Horological Meandering

IWC Vintage Collection Pilot’s Watch

Stowa Flieger Original Limited Edition

This is the special edition, limited to 80pcs, released in 2008. Highly limited number mated with the Stowa name makes this extremely difficult to find. They just hardly comes up for sale. I had been looking for few years to find this one. It festures a Unitas 6498 base movement, modified by Stowa to run centre second. Stowa also added their own polishing and the beautiful swan neck regulator. The case is individually numbered, which also feature the military engraving FL 23883 on the case’s side. It measures at just 41mm excluding crown, the smallest is this group. The dial is a faithful reproduction of the original B-uhr type A dial, sterile without any logo. The blue steel hands are nicely made and also true to the original. This watch comes with a spare solid case back with engraving micmiking the historical model too, but I prefer to see the movement ticking instead.

Pro:

- One of the original 5 B-uhr manufacturers

- Nicely finished movement with swan neck regulator

Con:

- I wish it is slightly bigger by about 2mm

Glashutte Original Senator Navigator

I don’t know when this model first came out (about 2008?), but it had a rather long production life, and was only discontinued recently. There are small difference on the GO model numbers along the years but I don’t know what’s been updated or changed. At least they all look identical to me. With case diameter of 43mm, they mostly come in solid case back, but there are examples with exhibition back too, like mine. It features the calibre 100 automatic movement. One very innovative feature is the second hand zero reset, which operated by pressing the button at 8 o’clock. Not true to the original but I really like thi

s function. It’s a joy to see the second hand fly back to 12 with a gentle push of the button. 

Pro:

- Best craftmanship and polishing in this group

- Flyback zero reset function

Con:

- Automatic movement

- I wish it has a sterile dial

 

Chronometerwerke Wempe Fligeruhr Limited Edition

Wempe was one of the 5 B-uhr manufacturers. Nowadays it’s no longer a manufacturer, but merely a watch retailer. This watch was made by Chronoswiss on behalf of Wempe. It also features a Unitas 6498 base movement, likes the Stowa. It was modified to have centre second hand and swan neck regulator too, again exactly likes the Stowa. But the movement have golden colour plating and diffenent details which makes it looks very different to the Stowa. This was a less well known and published model which I didn’t even know existed until a fellow member suggested it to me. Case diameter at 43mm, exactly identical to the GO, but with a very thin bezel design makes this looks quite a lot bigger than the GO. 

Pro:

- One of the original 5 B-uhr manufacturers

- Beautiful movement with swan neck regulator

Con:

Wempe and CW logos too profound, which make the dial a bit too cluster

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