By: Roger Ruegger
At Watches and Wonders, IWC Schaffhausen has officially launched the Pilot’s Watch Venturer Vertical Drive (Ref. IW328601) which has been specifically designed and engineered for the demands of human spaceflight and timekeeping in space: “Inspired by astronauts wearing space suits with gloves, all functions of the watch can be controlled through an innovative, patent-pending rotating bezel system, eliminating the need for a crown. A rocker switch located on the side of the case enables the wearer to change between various functions, including winding the movement and setting the home or mission times.”
The 44.3-mm Venturer Vertical Drive features a white zirconium oxide ceramic case with Ceratanium bezel and underwent the necessary testing by IWC’s brand partner, Vast, the company developing next-generation space stations. It received spaceflight qualification from Vast for flight on Haven-1, scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station. Kelton Temby, Senior Mission Manager at Vast oversaw testing and qualification of IWC’s Venturer Vertical Drive: “Every piece of cargo that will be traveling to Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station, must undergo thorough testing and qualification. The goal is to ensure that it can withstand launch conditions and does no harm to the crew or the station. In the case of the watch, we specifically checked that it continued to function correctly after each test, including winding it and setting the time using the rotating bezel system.” According to Temby, the watch was subjected to simulated launch conditions “to verify that it could withstand the forces experienced during ascent.” He and his team also performed a standard pressure test and “a thorough assessment of the materials used in the watch to confirm their compatibility with the environment on Haven-1.”
The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive boasts a matte black dial to avoid light reflections. It displays two different times. The mission’s reference time is indicated by the central hour and minute hand, and also in 24-hour format by a dedicated hand on the outer dial scale, which runs from 00:00 to 24:00. The necessity for a 24-hour display comes from the fact that a spacecraft or a space station completes an orbital cycle around the Earth roughly every 90 minutes. This means astronauts experience as many as 16 sunrises and sunsets within a 24-hour period. To manage this rapid sequence of day and night, they adhere to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) or UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). These formats retain the familiar 24-hour rhythm of Earth time, enabling the crew to keep a consistent routine with work and sleep times while in space. The central hour and minute hands are normally synchronized with this reference time. If required, however, the hour hand can be moved in one-hour increments to display a second time zone. On Earth, the second time zone feature transforms the watch into the quintessential companion for frequent flyers: with a simple turn of the bezel, it can be set to display the time at the destination of travel.
The edges of the black triangular hour and minute hands are coated with green Super-Luminova, while the arrow-shaped tip of the 24-hour hand glows blue in the dark. The blue second hand points to the inner scale, which features a thin ring in the same shade of blue. This dual-time display is made possible by the newly engineered IWC-manufactured 32722 caliber, an automatic movement with a 120-hour power reserve that includes an integrated GMT module. There is also a date indication at 3 o’clock.
Ref.: IW328601
Dimensions: ⌀ 44.3 mm; thickness: 16.7 mm
Case: white ceramic case, Ceratanium bezel, caseback and buckle; sapphire crystal; WR 100 m
Movement: 32722 with 120 hours of power reserve
Strap: white integrated
rubber strap
Warranty: 24 months (72 when registered)
Price: CHF 24,000
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