I'm absolutely sold on the latest IWC Pilot’s Watch Top Gun colour

I’ve always loved watches with blue dials and bezels, so when IWC dropped its latest Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Top Gun in a new colour called Miramer, I knew I’d need a closer look.

Limited to 1,000 examples, the new colour is a light shade of blue developed by IWC in collaboration with Pantone. It features on the dial, the rubber strap and the ceramic, 41.9 mm case. To my eyes, at least, it’s a lovely light shade of blue that is absolutely perfect for the summer. It also lends some visual lightness to what is otherwise a fairly chunky timepiece.

IWC explains how the colour – a shade of blue called Miramar – is named after the US Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in San Diego. Fittingly for the watch, this was the home of the Navy’s Top Gun programme, before it was relocated to Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada. Doubling-down on the fighter jet theme, a similar shade of blue is featured on t-shirts worn by Top Gun instructors.

The watch is powered by IWC’s own 69380 calibre automatic mechanical movement, with 33 jewels and 46 hours of power reserve. The dial features a chronograph function with hours, minutes and seconds, controlled by a pair of push buttons on the case side. There’s also a date and day window at the six o’clock position and a small hacking seconds sub-dial, all protected by a convex sapphire crystal with antireflective coating on both sides. Water resistance is 100 metres.

Naturally, the stainless steel case back features a Top Gun logo, and each watch’s unique number in the 1,000-unit production run. Introducing a new colour to an existing watch isn’t as simple as it sounds. This is primarily because watches use many different materials, and making them all the same colour – then ensuring they’ll stay the same colour – can be complicated.

IWC explains some of this process for its latest piece: “Zirconium oxide is mixed with different metallic oxides in a precisely defined ratio. As the color changes during the sintering process, numerous trials are needed to achieve exactly the desired result. One specific challenge was transferring the new ceramic color to other components of the watch, such as the dial and the rubber strap. Each part is made of materials with unique properties and requires specific manufacturing processes.”

Available to buy now, the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Top Gun Miramar is priced at £11,100, giving it a £1,000 premium over the non-limited Mojave Desert variant.