ultra-cool statement from a designer who suddenly thinks he’s above everything. At this point, let’s take a look back and ask ourselves where the sober design of a Pilot’s Watch actually comes from. How could it be otherwise? At one time, the military procurement departments produced thick manuals containing all the specifications that defined what a pilot’s watch should look like. Not even the tiniest detail was left to chance. They even went so far as to demand that manufacturers remove all traces of their existence from the watch so that in the event of a pilot being captured, the enemy would be unable to make any direct deductions about the origin and/or quality of his watch.
The schedule of specifications was tantamount to a diktat with no ifs or buts, and any complaint was pointless. Effectively, the military was looking for accurate, reliable and unusually robust timepieces. Needless to say, the design too was precisely defined. The main requirement, then, was that timepieces would be unfailingly legible, no matter how bad the conditions. The striking contrast between the large, white hands and the matt black dial, therefore, was no coincidence. And the small triangle at “12 o’clock” is not there for decorative purposes. The reason for its presence is to indicate first noon and then, 12 hours later, midnight. It is a form of security and eliminates the errors that could arise from a pilot glancing at his watch when involved in a corkscrew manoeuvre or flying upside down. The large crown on the Pilot’s Watches was designed to facilitate setting even with thick flying gloves, while the extra-long leather or textile straps enable the watch to be worn over a flight suit.
IWC’s first watch specially designed for pilots, was unveiled in the 1930s. It was followed in the 1940s by the Big Pilot’s Watch featuring the 52 S.C. calibre. The legendary Mark XI appeared in 1948 and put the Pilot’s Watches on a trajectory for success that has been sustained to this day. Later on, in 1988, came the IWC Pilot’s Chronograph with its quartz-controlled stepper motor movement and in 1993 the IWC Mark XII; together they triggered a new cult for pilot’s watches. From now on, IWC Schaffhausen re-established its prowess as a manufacturer of Pilot’s Watches and produced one milestone after another. These included the first Pilot’s Watch in a ceramic case in 1994, the Pilot’s Watch UTC in 1999, the Big Pilot’s Watch in 2002 and the introduction of the Top Gun line in 2006, to name but a few.
The motto was always the same: form follows function. “If you remain true to that motto and respect the DNA of a pilot’s watch, there is very little room for manoeuvre. Any further development of a pilot’s watch calls for a lot of sensitivity,” explains Christian Knoop. So what would be the typical procedure for developing a new design or updating an existing one? Christian Knoop: “We pool our knowledge and expertise, discuss strategy and the project’s viability and then come up with the design.” To achieve this, the designers, case makers, management – with IWC CEO Georges Kern at its head, strap/bracelet specialists and the watchmakers themselves meet up.
Together, they examine and define the technical possibilities; those that already exist and those that would still need to be developed. IWC’s in-house design studio (a luxury the company has granted itself) gets down to the work of design, creates the first realistic 3D renderings on the computer and later actual-sized models that illustrate both the watches and straps. These models, made of thermoplastic, are produced with the help of 3D printing technology and give everyone involved the chance getting a hands-on experience of the object and the design elements in original size.
The next stage is a milled prototype in metal, which comes with a stuck-on paper dial but still lacks a movement. To enable the developers to get a feel for the watch’s true weight in wear, these rudimentary models are packed with the equivalent weight. Only when various other evaluation phases are complete does the prototype department produce the first real watches with movements and authentic dials.
Today, IWC divides its Pilot’s Watches into three categories: the Classic, the Top Gun and the Spitfire families. The Classic is an icon, lord and master of IWC Pilot’s Watch line, while the Top Gun reflects the high-tech world of the US Navy’s flying elite and the Spitfire the world of vintage aviation. One of the requirements for the design of the 2012 Pilot’s Watch collection presented at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva was for the new models to feature new IWC-manufactured calibres and to give the individual lines a sharper profile. No easy task, as you can imagine.
The entirely new Top Gun Miramar models placed enormous demands on the shoulders of the design centre staff. The final result was a perfect blend of several elements: the typical green of the US Navy pilots’ flight suits; the yellowish orange look of the luminescent material once used on hands and indices; the influence of the observer’s watch typically found in the cockpit, with is highly legible five-minute divisions on the dial; the use of meticulously polished ceramic with its discreet, bluish shimmer, reflecting the high-precision steel used for weapons and aircraft; and, lastly, a matching strap. Impressive, to say the least. You would be hard pushed to believe that a watch could be created from so many individual elements. In its search for a strap suitable for the Miramar IWC tested just about every possible combination. From leather or the classical NATO strap all the way through to a lined textile strap. Although a classical NATO strap would best underscore the watches’ technical character, the final choice was a lined textile strap. It best matches what is, after all, a conspicuously large watch and helps make it so comfortable to wear.
The Spitfire, too, was given an overhaul to comply with an internal directive stating that this particular line should be the most exclusive of the Pilot’s Watches. In the process, IWC designers paid special attention to increasing the overall the value of the line by making it slightly more discreet and luxurious. Back to Christian Knoop: “We tried to get more of the elegance, the sleekness and the simplicity of the legendary Spitfires into the new models.” The technical and aesthetic highlight of the new line is the Spitfire with perpetual calendar and the digitally inspired displays for date and month. Knoop: “This technically complex watch is the epitome of luxury and, thanks to its digitally inspired displays, guarantees perfects legibility. Actually, that is something you would expect, because you would find nothing else in an aircraft cockpit. In the case of the Classics, the design retouches were, of course, more restrained. To be honest, they go virtually unnoticed – which is just as well, because there was hardly anything to be improved upon.
Pilot’s watches today are more popular than ever before and have long been a constituent of IWC Schaffhausen’s DNA. For this reason, it is enormously important that IWC continues to develop them with the same delicacy of touch and with eyes fixed firmly on the future. The company’s fixed links with its past, the increasingly strong influence of the present and the tastes and needs of IWC customers in every corner of the globe must blend seamlessly without any dilution of the central theme or, worse still, making it banal.
Which brings us, in spirit, back to the start of our article on the design of Pilot’s Watches. Allow us, then, at the end of it, to quote Christian Knoop once again: “In a sense, a Pilot’s Watch encapsulates the art of non-design. It’s a bit like the watch a child might draw: round with a clear outline and two hands.”
