IWC

Last year two intrepid pilots teamed up with primary sponsor IWC Schaffhausen to make aviation history by completing the first-ever round-the-world flight in a Spitfire. Matt Jones and Steve Boultbee Brooks crossed over 20 countries and covered a mammoth 43,000 kilometres in the 76 year-old restored aircraft during their epic expedition.

Now, just six months after successfully finishing the “Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight”, one half of the daring duo - Jones - has become the latest member of the IWC family to take part in the brand’s online “TIME WELL SHARED” initiative. Aiming to raise spirits during the current global health crisis, the British pilot talks about his record-breaking flight around the world. Taking a look at the challenges the team faced along the way, he discusses the sense of isolation he felt at times in the cockpit and what the mission taught him about himself and the world around him.

Every TIME WELL SHARED video features a button where the audience can make voluntary donations to support Save the Children. Funds raised will be used to strengthen its programmes protecting children and families in countries that are hit by the COVID-19 crisis.

To commemorate the pilots’ historic 2019 feat, IWC have created The Big Pilot’s Watch Big Date Spitfire Edition “Mission Accomplished”. Limited to 500 pieces, the exceptional timepiece in the Spitfire design has a green dial, bronze case and a hand-wound, IWC-manufactured calibre, offering a power reserve of eight days. The watch is available here .

Matt Jones first took to the skies while in the RAF CCF section at Exeter School. After graduating from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with a Civil Engineering degree, Jones headed to London to work in an investment bank before eventually making plans for a career in aviation. Acquiring his first private and professional licences in the USA, he returned to the UK, where he joined business jet management company, Hamlin Jet, to run day-to-day operations. As well as being a display pilot and instructor, Jones is the co-founder and managing director of the Boultbee Flight Academy, which is the only accredited Spitfire training school in the world. Initially set up as a specialist training facility for pilots, it is also approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority to take non-pilots up for flight experiences. Alongside his work on the “Silver Spitfire - The Longest Flight” mission, Jones’s other achievements include working with the Royal Foundation to establish the “Spitfire Scholarship”, an initiative that works with injured ex-servicemen and teaches them to fly the Spitfire. He was also responsible for the concept and delivery of the Battle of Britain fly-past, a 75^th-anniversary tribute to “The Few”.