Big Pilot 43 Top Gun

In Context

At 43.8 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 14.4 mm it is a tall case, and it will catch on a cuff. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 100 m is genuine swimming resistance — more than the shape of this watch suggests it would need.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 60 hours of reserve is enough to set it down on Friday evening and find it still running on Monday. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

IW3298-01 is one of 2 executions of the IW3298 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a black matte dial and a titanium, ceramic case. Introduced in 2022.

Introduced in 2021 for the Big Pilot's Watch 43, this is the 82000-family Pellaton automatic. The pawls and automatic wheel that carry the load in Pellaton winding are made of zirconium-oxide ceramic rather than steel, which removes wear at the points the system is known to suffer it and cuts the lubrication needed there. Functions stop at hours, minutes and hacking central seconds.

9 other watches in the library run the IWC 82100.

IWC

Big Pilot 43 Stainless Steel / Green

IW3293-06 · 43 mm

IWC

Big Pilot 43 Spitfire Bronze

IW3297-02 · 43 mm

B

IWC

Big Pilot 43 Top Gun Woodland

IW3298-02 · 43.8 mm

IWC

Big Pilot 43 Stainless Steel / Blue

IW3293-03 · 43 mm