IWC Marks 140 Years of Mercedes-Benz with a Refined Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar

Mercedes-Benz is celebrating 140 years, and IWC has chosen a suitably polished way to mark the moment.

The new Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz keeps the practical architecture of IWC’s pilot line, but dresses it with a quieter, more formal sense of luxury.

It’s less about motorsport theatre and more about the kind of restraint you’d expect from the marque’s grandest road cars.

At a glance

A steel Big Pilot with a more formal Mercedes-Benz mood

The case stays close to the familiar Big Pilot formula, with a 42mm stainless steel profile, brushed case flanks and a polished bezel.

At 14mm thick, it has presence, but the dimensions keep it within the more wearable side of IWC’s large pilot’s watch universe.

The oversized crown at 3 o’clock remains a defining feature, carrying the functional language of aviation watches designed to be operated with gloves.

Here, though, that crown is more than a visual signature.

As a ProSet model, the entire perpetual calendar display can be adjusted through the crown, avoiding the fiddly hidden pushers often associated with complicated calendar watches.

Black and gold instead of racing cues

IWC’s relationship with Mercedes-Benz has often touched the performance side of the car world, but this edition leans firmly toward elegance.

The black dial is matched with gold appliques and gold-plated hands, giving the watch a warmer and more ceremonial character than a standard steel tool watch.

The calendar layout uses four subdials for the moon phase, date, month and day of the week.

A year display sits between 7 and 8 o’clock, adding the final piece of perpetual calendar information without breaking the dial’s symmetry too aggressively.

It’s a busy watch by definition, but the restrained colour palette helps keep the complication readable and composed.

The ProSet calendar is the real ownership advantage

Perpetual calendars are among the most romantic complications in watchmaking, but they can also be unforgiving if setting them becomes a chore.

IWC’s ProSet system gives this anniversary piece a practical edge, because the wearer can advance and coordinate the calendar indications through the crown rather than reaching for correctors.

Inside is the IWC calibre 82665, an automatic movement with a 60-hour power reserve.

It uses the brand’s Pellaton winding system and a silicon hairspring, the latter helping reduce friction while improving resistance to magnetic fields.

The moon phase display is notably precise, with a deviation of just one day after 1,040 years.

That level of accuracy gives the watch a pleasingly long-view character, which fits a limited edition created around a 140-year milestone.

Limited production and positioning

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz is limited to 140 pieces.

At £32,100, it sits £2,600 above the steel Perpetual Calendar ProSet introduced in April, with the premium reflecting the gold dial components and anniversary-limited status.

For collectors, the appeal is clear enough.

This is a serious IWC complication in a steel pilot’s case, given a Mercedes-Benz anniversary treatment that feels polished without turning theatrical.

Details & Specifications

The result is one of the more understated automotive-linked watches in IWC’s catalogue, and that’s its strength.

It keeps the useful, engineered side of the Big Pilot intact while adding just enough gold and occasion to make the Mercedes-Benz anniversary feel genuinely considered.