IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces Introduces IWC’s First Full Lume Display

IWC have a long, long history when it comes to producing pilot’s watches. You can learn about some of their legendary military style pilot’s watches here with our retrospective on the Mark Series. Today though we’re focussing on their newtest pilot’s watch, the IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces, which is the latest in their line of watches commemorating famous air squadrons and aviation mavericks like the Top Gun training school.

As you might be able to establish from the name of the watch, this piece was made to celebrate the Black Aces, a Californian squadron whose patch resembles the Ace of Spades from a pack of cards. Translating a playing card to a watch provides fertile ground for inspiration and IWC have leapt at the chance by using this opportunity to create their first ever full lume dial.

A full lume display being the inverse of the traditional style, using a SuperLuminova dial with solid black hands and hour markers.  With the distinctive IWC Pilot’s Watch display it works really well because you lose none of the legibility. Completing the fresh dial is the Black Aces patch at 6 o’clock.

Structurally, it feels like a little bit of a fusion of several IWC watch. The 41mm diameter case is similar to that of the 41mm chronographs without the pushers, made from black ceramic in this case. The dial has more in common with the Mark XX in terms of style. And inside it houses the Calibre 32100 with 72-hour power reserve which is essentially a dateless version of the 32110 from the Spitfire collection.

Ultimately I think the combination works really well and it’s an exciting addition to the IWC range. I think IWC do a good job of celebrating their heritage while also being unafraid to push forward and try new things and the full lume dial here exemplifies that. The IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Black Aces will be exclusive to the IWC online boutique at a price of £6,350. That seems like a very well-judged price all things considered, putting it just below the 41mm chronograph, which makes sense, and just above the 40mm Mark XX, which also makes sense.