Announced at Watches and Wonders 2022, IWC Schaffhausen will support the Polaris Dawn mission, the first of three human flights into space under the Polaris program. The company was born from an idea of the American entrepreneur Jared Isaacman with whom IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Polaris Dawn already collaborated for the Inspiration4 mission last year.
Following the announcement of this partnership, IWC has decided to create a custom watch for the four members who will make up the crew of the Polaris Dawn mission. Presented these days, on the wrists of the four astronauts there will be the new Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Polaris Dawn”.
This IWC white ceramic chronograph with a space blue dial will take off, along with its crew, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022. After the journey into space and back to Earth, the watches will be auctioned to collect funds for the life-saving work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a leading institution in the development of treatments for childhood cancer and other pediatric diseases. This space-themed watch, designed and made in only four copies, each of which will go on the wrist of the four crew members, was made with a white ceramic case measuring 44.5 mm in diameter and 15.7 mm thick. The resulting brilliant color is the result of a complex manufacturing process in which zirconium oxide is mixed with other metal oxides in a precisely defined ratio and then sintered at high temperatures in an oven. The dark blue dial has a lacquered finish with countless stars and the mission logo that is placed inside the chronograph counter at 6 o’clock. Looking at the back of the watch, you can see the titanium caseback with the name of one of the four crew members engraved on each of the four watches.
The movement that beats within the white ceramic case of this watch is the in-house automatic caliber 69380 which guarantees a power reserve of 46 hours.
Following the beginning of the partnership with Polaris Dawn earlier this year, IWC Schaffhausen has presented the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Polaris Dawn”.
The chronograph in white ceramic with a space-blue dial was designed to support the upcoming human spaceflight mission, which is targeted to launch no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022. Each of the four timepieces features an engraving with the name of one of the four crew members and after travelling to space and returning to Earth, the watches will be auctioned to raise funds for the life-saving work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a leading institution developing
The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Polaris Dawn” (Ref. IW389111) features a 44.5-millimetre case made of white ceramic. The white colour results from a complex manufacturing process in which zirconium oxide is mixed with other metallic oxides in a precisely defined ratio and then sintered at high temperatures in a kiln.
The chronographs feature dark blue lacquered dials printed with countless stars and the mission logo.
In addition, the titanium case backs are engraved with the name of one of the four crew members.
Alongside Jared Isaacman, who will serve as commander, the crew consists of retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX Lead Space Operations Engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
