IWC Schaffhausen is presenting new models spread across the Pilot's Watches, Ingenieur, Portugieser, and Portofino families, at Watches and Wonders 2026. The headliner is unarguably the Pilot's Venturer Vertical Drive, the first IWC watch designed from scratch for human spaceflight, but there is also a significant mechanical innovation in the form of the new ProSet perpetual calendar, the debut of the Ceralume luminous ceramic in the Pilot's Watches collection, and the 20th anniversary of IWC's Le Petit Prince collaboration, which generates five new editions across multiple collections.
Pilot's Venturer Vertical Drive — IWC's first space-certified watch
The most technically distinctive piece at IWC's booth is the Pilot's Venturer Vertical Drive (Ref. IW328601), the first watch the brand has designed and engineered specifically for the demands of human spaceflight, developed in partnership with Vast, the company building Haven-1, which is scheduled to become the world's first commercial space station. The watch has received official spaceflight qualification from Vast and is cleared to fly on the Haven-1 mission.
The defining feature is the elimination of the crown. All functions - winding the movement, setting the home time, setting the mission time - are controlled through a patent-pending rotating bezel system, with a rocker switch on the case flank enabling the wearer to cycle between those functions. Rotating the bezel transmits motion to the winding stem via a clutch system IWC calls the Vertical Drive. The watch can also be wound via its integrated oscillating mass, creating a hybrid winding system suited to both Earth use and microgravity environments. This crown-free approach was driven by the practical reality of astronauts wearing gloves during spacewalks.
The matte black dial is stripped back to the essentials: Central hour and minute hands display the mission reference time, while a dedicated hand on the outer dial scale shows the same time in 24-hour format — necessary in orbit, where a space station completes a full revolution every 90 minutes, producing up to 16 sunrises and sunsets per day. The hour hand can also be moved independently in one-hour increments to display a second time zone. Green Super-LumiNova coats the edges of the triangular hour and minute hands; the 24-hour hand tip glows blue — a reference to Earth's oceans as seen from space.
The case is made from white zirconium oxide ceramic, with the rotating bezel and caseback in Ceratanium - IWC's proprietary material combining titanium's lightness with ceramic's scratch resistance. The combination ensures the watch can withstand the vibration forces of launch (tested to 10g), vacuum, radiation, and temperature swings between +100°C and -150°C. It measures 44.3 mm in diameter and 16.7 mm thick, and wears on a white integrated FKM rubber strap with a Ceratanium pin buckle. The new IWC-manufactured 32722 calibre powers it, with automatic winding, an integrated GMT module, date display at 3 o'clock, and a 120-hour power reserve.
Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet
The second major innovation is the Perpetual Calendar IWC-ProSet, which debuts in three editions of the Big Pilot's Watch. This is a ground-up redesign of IWC's perpetual calendar mechanism, building on the legacy of Kurt Klaus's original crown-controlled calendar from 1985 but rethinking its internal architecture entirely.
The key advancement is bidirectional adjustability - a perpetual calendar that can be set both forwards and backwards using a single crown position, with no corrector buttons or complex setting sequences required. The mechanism is based entirely on gears with multiple functional layers and flexible, extendable, and retractable fingers, rather than the levers and correctors found in conventional perpetual calendars. Monthly adjustments happen automatically via a programme wheel with varying elevations corresponding to each month's length; at the end of February, a leap year wheel that completes one revolution every four years determines whether a leap day is added.
The new 82665 calibre that houses the ProSet module also achieves a notably more accurate moon phase: the Double Moon display shows the moon as seen from both hemispheres, now deviating by just one day every 1,044 years, up from the previous 577.5 years. The calendar's nightly switching sequence advances the date, weekday, and moon phase simultaneously each midnight. The four-digit year display, an IWC perpetual calendar hallmark, sits between 7 and 8 o'clock. Precision components, including the 24-hour wheel and moon phase gears, are manufactured using the LIGA micro-structuring process, which combines lithography, electroplating, and moulding to achieve complex geometries otherwise unattainable. The calibre 82665 runs at 28,800 vph with a 60-hour power reserve and a Pellaton winding system with ceramic components.
The Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet Le Petit Prince (Ref. IW339601) features a 42.9 mm white zirconium oxide ceramic case with a deep blue gradient dial and white rubber strap. The stainless steel Le Petit Prince (ref. IW329601) measures 42 mm, wears on a five-link steel bracelet with an additional blue rubber strap, and carries rhodium-plated indices and hands. Both Le Petit Prince editions feature the Little Prince depicted on the winding rotor's gold-plated medallion and an "Edition Le Petit Prince" engraving on the caseback ring.
The third version (Ref. IW329602) is housed in an 18-carat 5N gold case with a dark olive-green dial and an olive green buffalo leather strap with a gold pin buckle.
Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume
The Ceralume technology made its debut last year as a concept watch. It now makes its official production debut in the Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume (Ref. IW505801), limited to 250 pieces.
The principle is straightforward but visually striking: Super-LumiNova pigments are blended homogeneously into ceramic powder through a dedicated ball-milling process, creating a case material that absorbs light and re-emits it as a vivid blue glow for more than 24 hours. The entire watch, including the case, dial, and strap, is treated with luminous material. In daylight, the watch reads in varying shades of white and grey with an interplay of matte and shiny surfaces. In darkness, the case, dial, and strap glow intensely, while the numerals and hands appear only as dark shadows against the fully luminous background. Even the Probus Scafusia rotor medallion is made from Super-LumiNova and glows in the dark.
The 46.5 mm case carries IWC's perpetual calendar complication - date, weekday, month, four-digit year, and Double Moon display across four subdials — powered by the Calibre 52616 with a Pellaton winding system and a seven-day power reserve.
The Ingenieur expands: Tourbillon, perpetual calendar in titanium, olive green ceramic, and two new 35mm models
The Gérald Genta-inspired Ingenieur collection receives the most substantial expansion of any IWC line at this fair, with four new models spanning materials from 18-carat gold to coloured ceramic.
At the top of the range sits the Ingenieur Tourbillon 41 (ref. IW345901), limited to 100 pieces. The fully integrated bracelet design is executed here entirely in 18-carat 5N gold for the first time, with an olive green Grid dial that creates a rich contrast against the precious metal. The flying minute tourbillon at 6 o'clock consists of 56 components weighing just 0.635 grams, suspended from gold-coated bridges and equipped with a tourbillon stop function for setting accuracy. The pallet lever and escape wheel are treated with IWC's Diamond Shell coating to reduce friction. The IWC-manufactured 82905 calibre — with a ceramic-component Pellaton winding system — provides an 80-hour power reserve. It measures 41.6 mm in diameter and is 12.1 mm thick.
The Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar 41 (ref. IW344904) is described as IWC's lightest perpetual calendar watch, with a 41.6 mm grade 5 titanium case and integrated titanium bracelet. The matte grey grid dial matches the metal tone of the case and bracelet, giving the watch a monolithic, almost carved appearance. The calendar subdials feature circular satin finishing and refined azurage on their edges; the moon phase disc at 6 o'clock carries a detailed azurage background. Inside is the IWC-manufactured 82600 calibre with the Kurt Klaus crown-controlled perpetual calendar, ceramic winding components, and a 60-hour power reserve.
The Ingenieur Automatic 42 in dark olive-green ceramic (ref. IW338902) marks the first time the Genta-derived integrated bracelet design has appeared in coloured ceramic. Producing a uniform olive-green shade across different ceramic components is technically demanding, as colour shifts occur during the sintering process; IWC achieves visual consistency through a multi-part case construction that uses a thin internal titanium ring to secure the movement and maintain water resistance to 10 bar. The 18-carat 5N gold crown and 18-carat Armor Gold bezel screws provide a warm contrast to the deep green ceramic. The movement is the IWC-manufactured 82110 with a Pellaton winding system and 60-hour power reserve.
For the 35 mm Ingenieur Automatic collection, two new references join the existing lineup. The IW324911 adds diamonds to the Ingenieur for the first time in the current collection: its bezel is made from 18-carat 5N gold set with 45 white diamonds totalling 0.7 carats, paired with a silver-plated Grid dial and gold-plated hands and appliques. The IW324907 brings IWC's signature blue dial colour — the brand has produced blue-dialled Ingenieurs since the late 1960s — to the 35 mm format, with a stainless-steel case and rhodium-plated hands. Both run on Calibre 47110 with automatic winding and a 42-hour power reserve and share the 35 mm case at 9.4 mm thick.
Le Petit Prince anniversary editions
To mark 20 years of collaboration with the heirs of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, IWC is launching five Le Petit Prince anniversary editions across the Pilot's Watches and Portofino collections, all sharing the signature deep blue sunray dial and gold-plated hands. Two of the five are Mark XX models in 40 mm.
The gold-accented version (ref. IW328301) features an 18-carat 5N gold case, crown, case back ring, and applied indices, with a tinted sapphire glass caseback revealing a Little Prince illustration. The stainless-steel version (ref. IW328221) has printed white indices and a solid steel caseback engraved with the same illustration. Both are powered by the IWC-manufactured 32112 calibre with 120-hour power reserve.
The two chronograph editions - the Chronograph (ref. IW378011) at 43 mm and the Chronograph 41 (ref. IW388120) at 41 mm - are both in stainless steel and both powered by the IWC-manufactured 69385 column-wheel calibre with a 46-hour power reserve. Their tinted sapphire caseback displays the Little Prince surrounded by "Le Petit Prince" lettering, a moon, and two stars.
The Pilot's Watch Automatic 36 Le Petit Prince (ref. IW458802) rounds out the Pilot's collection, with a 36 mm stainless steel case, the 32102 calibre, and a 120-hour power reserve, worn on a blue calfskin strap.
Making its debut in the Portofino collection, the Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34 Le Petit Prince (ref. IW459806) is the first Le Petit Prince edition in the Portofino line. The 34 mm stainless steel dress watch carries a day-and-night display at 6 o'clock that completes one full rotation every 24 hours; as a design detail, the Little Prince is depicted standing on the golden moon in the disc.
The caseback carries a Little Prince engraving. It runs on Calibre 35180 with a 50-hour power reserve, paired with a hand-coloured blue Santoni calfskin strap.
Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 Le Petit Prince in white ceramic
A separate Le Petit Prince release that stands apart from the anniversary group is the Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 Le Petit Prince in white ceramic (ref. IW389410), the first Le Petit Prince model in white zirconium oxide ceramic. The white case creates a bold visual contrast with the deep blue sunray dial and its distinctive colour gradient. Inside is the IWC-manufactured 69381 calibre — a column-wheel chronograph with vertical dial layout, placing the stopped minutes at 12 o'clock and hours at 9 o'clock — with a bidirectional pawl-winding system and a 46-hour power reserve. A titanium caseback carries the Little Prince engraving.
Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium — all black
Released earlier this year ahead of the fair, the Portugieser Chronograph Ceratanium (ref. IW371631) is limited to 1,500 pieces and presents the iconic chronograph — introduced in 1998 — in an all-black execution for the first time. Case, crown, and pushers are all in Ceratanium, paired with a black dial, black hands, black appliques, and a black rubber strap with a square pattern.
Numerals, indices, and the quarter-second flange scale remain as discreet surface elevations against the black dial rather than contrasting elements. The IWC-manufactured 69355 calibre, a column-wheel automatic chronograph, stores 46 hours of power reserve.
Images: Courtesy Brand
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