IWC Marks Mercedes-Benz’s 140th Year With a Smarter Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar

IWC Schaffhausen and Mercedes-Benz have turned a long-running partnership into a commemorative watch with real mechanical substance.

The new Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz is limited to 140 pieces and introduces one of IWC’s most user-friendly perpetual calendar systems to a Big Pilot format.

It arrives as Mercedes-Benz marks 140 years since the birth of the automobile, a moment that gives the watch a clear reason to exist beyond co-branding.

At a glance

A Mercedes-Benz anniversary with IWC substance

Mercedes-Benz is celebrating its 140th year under the theme “140 Years of Innovation”, a nod to the automobile’s beginnings in 1886 and the company’s role in shaping modern mobility.

The anniversary programme includes “140 Years. 140 Places.”, with three new S-Class saloons travelling to 140 selected locations worldwide across more than 50,000 kilometres and six continents.

IWC’s place in that story is not recent window dressing.

The Schaffhausen watchmaker became a partner of Mercedes-AMG in 2004, and since 2013 it has served as Official Engineering Partner of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team.

That relationship has produced motorsport experiences, Mercedes-AMG driving events and special-edition watches tied to Mercedes design cues, including the G-Class.

This new Big Pilot’s Watch sits in that same engineering-led space, but the important development is inside the case rather than just on the dial or case back.

A restrained Big Pilot with a historic case back

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet 140 Years Mercedes-Benz, reference IW329603, uses a 42 mm stainless steel case with brushed and polished finishing.

The black dial keeps the presentation sharp, pairing solid gold appliqués with gold-plated hands and a white minute track for contrast.

It’s a familiar IWC language, but the gold accents give the watch a more commemorative tone without overwhelming the instrument-watch base.

The sapphire-glass case back carries the first Mercedes-Benz logo introduced in 1926 after Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged.

That emblem combines the Benz laurel wreath with DMG’s three-pointed star, making it a more considered anniversary detail than a simple modern badge.

The Perpetual Calendar ProSet changes the ritual

IWC’s perpetual calendar story has deep roots, most famously through the system developed by Kurt Klaus and presented in 1985.

The Perpetual Calendar ProSet is a new chapter because it addresses one of the least romantic parts of owning a complicated calendar watch.

Traditional perpetual calendars can be delicate to adjust, often requiring pushers, specific crown positions or a cautious setting sequence.

Here, the calendar can be adjusted both forward and backward through a single crown position, making the process closer to setting the time.

The module is gear-driven and protected by four patents.

IWC uses the LIGA process, a microstructuring technique involving lithography and electroforming, to create the complex component geometries required for the mechanism.

For collectors who actually wear and rotate their watches, that usability matters.

A perpetual calendar is only truly convenient if returning it to the correct date is not a small negotiation with the instruction manual.

Calendar display and movement

The dial organises the perpetual calendar across four subdials.

The date sits at 3 o’clock, the month at 6 o’clock and the day of the week at 9 o’clock, while the moon phase display occupies 12 o’clock.

IWC’s Double Moon display shows the moon phase correctly for both the northern and southern hemispheres.

A newly calculated reduction gear gives the moon phase an accuracy deviation of just one day after 1,040 years.

The four-digit year display, a signature element of IWC perpetual calendars, is placed between 7 and 8 o’clock.

The watch is powered by the IWC-manufactured 82665 calibre, which uses a nickel-phosphorus escapement and a silicon hairspring.

Its bidirectional Pellaton automatic winding system is reinforced with ceramic components and stores a 60-hour power reserve.

A black rubber strap gives the edition a more contemporary and practical character, while IWC’s EasX-CHANGE system allows tool-free strap swaps.

Details & Specifications

The appeal here is clear for IWC collectors, Mercedes-AMG loyalists and anyone drawn to complicated watches that are engineered to be lived with.

As an anniversary piece, it has the expected symbolism, but the Perpetual Calendar ProSet gives it a stronger claim than decoration alone.