The Miami Grand Prix flagging off, and with it, IWC and Mercedes-AMG see their partnership hit a new milestone. The association between the two brands goes back to 2004, and has been one of the longest and most successful partnerships between a watchmaker and an automobile giant. To mark the 18th year of this association, IWC and Mercedes-AMG have collaborated to create the Petronas Formula One Team watch, the IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 Edition 'Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team'. The watch will be worn by the team, including designers, aerodynamicists, race engineers, strategists, and mechanics.

The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Edition 'Mercedes- AMG Petronas Formula OneTM Team' Ref. IW388108 is made from lightweight grade 5 titanium. The 41mm watch features a black dial with Petronas green colour making its presence felt strongly across the design of the dial. The hue appears on all the hands, indexes, markers, and minutes tracks, along with featuring on the day, date, and on the 'IWC Schaffhausen'. The chronograph's layout is similar to other Pilot watches with 12 o'clock getting the 30- minute sub-dial, 9 o'clock getting the 12-hour subdial, and 6 o'clock getting the small seconds. The timepiece uses stainless steel for the crown and chronograph pushers.

The case is a mix of blasted, satinized, and polished surfaces, and luminous material features on the Arabic numeral hour markers, indexes, hands, and date window against its black dial. The additional strap in rubber is the same Petronas green, though the one that the team wears features the Mercedes and Petronas branding; the version that will be available to the public, will not. 

Also Read: Watchtime India Curates: 10 Super Watches for Mother’s Day

Turning the watch over reveals the automatic winding via a bidirectional rotor, and movement of the watch through transparent sapphire caseback. Powering this watch is IWC-manufactured 69385 calibre, delivering a power reserve of 46 hours. The titanium case gives it a water resistance of 100 metres. The watch is completed on a black embossed calfskin strap with an additional Petronas green rubber strap. The wearer can change the straps with the assistance of an integrated EasX-CHANGE®system without any additional tools. Under the My IWC care plan, the timepiece gets a 6-year warranty to the standard 2-year International Limited Warranty.

Images: Courtesy IWC