IWC Gets Early On The Year Of The Goat Trend With A Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph

On the eighth of every month, the date window on this IWC shows the Chinese character for goat instead of an 8. Can you guess why that is? Yes, next year is the Year of the Goat in the Chinese lunar calendar. We've gotten used to many, many watch brands releasing Chinese New Year watches, and as we get closer to February, when the New Year happens, the more we will see. What I'm not sure of is whether we've ever seen an LE launch this early. To launch a watch in October marking something that happens in four months might be a bit too enthusiastic. Reagrdless, this is the new IWC Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 Year of the Goat.

The case is titanium, 41mm wide and 14.8mm thick. That thickness comes with the column-wheel automatic chronograph inside, so expect it to sit taller than a three-hand Pilot’s Watch. The bezel is black ceramic with a fixed tachymeter scale, here marked in gold. There’s convex sapphire crystal on top, a sapphire caseback, a screw-down crown and pump pushers, with 100 meters of water resistance.

The dial is done in gold for this limited edition with three recessed black subdials, each snailed and ringed. Hands and applied Arabic numerals are gold-toned and filled with Super-LumiNova. Gold stands for good fortune in Chinese tradition, which explains the choice. The day-date indicator sits at 3 o’clock with the goat character swap.

Inside is IWC calibre 69385, an automatic chronograph with a column wheel and bidirectional pawl winding, made by ValFleurier, Richemont’s movement maker. It runs at 4Hz (28,800 vph) with 46 hours of power reserve. The rotor is gold-plated and cut into the shape of three goats, a symbol of happiness in Chinese culture, visible through the caseback. The strap is black calfskin with a titanium pin buckle, and IWC’s EasX-CHANGE system lets you swap it without tools.

The IWC Pilot’s Watch Performance Chronograph 41 Year of the Goat (ref. IW388310) is limited to 500 examples and priced at €13,100 or CHF 10,400. See more on the IWC website.