IWC

IWC’s Big Pilot is landing in New York City. Starting next week at the Vessel at Hudson Yards, the brand will put on the final showing of its Big Pilot exhibition, which has been touring the U.S. since it debuted in Los Angeles on September 23. New York will mark the eighth leg of the tour, following cities like Palo Alto, Newport Beach, Scottsdale, Miami, Charleston and, this week, Houston. The interactive spectacle, housed in converted shipping containers, invites the public to discover the watchmaker’s history and get up-close with the newest additions to its Big Pilot collection—a pillar line that focuses on the Swiss company’s aviation roots.

For those of you with your head in the clouds, the watches are known for their oversized conical crowns—a feature that was useful to pilots who needed to easily adjust the time while wearing bulky flight gloves—and dials styled in the vein of cockpit instruments for increased legibility. They are a nod to the timepieces IWC originally created as functional military timekeepers some 80 years ago.

IWC’s Newly Redesigned Big Pilot 43 Courtesy of IWC

Visitors will be able to get their hands on the new 2021 lineup, including the newly redesigned IWC Big Pilot 43, and have the opportunity to engage with the company’s in-house experts. Beaming in from afar via hologram technology, CEO Christopher Grainger-Herr and brand ambassador and Formula One champion, Lewis Hamilton, will welcome guests via life-sized projections. Other partners of the brand will be present via the same medium on the “Creators Wall” to share stories of how the Big Pilot has been a part of their own journey.

The show, which will be in Houston from November 4 to 7, will be on view in New York City from November 11 to 14 at 20 Hudson Yards. To attend, guests must register on IWC.com before take off.