How Does IWC Continue To Make Relevant Pilot’s Watches?

Ahead of Watches & Wonders 2021, Watchonista had the opportunity to travel (virtually) to IWC’s new broadcast studio in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. And while we can’t reveal all of what we saw, one key takeaway was that the brand is as relevant as ever within the pilot's watch category. Due, in no small part, to the leadership of CEO Christoph Grainger-Herr and Christian Knoop, IWC’s Creative Director.

As Watchonista has previously discovered, these two men have a vision and strategy for the brand that positions IWC in the marketplace for not just the next 18 months but also true staying power, a rare thing in today's world of influencer and viral marketing.

Last week, I spoke to Christian Knoop to learn how the brand manages to stay so relevant in a world plagued with short attention spans.

Today, brand executives and CEOs have never been more visible. From Zoom sessions to Instagram Live, if you’re not in the moment talking to your collectors, press, and potential buyers, then you’re most likely on the sidelines.

For IWC, its community approach stands out because its youthful executive team has an open-door policy that extends not only to their employees but to the watch community at large. Every week, you can find the IWC team in their "What Makes Us Tick" Clubhouse room, as well as personal interactions across its individual social media channels.
 

It might sound a bit strange, but as a collector, I would feel more than confident voicing my opinion to IWC's executives without fear.

The IWC of 2021 not only has its finger on the pulse of the market but wants to know its collectors’ and fans’ opinions of its products – be they good, bad, or ugly. That is a rare quality for a watch brand.
 

During our interview, Knoop added, “Over recent years, we want to bring forward what we stand for in the watch industry. And that is this amazing engineering heritage and a very technical and very pure approach to aesthetics.

“We will leave everything aside that doesn't fit in that image and what also doesn't help us to have a clear identity in a luxury watch market that is too crowded. So, the only chance we have as a brand is to have a clear profile, to have a clear identity, to stand out, and to be recognizable.”

Continuing, Knoop added, “When you look at the landscape of watch manufactures, we are not the only one doing pilot's watches. Many other brands share an amazing history of pilot's watches as we do. But next to the fact that we were pioneers introducing this archetype to the luxury industry, we also have a collection like no one else.
 

“This is what our Pilot's Watch lends itself to because of its pure design and timeless aesthetics. And we are very much taking this into a very contemporary, very modern, creative, urban context. And we’ve adjusted our entire brand communication to that."
 

In talking with Knoop, if you were to point towards one specific catalyst for IWC’s resurgence in the world of pilot’s watches, it would have to be at Günter Blümlein, the man who oversaw IWC’s shift towards the luxury Pilot’s Watches in the 1990s.

Knoop added, “Blümlein was very visionary to introduce an aesthetic that came from the military in the context of luxury watches. Like the reference 3705, which played a role in that, also the Doppelchrono [ref. 3711] and the metal bracelet which also got introduced back then."
 

So, how does a brand continue to stay so relevant in a category in which it has been active almost since the start?

Knoop told Watchonista, “We have watches that range from the super-pure, technical, tactical aesthetics of a TOP GUN – super sharp and clean – to the more poetic like the "Antoine de Saint Exupéry." There is no other brand on the market that has such a collection of pilot's watches.
 

“And by strengthening the classics and by adding modern materials, new inventions, and even colored ceramics, we have a product that we believe speaks to modern customers.”