Seagazing with the new summer-ready ceramic IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Miramar

• IWC introduces TOP GUN Miramar, a summery new Pantone colour making its debut with two Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 models in ceramic and steel.
• It’s the first time IWC has used one of its Pantone hues in a steel watch, with the colour scheme extending to the dials and rubber straps.
• The TOP GUN Miramar in ceramic is limited to 1,000 pieces and priced at A$20,800, while the steel model is in regular production, priced at A$12,200.

As the summer season reaches peak business and the beaches of the Northern Hemisphere reach capacity, IWC is releasing a refreshing, new colour for two Pilot’s Chrono models, once again in collaboration with Pantone. Representing a powdery, baby blue, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN Miramar is the headlining act, cased in ceramic, while the colour will also appear on a steel-case variant, both sporting matching rubber straps. Funnily enough, none of this summer business actually inspired the new shade of ceramic – in fact, it was the colour of TOP GUN instructor tees that occasionally peek out from under their flight suits. Whichever version of the story you prefer, the result is pretty cool nonetheless, and I’m glad to see IWC experiment with more ceramic after an Ingenieur-heavy first half of the year.

Though the new watches introduce a new colour, they stick to a familiar recipe. For the ceramic Miramar, the matte case surfaces are matched with a brushed titanium crown and pushers, stretching the “41” in its model name all the way out to 41.9mm in diameter. With a thickness of 15.5mm and an imposing lug-to-lug of 50.8mm, it clearly respects the pilot’s watch DNA that usually prescribes large cases for at-a-glance legibility. That said, if you’re worried you don’t quite have the wrist real estate to pull it off, the steel model (which only sports the blue colour on the dial and strap) is tamer in its dimensions, with a 41mm diameter and 14.5mm thickness, but curiously, it’s longer lug-to-lug at 51.8mm.

For those keen to get these in the water, you’ve got 100 metres of water-resistance to play with, secured with a screw-down crown, which should be plenty for a quick splash. There’s also nothing to worry about when it comes to damaging the straps, as both watches are equipped with Miramar blue rubber numbers with titanium or steel pin buckles. They also come standard with IWC’s EasX-Change system, which should allow you to quickly swap between different colours and materials, should you choose to experiment.

To go with its polish-highlighted case, the new steel model accents the hands with rhodium plating, which does help legibility. The ceramic model, on the other hand, fully commits to its blue theme by outlining the LumiNova-filled sword handset with the same matte blue as the dial. In practice, this doesn’t mar legibility as much as you might expect, as there’s still plenty of contrast between the blue of the dial and the white of the hands. Both watches add a bit of pizzazz to the dials with azurage chrono counters, though neither colour matches the day/date wheels to the dial. I’d usually complain about this, but I think this is the best solution for optimal readability.

It won’t surprise you that, on the movement side of things, there isn’t too big a difference between the two watches. Starting with the Miramar ceramic, the IWC 69380 is obscured from view with a solid, titanium caseback protected by a soft iron inner cage for improved magnetic resistance, which is likely what adds to the watch’s overall thickness.  The 69385 in the back of the steel variant is functionally identical, with a horizontal clutch, column wheel-operated chronograph and 46-hour power reserve topped up by the double-pawl winding system. From the information I could find, the 69385 is the variant IWC puts on display, and as a result dresses it up a touch, though I doubt these tiny differences would make or break your purchasing decision.

IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN Miramar pricing and availability

The IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 TOP GUN Miramar and its non-ceramic counterpart are both now available from IWC. The ceramic-cased Miramar is limited to 1,000 pieces. Price: A$12,200 (steel), A$20,800 (ceramic)