Every IWC x Mercedes-AMG Petronas watch until now has followed the same recipe: black dial, teal accents, trackside seriousness. The new Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, reference IW388121, throws that out for a deep, saturated purple.
The colour is a nod to Singapore - specifically the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, the country's national flower - which makes this the team edition for the Singapore Grand Prix, the sport's original night race. Petronas green stays on for the numerals, indices and the lume on the hands, which is a loud pairing and the whole point.
Case is 41mm in Grade 5 titanium at 14.5mm thick, water resistant to 100m, on a purple rubber strap that swaps tool-free via IWC's EasX-CHANGE system. The movement is the in-house calibre 69385, a column-wheel automatic chronograph with a 46-hour power reserve, stop-minutes at 12 in IWC's vertical subdial layout, and a combined day-date at 3. Geneva stripes and circular graining are visible through the sapphire caseback.
IWC lists it at US$9,200 on its own site, where it is already up as a novelty - this is the fourth team watch IWC has built as the team's Official Engineering Partner. The Singapore round runs in early October, so expect the wrist shots from George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to do the rest of the marketing.
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