The IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 team features the first purple dial in the aviator collection, inspired by the national orchid of Singapore.
IWC Schaffhausen has been the Official Engineering Partner of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team since 2013, and since 2022 it has also made the team's official watches, worn by mechanics and engineers at the track and by staff at the Brackley headquarters in England. IWC unveiled the fourth of those watches on August 27, six weeks before the race it is dedicated to: the Singapore Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend, October 9 to 11, on the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Singapore hosted the first night race in Formula 1 history in 2008, and Mercedes arrives as the winner of last year's edition, with George Russell at the wheel. The new Pilot's Watch Chronograph 41 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team, reference IW388121, returns to the 41mm titanium chronograph that opened the series at the 2022 Miami Grand Prix. The other two team watches were a chronograph with a Ceratanium case and a black ceramic bezel, presented in Las Vegas in 2023, and a three-hand Mark XX in 2025.
Technical Specs
| Reference | IW388121; fourth official watch of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team |
| Case | Grade 5 titanium with brushed finish; 41mm diameter, 14.5mm high; screw-down crown |
| Crystal and back | Domed sapphire with anti-reflective coating on both sides, secured against drops in air pressure; see-through sapphire caseback |
| Water resistance | 10 bar (100 m) |
| Dial | Purple, with numerals and indices in PETRONAS green; black hands with green luminous material |
| Caliber | IWC in-house calibre 69385, automatic column-wheel chronograph; 28,800vph (4Hz), 33 jewels, 46 hours of power reserve |
| Functions | Hours and minutes; hacking small seconds; chronograph with hour and minute counters and central seconds; day and date at 3 o'clock |
| Strap | 20mm purple rubber with EasX-CHANGE quick-change system and titanium buckle |
| Price | USD 9,200 before tax; MXN 183,000 in Mexico; EUR 9,600 in Spain, tax included |
| Availability | Regular collection, not limited in number; sold at IWC boutiques, authorised retailers and the brand's online stores |
The purple of an orchid
According to IWC, this is the first purple dial in its Pilot's Watches collection. The shade is inspired by Vanda Miss Joaquim, a hybrid orchid that Agnes Joaquim, a horticulturist of Armenian descent, bred in Singapore by crossing two species, and which was first described in 1893. Singapore chose it as its national flower in 1981, partly for its resilience and because it blooms all year round. Against the purple background, which has a sunray finish, the numerals and indices are in the corporate green of PETRONAS, the Malaysian oil company that sponsors the team, and the black hands carry luminous material in the same green. The rubber strap, also purple, can be swapped without tools using the EasX-CHANGE system, which releases it at the press of a button.
The case is Grade 5 titanium, an alloy of titanium with aluminium and vanadium. IWC points out that titanium weighs roughly half as much as steel and does not corrode, and that Formula 1 uses it for connecting rods, valves and the Halo, the arch that protects the driver's head. The case has a brushed finish and measures 41mm across and 14.5mm high. That height comes from the calibre: an automatic chronograph needs room for the chronograph mechanism and the winding rotor, and the domed sapphire crystal adds to it. As befits a pilot's watch, the crystal is secured so that it stays in place if air pressure drops suddenly, as happens when a cabin depressurises. Water resistance of 10 bar, equivalent to 100 metres, and a screw-down crown make the watch suitable for swimming.
The calibre 69385
The 69385 is an in-house automatic chronograph calibre that IWC has used in its 41mm pilot's chronographs since it introduced that size in April 2021. The chronograph is controlled by a column wheel, the part that coordinates start, stop and reset, and which usually gives the pushers a smoother action than a cam system. Automatic winding relies on a pawl system that uses the rotor's motion in both directions. The balance beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4Hz) and the power reserve is 46 hours, so a watch set down on Friday night stops on Sunday afternoon.
The chronograph counters are stacked vertically, with the minutes at 12, a layout that IWC says has distinguished its pilot's chronographs for more than four decades. The day-date display is at 3. The sapphire caseback shows the movement, decorated with Côtes de Genève and perlage.
Price and where to buy
IWC's US site lists it at USD 9,200 before tax. In Mexico it costs MXN 183,000 in the brand's online store, where it appears under its Spanish name, Reloj de Aviador Cronógrafo 41 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. IWC also has four boutiques in the country, two in Mexico City, one in Monterrey and one in Guadalajara, plus authorised retailers in other cities. In Spain the price is EUR 9,600 including tax, and the brand has a boutique in Madrid and retailers in several cities. IWC's store locator also lists authorised retailers in Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires, and a duty-free shop at Bogotá airport; price and availability in each country can be checked with them. The watch is part of IWC's regular collection, with no limit on the number of pieces.
The team's fourth watch
The IW388121 stands out for its dial: purple had not appeared on an IWC pilot's watch before, and the brand took it from Singapore's national orchid to dedicate the watch to that country's Grand Prix. The rest carries over from the team's first chronograph, with the Grade 5 titanium case, the in-house column-wheel calibre visible through the caseback, 100 metres of water resistance and the quick-change strap.
Among collectors, IWC is valued for its pilot's watches, which it has made since 1936. The Mark 11, developed in 1948 at the request of Britain's Royal Air Force, has been a collector's piece and an auction regular for decades, and it already had the crystal secured against pressure changes that this chronograph retains. The partnership with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS ties IWC to one of Formula 1's most successful teams: it spans the eight consecutive constructors' titles the team won between 2014 and 2021, the longest run in the championship's history. The IW388121 sold in boutiques is the same watch the team's mechanics and engineers wear at the track and, with no limit on the number of pieces, it will remain available after the race on Sunday, October 11.
