IWC Schaffhausen Unveils Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive Watch for Space Use at Watches and Wonders

# IWC Schaffhausen Unveils Space-Qualified Watch IWC Schaffhausen unveiled the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive watch at Watches and Wonders in Geneva on Tuesday. The watch is the company’s first specifically designed and engineered for timekeeping in space. It received spaceflight qualification from Vast for use on Haven-1.

Vast is based in California. Haven-1 is planned to launch next year as the world’s first commercial space station. Haven-1 will cater for missions by government astronauts, private astronauts, and businesses for microgravity research and manufacturing.

Astronauts on a space station orbiting Earth experience a sunrise and sunset roughly every 90 minutes. Haven-1 will include circadian lighting to help ground the crew’s sense of time, with the timekeeping piece as another tool for understanding the 24-hour cycle in an environment without natural day and night, Hillary Coe stated.

Design Features for Space Environment The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive does not have a crown at the three o’clock position.

It has a rotating bezel to control functions including additional winding of the automatic movement, setting the mission’s reference time, moving the hour hand for a second time zone, and setting the date. The watch has a switch on the side of the case at the nine o’clock position to change between functions.

The watch has a minimalist design without a crown to prevent catching on elements in the space station or pressurized suit, Christian Knoop stated.

The rotating bezel system on the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive can be operated with gloves, Knoop stated. The watch is made from white zirconium oxide ceramic and Ceratanium. Ceratanium is a dark-finish material developed by IWC Schaffhausen that combines the lightness of titanium and the hardness of ceramic.

The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive has a white fluorinated rubber strap. Space temperatures fluctuate between roughly –150 degrees Celsius/-238 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade and more than 100 degrees Celsius/212 degrees Fahrenheit in direct sunlight.

Testing and Qualification Process The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive underwent testing at Vast’s headquarters in Long Beach, California.

Testing included exposure to forces of up to 10g. The 10g forces in testing exceeded the vibrations typically experienced by astronauts during rocket launch. Testing of the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive assessed resistance to changes in pressure and compatibility of materials with the Haven-1 environment.

Many watches previously selected or qualified for space were designed for use on Earth, Knoop stated. IWC Schaffhausen learned from experiences with Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn that its watch movements and cases could withstand space conditions but wanted to improve ergonomics and interaction, Knoop stated. The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive is priced at CHF 24,000 ($28,200).

This year marks the 90th anniversary of IWC’s first watch tailored to the demands of aviation.

IWC Schaffhausen’s Prior Space Involvement IWC Schaffhausen became the official timekeeper of Vast in 2025.

IWC Schaffhausen provided modified Pilot’s Watch Chronograph pieces to the crews of SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission in 2021. Inspiration4 was the first all-civilian private mission to orbit Earth. IWC Schaffhausen provided modified Pilot’s Watch Chronograph pieces to the crews of the Polaris Dawn commercial spaceflight in 2024.

Historical Context of Space Watches The Omega Speedmaster Professional was qualified by NASA in 1965 for manned space missions and extravehicular activity.

Buzz Aldrin wore the Omega Speedmaster Professional on the lunar surface in 1969, making it the first watch worn on the moon. Astronauts on NASA’s Artemis II mission wore Omega’s Speedmaster X-33 earlier this month. Artemis II traveled further from Earth than any humans previously.

809) for $156,250 in 2019. 809) had alterations for spaceflight requested by Scott Carpenter for his Mercury-Atlas 7 mission in 1962. The $156,250 Breitling Navitimer Cosmonaute belonged to John Glenn.

The $156,250 sale is the second-highest auction result for a Breitling watch, Paul Boutros stated. Prada collaborated with Axiom Space on NASA spacesuits for the Artemis III lunar mission due to launch next year. Virgin Galactic opened sales last month for a limited number of $750,000 spaceflights.