After supplying Pilot's Watch SFTI models for Top Gun: Maverick (2022), IWC Schaffhausen takes its Aquatimer to the fantasy underwater world in the recently-released Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom based on the DC Comics character.
IWC Experimental outfitted Black Manta and Dr Stephen Shin with customised prototype Aquatimers.
David Kane aka Black Manta (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) struts a new streamlined diving suit as well as an Aquatimer, designed to match the black costume and glowing red eyes on the character's oversized silvery helmet.
IWC Experimental engineering division also outfitted Dr Stephen Shin, portrayed by Randall Park, with a luminous blue version.
Film director James Wan selected the Aquatimer as prop watches for these two villains in the Aquaman sequel.
Besides using the red eyes to fire powerful optic blasts, Black Manta wields a new weapon, the mythic Black Trident, which unleashes an ancient and malevolent force.
It makes him an even more formidable adversary, who seeks revenge on Aquaman for the death of his father Jesse Kane.
The partnership with Warner Bros Picture's Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom extends to the limited-edition Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month inspired by the prototypes in the movie.
By coincidence, writer Bob Haney and artist Nick Cardy created the mysterious Black Manta in 1967 -- the birthyear of the Aquatimer.
The 50th anniversary of the diver's watch in 2017 was marked by the Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month -- IWC's first watch in a Ceratanium case.
The new model is also housed in a Ceratanium case. The diameter of 49mm makes it one of the largest watches ever produced by the Swiss company, which dates back to 1868.
American watchmaker and engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones founded the International Watch Co. in Schaffhausen, northeastern Switzerland.
The Boston native combined American production technologies with Swiss craftsmanship for industrialised and centralised production at his hydropower plant driven by the Rhine.
Today, IWC takes pride in its engineering approach as well as cutting-edge technology and processes.
The IWC Experimental department drives innovations in areas like advanced materials that meet the functional and aesthetic demands of a watch.
The Aquatimer's case, caseback ring, crown and pushers are in Ceratanium, which is as light and tough as titanium but at the same time similarly hard and scratch-resistant as ceramic.
The limited-edition diver's watch with blue Super-LumiNova.
Case components are machined from bars, finished by hand, and fired at extremely high temperatures in a kiln. During this thermal treatment, the surface obtains properties similar to ceramic and also its characteristic colour.
Forged to IWC's specifications, the patented titanium alloy is used to produce watch components in jet-black without any form of coating.
Since 1967, IWC has over 50 years of experience in developing professional diver's watch.
As for the new Aquatimer, the dive time is set by an innovative system, which combines an easy-to-use external bezel with enhanced legibility of an inner bezel.
The rotating bezel system helps divers keep track of their oxygen levels and ensures that they do not return to the surface too quickly.
In addition, its SafeDive system prevents unintentional changes in the dive time as the outer bezel can only be moved counterclockwise.
Like the prop watches in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom, the new model comes in red and blue versions, each limited to 25 pieces.
The inner rotating bezel, hands and other elements on the black dial are treated with red or blue Super-LumiNova.
The dial accommodates the digital displays of the perpetual calendar. At 9 and 3 o'clock, date and month are shown with the help of rotating discs in a digital format, making it particularly easy and intuitive to read.
IWC-manufactured calibre 89802.
The perpetual calendar is mechanically programmed to automatically recognise the different lengths of the months and the leap years. As a result, the combination 29/02 will appear only once every four years.
At 6 o'clock the leap year is indicated within the subdial for the small hacking seconds while the stopped hour and minute counters of the chronograph are shown in the totaliser at 12 o'clock.
The IWC-manufactured 89802 calibre drives the calendar complication via a single nightly switching. An ingenious energy management system allows simultaneous operation of all five calendar discs, smoothly transitioning from Dec 31 to Jan 1.
The perpetual calendar is seamlessly integrated with the chronograph function into the calibre, engineered with a double pawl winding system to build up a power reserve of 68 hours.
The sapphire glass caseback reveals the automatic movement and its rotor, which has been blackened in an elaborate nickel-plating process.
The bold design of the Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month is completed with a black rubber strap.
