In “Mojave Desert”, “Lake Tahoe”, and “Woodland”, IWC’s creative specialists have drawn on a ground-breaking color engineering process to develop a range of entirely new ceramic colors. The colors are meticulously matched to all the other components in the watches. Perfecting the monochromatic designs took countless trials and iterations.

State-of-the-art finishes, color schemes and reduced contrasts: these are the design features that have garnered a loyal following for the TOP GUN line in IWC’s Pilot’s Watch collection since 2007. “The key to the TOP GUN watches’ striking design lies in the use of high-tech materials such as ceramics, titanium and Ceratanium®,” explains Christian Knoop, Chief Design Officer at IWC Schaffhausen. Sand-colored ceramic entered the collection in 2019 with the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert”. The “Lake Tahoe” edition in white ceramic and the “Woodland” in green ceramic are two additional new chronographs in color.


Colored ceramics go back a long way in IWC’s history. As early as the 1980s, white, green and even pink zirconium oxide featured in prototypes or small series of the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar. For Knoop, the fact that TOP GUN is now opening up to this material is a logical step: “Colored ceramics allow us to create unusual designs with a pared-down – almost “subdued” – look. Besides, along with performance and technology, color plays an important role in the TOP GUN universe.”

For example, colorful insignia have a long tradition, often being designed by the pilots themselves to underscore the unit’s history and solidarity. “As part of the IWC program, which gathers professional elite pilots, we’ve worked with various units to create special watches for them. Conversations with the pilots gave us in-depth insights into this world and the inspiration for our TOP GUN chronographs,” reminisces Knoop.

The sand-colored ceramic chosen for the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert”, for example, references the earthy tone of a uniform. But it also reflects the barren desert landscape of China Lake in the Mojave Desert. White uniforms and the winter landscape around freshwater Lake Tahoe inspired the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Lake Tahoe”. The eye-catching green of the TOP GUN pilots’ flight suits was the hallmark of the design of the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Woodland”.


Watch design is a complex and time-consuming process. From the first sketches to the finished product, developing a new timepiece takes around two to three years and involves several interdisciplinary teams. As well as the designers, they include specialists from factory development or case production, materials engineers, employees from the IWC test laboratory, industrialisation technicians, product managers, and representatives from Customer Service and Sourcing.

But developing the TOP GUN chronographs involved an additional, complex step: manufacturing colored ceramics. “It was an incredibly elaborate process. First, we had to create new ceramic colors and then carefully match them with all the other components in the watches. Color engineering with this level of consistency and attention to detail had never been seen at IWC before,” Knoop explains.


Manufacturing colored ceramics is a highly complex procedure and involves combining zirconium oxide with other metallic oxides. However, because the color changes during the firing process, it takes countless trials and a lot of experience to find the right mixture. In a first step, IWC took several reference colors from the Pantone® color system to narrow down the color search. “As we progressed, we continually compared the ceramic samples with the reference colors, getting closer and closer to the desired color one step at a time,” says Knoop. In the end, “IWC Mojave Desert”, “IWC Lake Tahoe”, and “IWC Woodland” became the new IWC standard. In future, they will be the in-house color reference.


But this was just the beginning. The dial and printing, the hands, the luminous material, the date disc, the rubber strap including the textile inlay and the stitching: everything had to be perfectly color-coordinated with the case. “It was enormously challenging to translate the newly developed colors to different materials, each with completely different properties and manufacturing processes,” explains Knoop.

In the finished watch, for example, the luminous material on the hands and dial must be the same color. However, the dial and hands call for different materials and manufacturing processes and have entirely different technical and geometric requirements. For instance, a background color can be used on the dial, which in turn affects the color of the luminous material. “Simply fine-tuning the luminous material was a lengthy process. Our in-house specialists and the suppliers maintained a constant dialogue as they gradually moved towards the optimal solution,” explains Knoop.


As is often the case with wristwatches, the size of the parts was an additional obstacle. With textiles or interiors, for example, high-precision color measuring devices – spectrophotometers – can be used to match several color tones precisely. The miniscule dimensions of watch hands make this an impossibility. The colors cannot be mixed automatically or applied by machine, which ultimately necessitates a lot of manual work.

Numerous detailed questions had to be clarified in the further course of the color engineering process. One example was color saturation. Numerals and markings are usually printed several times on top of each other on the dial. However, the color effect changes depending on how many layers are applied. It therefore takes a lot of experience and a practised eye to ensure that everything matches perfectly in the finished watch.

“With the TOP GUN chronographs, we have proved our innovative strength and explored new ground. We are adding an exciting new chapter to the tradition-rich history of our Pilot’s Watches and, at the same time, expanding our expertise as a ceramics expert. The new models pick up exciting stories from the universe of the U.S. Navy. They are fresh and surprising, and we hope they will inspire many watch lovers,” Knoop concludes.

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The big challenge was to translate the newly developed colors onto various materials, each with different properties and manufacturing processes.

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At a certain point, we no longer followed the color systems. “Mojave Desert”, “Lake Tahoe”, and “Woodland” became the new IWC standard and will mark the in-house color reference in the future.

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With the new TOP GUN chronographs, we are adding an exciting new chapter to the tradition-steeped history of IWC Pilot’s Watches while at the same time expanding our ceramics expertise.

Lighter and harder than steel, fully scratch-resistant and with a mirror-like surface that is pleasantly smooth to the touch: This unique combination of properties makes ceramic the perfect material for watch cases. IWC is a pioneer in the field and has continually expanded the range of ceramics used over the years. The colored ceramic used for the TOP GUN Pilot’s Watches is based on a combination of zirconium oxide and other metallic oxides.

Extremely durable, more lightweight than steel and with a hardness and scratch resistance that is only surpassed by diamonds: Thanks to these unique properties, ceramic is an excellent choice for the case of a mechanical watch. Of course, fragile porcelain isn’t used for this purpose but instead specially developed engineering ceramics. These inorganic, non-metallic materials are highly resistant to physical or chemical influences. Even temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius cannot harm them. Outside of watchmaking, the range of applications for technical ceramics includes capacitors and dental implants and even extends to components for aircraft turbines and high-performance engines.


IWC pioneered the use of ceramics for watch cases more than 30 years ago. In 1986, the Manufacture launched the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph (Ref. IW3755) in an innovative case made of black zirconium oxide ceramic. Later, brown silicon nitride ceramic for the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “The Last Flight3 (Ref. 3880, 2015) and black boron carbide ceramic for the Ingenieur Automatic Edition “AMG GT” (Ref. IW324602, 2015), the hardest type of ceramic, were also used. In recent years, this high-tech material has been incorporated into the Pilot’s Watches range, mainly for TOP GUN models. These performance-oriented timepieces are engineered for daily use in the tight confines of a jet cockpit and during long deployments on aircraft carriers. High resistance to scratches and corrosion are essential requirements, making ceramic a perfect material choice.

Technical ceramics are characterised by the purity of their raw materials and their highly complex manufacturing processes. The raw materials are polycrystalline powders – mostly minerals such as silicates, aluminium oxide or silicon carbide. They are mixed with several additives into a homogeneous mass, shaped and then treated in a furnace process at high temperatures. During this process, known as sintering, the auxiliary materials are volatilised, leaving behind extremely stable ceramic bodies consisting of countless microscopic grains.


The production of ceramic cases for mechanical watches is a true feat of engineering. One challenge lies in the fact that ceramic shrinks by about a third during the sintering process. To ensure that the movement later fits precisely into the case, this shrinkage must be factored in as early as the design phase. Unlike metals, whose properties are clearly defined and finalised before machining, ceramics are influenced by the individual stages within the manufacturing process. As a result, different sintering methods, together with the chosen grain size and sintering temperature, can lead to end products with significantly different properties from the same basic materials.


IWC has also experimented with different ceramic colors right from the start. As early as the 1980s, the company produced small series or prototypes in white, blue, green and even pink ceramic. The production of colored ceramic cases is a particularly demanding exercise. The sand-colored case of the Big Pilot’s Watch TOP GUN Edition “Mojave Desert”, the white case of the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Lake Tahoe” and the dark green case of the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph TOP GUN Edition “Woodland” are each the result of unique formulas and sophisticated manufacturing processes.

One of many challenges is creating the final color shade, which is determined in close cooperation with engineers during countless tests to find optimal pigment mixtures for the color batches. An additional challenge comes from the fact that the final color must be precisely matched with other watch components, such as the dial or the bracelet.

To give the ceramic its color, zirconium oxide is combined with other metallic oxides. The raw materials and mixing ratio are different for each color shade. In addition, the manufacturing process and its specific conditions have to be adapted to the colored ceramic and its components – for example, the temperature and duration of the sintering process. Colored ceramics also place significantly higher demands on the purity of the raw materials. Whether sand-colored, white or dark green: Every colored ceramic case from Schaffhausen incorporates expert knowledge acquired over decades and the most refined engineering skills.