Introducing: The IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe And Mojave Desert Will Take You Places

Most Fratello readers saw Top Gun, right? And something tells me most of you have also seen Top Gun: Maverick. Something also tells me that all who have seen those action-packed movies wanted to be Maverick or Iceman. Who wouldn’t want to fire the afterburners and just send their F-14 Tomcat? With a cool pilot’s watch on the wrist, daydreaming about doing just that becomes a tad more realistic. The new IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe and Mojave Desert are linked to the famous US Navy Fighter Weapons School, the actual name of the Top Gun flight school. They also got me thinking about extraterrestrial settings where these two new ceramic watches would excel. The white Lake Tahoe perfectly matches the icy surface of the planet Hoth, and the beige Mojave Desert matches Tatooine’s scorching, bone-dry climate.

For those who don’t know, Hoth is the sixth planet in a remote star system bearing the same name. It is a small, freezing planet with three moons and completely covered in ice and snow. It’s not a very friendly environment to live in, which is why there aren’t many natural life forms. You might see the occasional wampa or gray snow lizards known as tauntauns from your ship’s cramped and cold cockpit while on patrol, but that’s it. Wearing the new IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe ref. IW328104 (€9,000 / US$8,100) is a good option to make the tedious patrols of the planet more enjoyable and make you feel better about yourself and your career choices — “Why did I feel the need to obey a direct order from the admiral? It only got me transferred to this cold corner of the universe…”

The IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe

IWC is an expert in ceramic watches. Since the 1980s, the Schaffhausen-based brand has introduced many timepieces in this scratch-resistant material, and lately, many colorful ceramic watches have debuted. Okay, the white and black Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe is not colorful, but it is still very striking and impactful. The monochromatic attire is not new. More models received the blizzard-like treatment IWC calls Lake Tahoe, but the chronographs and the perpetual calendar do not fit everyone’s wrists or budgets.

The 41 × 11.4mm Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe is friendlier on the wrist and the wallet. The snow-white ceramic watch features a steel screw-down crown and a screw-in case back with Top Gun engravings. Kudos to IWC for not putting any red details on the dial and leaving everything black and white. The result is simultaneously sober and spectacular. Also, the watch comes complete with an immaculate 20mm textured white rubber strap and a simple, easy-to-use titanium pin buckle.

Underneath the matte black dial with printed white markings and lots of Super-LumiNova beats the caliber 32112. Yes, that’s the same movement powering the steel Mark XX and the Ingenieur Automatic 40. This 4Hz automatic caliber with a bidirectional pawl winding system, stop-seconds function, and 120-hour (five-day) power reserve is made by ValFleurier for the Richemont Group.

Made for Tatooine: The IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert

You can’t wear a bright white watch on Tatooine. The desert planet that orbits twin suns calls for something that blends with abundant sand and dry rock formations. If the Skywalkers had a family watch they passed on to each generation, it would be the new Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert ref. IW328106 (€9,000 / US$8,100). You can be like Anakin and Luke with this watch, but just be careful that Tusken Raiders don’t take it from you.

Spec-wise, the new 41 × 11.4mm Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert is just like its white counterpart. And its style follows, for instance, the previously released Chronograph 41 version. Interestingly, the chronograph with the same number in its name as the three-hander has a slightly larger 41.9mm case diameter. So, for those who thought the chrono would be perfect only to find out it was a smidgen too big, the Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Mojave Desert might be perfect.

The beige ceramic case and matte brown dial offer a warm look that’s fashionable in the city and functional in the desert. Thanks to Super-LumiNova, the beige Arabic numerals and markers and the brown hour and minute hands light up in the dark. A neat touch is the beige date on the brown date wheel. Having said that, a “3” at that position would also have worked very well for this desert instrument. I mean, how can you determine the date anyway when the planet you’re on spins around two suns?

What are your thoughts on the new IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 Top Gun Lake Tahoe and Mojave Desert watches? Do you prefer the cold or the hot one? Please let me know in the comments.