The Watch: IWC's entry-level pilot's watch, in the Antoine de Saint Exupéry edition. The Mark series traces back to the Mark XI from 1948: British RAF-issued, anti-magnetic, built for navigation. The modern Mark XVIII keeps that DNA: 40mm steel case, simple dial, anti-magnetic soft iron inner cage.
This is the Saint Exupéry variant with the tobacco brown dial, named for the author/aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, writer of The Little Prince. Saint-Exupéry flew as a commercial airline pilot and eventually in the French Air Force in the 1930's. He left in exile to the US when Paris fell to Germany in 1940, wrote his two best known works, and returned to combat by joining the Free French Air Force in 1943. On July 31, 1944, during a reconnaissance mission over Corsica, Saint-Exupéry's plane, disappeared, presumably crashed. This is the P-38 Lightning depicted on the watch caseback.
Date at 3 o'clock, applied indices, luminous hands. Powered by IWC caliber 35111 automatic (based on Sellita SW300-1) with 42-hour power reserve. Brown leather strap.
