IWC Schaffhausen has introduced the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, its first watch designed specifically for human spaceflight. Developed in partnership with Vast, the company building the world’s first commercial space station, the timepiece features innovative controls for use during spacewalks. The watch, reference IW328601, retails for €28,900.
IWC partnered with Vast to create the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, addressing technical challenges for astronauts. Chris Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen, stated that engineers started from a blank sheet to define a tool watch’s functionality, ease of operation, time display, and materials for space use. The 44.3mm case uses lightweight ceramic, with bezel and caseback in Ceratanium, a material combining titanium’s strength and ceramic’s scratch resistance. It measures 16.7mm thick and is water resistant to 10 bar. A white integrated FKM rubber strap completes the design, and the caseback bears an engraving of a space vehicle symbolizing exploration. The watch employs a patent-pending rotating bezel system, dubbed “vertical drive,” that transmits movements to the winding stem via a clutch, allowing adjustments without a crown—ideal for gloved hands in space suits. A rocker switch on the case’s left side switches between functions like time zones or winding. Manual winding occurs by turning the bezel counterclockwise, supplemented by an automatic rotor that functions in zero gravity due to inertia. The matte black dial prioritizes essentials and minimizes reflections, with central hour and minute hands for mission reference time, plus a dedicated 24-hour hand on the outer scale tracking UTC amid rapid orbits. Hour and minute hands glow green with Super-LumiNova, the 24-hour hand blue, and the second hand points to a blue inner scale evoking Earth’s oceans. Powered by the new in-house caliber 32722, it offers a 120-hour power reserve, integrated GMT, date display, 21 jewels, and 28,800 vibrations per hour. Andrew J. Feustel, veteran NASA astronaut and Vast’s Human Spaceflight Advisor, modeled the watch.