At the 2024 GPHG awards ceremony (unofficially known as the “Oscars” of the watch world), an unexpected moment occurred: the Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon Silver won the prize for Best Calendar and Astronomical Watch.
This was a surprise since it competed against some of the most impressive perpetual calendars in watchmaking history that same year. Observers exchanged puzzled looks, and - to paraphrase a famous quote from another show - everyone was happy for Laurent Ferrier, but IWC had one of the best perpetual calendars of all time. By the end of the evening, the room sighed with relief and erupted into applause when the hosts announced the top prize “Aiguille d’Or” - the Grand Prix - in favor of the IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar. What initially seemed like an insult turned into well-deserved recognition.
The History and Innovations of IWC Perpetual Calendars
While calendar creation has always been part of IWC's DNA, the 2024 novelties - the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet - continue this story. Two years ago, the Eternal Calendar model amazed fans with its “400-year mechanism,” which completes one revolution every four centuries, allowing it to skip the complex leap year 2100, a stumbling block for all modern perpetual calendars (QP). This was impressive, but the current models address a much more practical and relevant issue for collectors.
Usually, if you accidentally advance the date of a perpetual calendar too far, correcting the mistake is inconvenient. And that's the best-case scenario. In the worst case, the watch requires a month-long repair at an official service center abroad. How does the new caliber 82665 from IWC solve this issue? Simply: it allows the date to be set forward and backward using the crown. Yes, it took a long time to solve this problem. But if you open a perpetual calendar (though you shouldn’t), you’ll understand why such a seemingly simple function remained complex until 2026.
Technical Features of the Mechanism and Functionality
Despite the ProSet models looking stunning, their main feature is the functionality described above. A simple pull of the crown and its rotation activate the complex mechanism inside the caliber with a 60-hour power reserve. This intricate complex of geometric elements interacts to “inform” the calendar. Thanks to different levels on the program wheel, the watch “knows” not only that a month is shorter than 31 days but by how much exactly. This can be compared to a music box that “knows” which melody to play thanks to pins of different lengths.
In caliber 82665, this means that if today is February 28 and you turn the crown forward, the surface of the program wheel “informs” the day, date, and month indicators to move to March 1. The beauty of ProSet is that when you turn the crown backward, the watch “understands” to return to February 28. In other perpetual calendars, the logic is one-way: if today is Tuesday and you accidentally move the date too far, and the watch shows Wednesday, the only way out is to exhale, pull out the crown, and wait for the next day to correct the error. Theoretically, after leaving the IWC manufacture in Schaffhausen, the ProSet can be adjusted only with the crown until 2100 - the year which, despite the usual four-year cycle, is not a leap year.
Simplified Design and Compactness of the Model
The solution for bidirectional date adjustment allowed for the removal of the usual correction buttons, which complicate both the mechanism and the watch case. Besides this, the new caliber 82665 is thinner than the previous IWC perpetual calendar - caliber 52616, which explains the comparatively small thickness of the ProSet models - only 14 mm.
Design and Case Materials
Visually, the watches look very recognizable. IWC possesses one of the strongest design languages in the industry, so the ProSet retains the brand's signature style: sans-serif fonts, high contrast, and symmetrical layouts.
The dials feature a sunburst effect in green or blue with minute and hour markers familiar to fans of the Big Pilot’s Watch collection. The markers are applied, except for the white ceramic version, where the numbers are printed.
All models have a significant amount of Super-LumiNova luminescent coating on the numbers and hands. Fortunately, only small parts of the numbers are overlapped by sub-dials, which is rare in IWC watches with busier dials. The placement of four sub-dials, a four-digit year window, and a hemisphere indicator on the dial - all under a convex sapphire crystal with IWC’s signature anti-reflective coating - looks great in person but makes the watch challenging to photograph.
Case Dimensions and Variants
In addition to the two-tone dial options, the ProSet features a reduced case size - 42 mm in diameter compared to the previous generation's 46 mm. In recent years, IWC has stood out for its experiments with case materials: aluminum-bronze alloys, colored ceramics, and glow-in-the-dark Ceralume. For the ProSet models with 10 bar water resistance, IWC offers relatively simple solutions: a blue Le Petit Prince dial in a stainless steel case on a flexible 5-link bracelet or in white ceramic with a pilot-style rubber strap, both with the EasX-CHANGE® quick-release strap system without tools.
Crown and Control Features
Like other IWC ceramic models, the ProSet crown stands out - both visually and in size. As these are complex pilot's watches, operated exclusively by the crown, it is bulb-shaped and significantly enlarged. On the steel version, this is less noticeable, but on the white ceramic, it draws attention. Interestingly, IWC has yet to achieve a full match of color and texture for crowns with cases and bracelets, even for the brand’s most advanced models.
Special Gold and Green Dial Version
The most striking version of the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet is the green with a gold case (ref. IW329602). The case is made of 18-karat 5N gold (including the crown), making the watch either a bright accent or an example of restrained luxury depending on the lighting. An olive-green buffalo leather strap with stitching adds to its allure. The gold and green dial complement each other like peas in a pod.
Le Petit Prince Anniversary and Connection to ProSet Model
The introduction of ProSet coincided with the twentieth anniversary of the first Le Petit Prince model from IWC. Thanks to a long-term collaboration with the legacy of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the ProSet was destined to receive the signature blue Le Petit Prince dial. It looks especially striking in white ceramic. However, despite its charm, the Le Petit Prince line remains a somewhat peculiar collaboration: over two decades, IWC has released many watches with blue dials, but few distinguishing details. Of course, the models have a rotor with an image of the Little Prince, visible through the sapphire case back, but the specialization ends there. Occasionally, models appeared with more expressive elements, such as a cartoon star on the dial, but for a literary classic with rich iconography, IWC left too much room for imagination.
Prospects and Significance of ProSet Innovations
The new ProSet perpetual calendars are likely to coexist with the current IWC QP models. However, just as the introduction of a quick date setting function changed older mechanisms, the ProSet may herald the beginning of a new era for perpetual calendars - less capricious and more practical. Besides utility, the most important thing ProSet proves is that innovations in watchmaking for major brands remain alive and evolving. Have perpetual calendars become practical? No. But with the introduction of convenient date setting, horological art has taken a step forward. After all, less than 75 years remain until 2100. Perhaps the promise of a perpetual calendar is not as far away as it seems.
Prices and Availability of Models
The new Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet models start at $38,000 for the all-steel Le Petit Prince version (ref. IW329601). The white ceramic version (ref. IW339601) is priced at $41,600, and the 5N gold variant (ref. IW329602) is valued at $54,700.
