Introducing: The IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff × Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team Watch
A couple of big questions are at the top of my mind ahead of the upcoming Formula 1 season. Will Max Verstappen once again become world champion? Can Lewis Hamilton fight for his eighth world title in a Ferrari? And also, will Mercedes-AMG Petronas be back on top after a few difficult years? One thing seems to be a done deal even before the first Grand Prix of the season. We know who will wear the watch with the longest name in the paddock. It’s the man who has a watch with his name on it. Yes, it’s the Austrian guy wearing the Swiss IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff × Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team watch.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team is gearing up for the season, which also means getting the right gear. No, not gearboxes but watches. IWC sponsors the team, and its members will be outfitted with new timepieces from Schaffhausen. The drivers will wear something a bit more special on the wrist than a mechanic, for instance, and the team principal will also sport a different watch than the people he manages. The question “What will Toto wear?” is easy to answer, yet it isn’t. The name of the watch he will wear this upcoming season is the IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff × Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team. That’s a mouthful and very hard to memorize. Maybe we should call it the “Big Shocking Toto.”
IWC Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff × Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, aka the “Big Shocking Toto”
I promise the next sentence will be the last containing the official and seemingly endless name of the watch IWC made for Toto Wolff. The Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff × Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team (ref. IW356201) is a limited edition of 100 pieces. Almost as shocking as the lengthy name is the presence of IWC’s patented SPRIN-g PROTECT shock absorber. IWC’s engineering division XPL developed this next-level shock-absorbing system, which debuted in the Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL (ref. IW357201) in 2021.
The system is based on a cantilever spring — here, in Petronas green — that cushions the movement inside the 44 × 12.6mm Ceratanium case. The spring’s special shape, manufactured from bulk metallic glass (BMG), helps to protect the movement. This system might be useful if you fly fighter jets or drive F1 cars. And if you’re on the pit wall celebrating a win with your arms in the air? Well, it can’t hurt… Better safe than sorry, right?
Dial and movement details
The grainy texture of the black dial is stamped into the brass base with a special tool. Also, the hands outfitted with Super-LumiNova around the edges have a new shape. They glide along the outer ring with the minute scale seemingly floating freely on lamellae attached around the dial. Underneath the asphalt-looking dial beats the in-house caliber 32101. This movement has a double-pawl automatic winding system and a power reserve of no fewer than 120 hours (five days). The plates, bridges, and oscillating mass of the movement are black, keeping them in line with the watch’s overall design. Finally, the movement is visible through a tinted sapphire window in case back, which features Toto’s signature.
The “Big Shocking Toto” costs €103,000 and comes on a Petronas-green rubber strap. You will also find an additional black rubber strap in the box. No matter what strap you put on the watch, it will not look all that great when matched with, for instance, a Ferrari F1 team shirt or a Max Verstappen cap, but you already figured that out.
