The IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar

"The best things in life are the things that "cannot" be acquired." I'm sure many of us will not agree to this statement, but I dare say it does hold some truth, especially for our material pursue at the very least. Grass is always greener the other side, say what you have to say that it's just an illusion, we just want to get to the other side!

By (my) definition, a grail watch is a watch that a watch nerd (like myself) would get if he/she has 'enough' money to spare. It does not have to be the most expensive or the most exclusive piece, just 'THE' watch to get if money is no issue. I wrote my previous post as a celebration to getting my grail watch. Fortunately and unfortunately, I do not believe in dreaming of something that is "impossible" to get, as I do want to get myself over to the greener pasture! But why the IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar? It is an association to human (aviation and mechanical) evolution, a piece of watch making history in these evolution, and a personal childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot. All these delivered with practical complications within an (stretched) arm's reach...

Kurt Klaus, who invented IWC's perpetual calendar in 1985 using only pencil and paper, created a 'storm' in the mechanical watch industry at the peak of the quartz crisis. It was, and still is, a very rare mechanical perpetual calendar that shows 'day/date/month/year/ decade/century and moonphase of the northern and southern hemisphere' with an accuracy of 1 day deviation in 577 years to come.

IWC Caliber 51614, of Ref: 5026

62 jewels 3 Hz movement

Schematic of 51614's Perpetual Calendar
and Hemisphere Moon-phase Module

Not only did his invention triumphed over ALL other perpetual calendar from brands like Patek Phillipe and the likes, which does not display the 4-digit year, his was the only one that allows adjustment by the user via the crown in complete synchrony. While others require users to 'poke' several recessed buttons at the side of the watch case if adjustments are needed because the calendar is not current due to a stopped movement. Kurt Klaus designed a system that operates like any other watch with date display; ALL calendar displays on his perpetual calendar are programmed for 100 years, and can be adjusted via the crown. Not only does this boast usability, it eliminates the risk of scratching the watch case during adjustments, and also made higher water resistance rating possible.

All these were achieved with just 90 additional components on top of the base movement! Whereas is it not unusual to add 200 more parts for others to do less. This probably explains why IWC's perpetual calendar is among the least expensive because of serial production capability, but it is definitely not the least revered. At one point, IWC was producing more perpetual calendar than the rest of the industry combined! Google perpetual calendar, it will start and end with Patek Phillipe (some may urgue Breguet), but not without Kurt Klaus' legendary invention mentioned within, always.

Kurt Klaus presenting his Perpetual Calendar mechanism
in an IWC's 'Guide to Haute Horlogerie' series video

Many called Kurt Klaus 'Einstein' at IWC's Schaffhausen factory, yet he regards Albert Pellaton as his master teacher. Perhaps IWC's greatest technical director, Pellaton taught Klaus that innovation is inherent in IWC's tradition, but the respect for classical principles should not be forgotten. Klaus did exactly that in every of his endeavor at IWC.

Klaus had a (strong) influence in the design of IWC's contemporary movement, Caliber 5000. A 7-days self winding movement with Beryllium balance wheel and Breguet overcoil spring, built upon the renown winding mechanism invented by Albert Pellaton.

Video showing how the Pellaton winding mechanism works

The super-efficient Pellaton winding mechanism ensures that the ultra-long barrel spring is wound to 8.5 days of reserve even with a sedate lifestyle. 1.5 of the 8.5 days will never be used, as the torque will be too low to keep accurate time. Kurt Klaus invented a mechanism to stop the balance wheel at exactly 168 hours of operation, so as to guarantee operating accuracy. The 1.5 days in reserve when the watch is stopped also mean that a twitch on the winding crown will move the watch again! Users do not need to "crank" the crown to wind it sufficiently to wear. The Pellaton winding system will keep the watch wound as soon as it is put on the wrist.

As the oscillating weight is decoupled from the drive train completely, connected only via a heart-shaped cam and 2 jeweled followers, it is extremely shock resistant as well.

The Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar has Kurt Klaus and Albert Pellaton's finest inventions housed within a watch case inspired by the B-Uhr that IWC (the only Switzerland based company) supplied to Luftwaffe during WWII.

Original IWC B-Uhr watch
supplied to German Luftwaffe in WWII

At 55mm in diameter, the original B-Uhr was designed to fit over leather flight suites of pilots back then. Its anti-magnetic case construction shield itself from negative influence of magnetic fields in the cockpit. The center hacking hands and a huge 'union' crown enable easy synchronization over thick gloves. More details of this timeless design can be found in an article written by James Dowling here.

All these explain why it is my grail watch, and I'm fortunate to finally found and own 1, but one that is unadulterated (in my opinion) by marketing moves and connections with Top Gun, Miramar, Le Petite Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery, etc. Just pure watch making mastery and history, just purely IWC.

IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar Ref: 5026-20
Limited Edition 'One out of 70'

My 'grail' watch!

So much of me talking about Audemars Piguet and Hublot of late; though the Royal Oak Offshore and Big Bang Unico with their respective in-house chronograph movements are indeed enticing, for family and friends who really knows me knows that my 'grail' watch is actually the IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar.

Being a gear head and a watch enthusiast, I am forever intrigued by the three 'grand' complications in mechanical watch making; the tourbillon, the minute repeater and the perpetual calendar. Not only does the BPPC displays the complex gregorian calendar in full glory and synchrony, which itself is extremely rare in the horology world, it is the only one that comes as self winding with 7-days of power reserve. It is a mechanical tour de force, packed with inventions by legendary technologist, Albert Pellaton (for it's highly efficient winding system) and Kurt Klaus (for it's synchronized perpetual calendar). All hundreds of its components are housed within a WW2 B-Uhr inspired 46mm case that fits my fat wrist to a T.

Prohibiting price aside, IWC only makes metal (precious or otherwise) versions of it in very limited editions. So difficult it is to find a brand new one of them, my wife had to resort to custom making a lookalike cake of it for my 40th birthday.

Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar cake from my wife

Me pretending to 'adjust' the watch on my wrist

I've tried on the 'regular' ceramic version of it, but being entirely in matt black and at 48mm, the proportion and size of it just doesn't make the cut like the 'metal' versions!

For more than 2 years of active searching in vane, I thought I'll never ever find one. Never in my wildest dream would I thought I could chance upon an unworn collector's piece 2 weeks ago! A one out of 70 piece, 'Middle East' edition in steel with blue accents. From the pictures below, you can tell the rest is history, I got my grail watch, finally...

IWC Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar
1 out of 70, 'Middle East' edition

Ref: 5026-20

On my wrist

Whenever faced with difficult choices in life, I always say we can't have the cake and eat it. But from now on, I might just say, "If you're lucky, you can eat the cake first and have it, later"

As my first blog entry of 2016, I'll like to wish everyone a happy new year, and may all your hearts' desire come true.

Day/Date/Month/Year/Moonphase transition
from 31st Dec 2015 to 1st Jan 2016

Time creeps during the 2WW

For those who have been following my posts, I'll like to apologize for not writing much over the last 2 months. October and November has been very trying for my wife and I, both physically and emotionally, as we prepare ourselves for the next phase of married life; having a kid, hopefully. I say hopeful because considering our medical conditions and age, we decided to seek medical assistance, a.k.a IVF. If you research into the literature of it, you'll probably discover that the chances of a successful procedure is not high statistically, and the probability drops lower if live birth is considered as success rate. For us, regardless of what statistics show, we just want to give it our best shot and have no regrets, no matter what the final outcome will be.

IVF is a procedure that demands absolutely everything from the woman. For a start, it requires her to stop any unhealthy dietary lifestyle; drinking and smoking are strictly prohibited. She is to be in a relaxed and calm state of mind for best treatment results. I mean, it maybe an excuse, but people do drink and smoke to manage the stress of work and life. Asking a smoker and/or drinker to quit smoking and/or drinking, and be relax and calm itself is contradicting, I think. And if this alone seems impossible enough, there are an array of hormonal drugs, waiting to be injected into her body at precise timing, several times a day!

After a series of tests and examination done on both my wife and I, our doctor gave us the go ahead to the process proper. Since early November, my wife was to administer a shot of 'growth' hormone into herself, every alternate day for a month; this is to 'prepare' her body for the actual IVF process. We were taught by the nurses, how to put the liquid into disposable syringes, and the proper way of injection. These drugs are expensive, it helps when we're taught the skill to extract every bit of it from the bottle without wastage, while a proper way of injecting the drug will minimize the pain and fear of the recipient.

For 3 weeks into the 'growth hormone' administration, I was around to help my wife with the injections. It wasn't easy for me to poke a loved one initially; especially with her look of anticipation, and the guilt I had whenever she exclaimed "ouch!". But as we both get more familiarized and accustomed to it, it becomes almost like a ritual; starting with finding a 'spot' that's not been poked before, and to avoid any veins. As I'll be out-of-town for business during the 4th week, we decided that she should at least try once injecting herself with me around. She stared at the needle for a good 15 minutes, could not bring herself to finish the routine; overcoming the psychology part of having to "hurt" oneself is really tough. And the time comes when I have to be away, in my absence, she managed to complete the entire routine herself for the very 1st time within a minute! I was so proud of her when she told me that over the phone.

2 weeks before the oocyte retrieval, the frequency of 'growth hormone' injections were up'ed to once everyday. Additionally, she is also to inject another hormone to mature eggs in her ovaries. This 2 shots a day routine continued for 10 days, before a 3 shots routine starts 4 days before oocyte retrieval. The 3rd shot is another hormone that prevents her body from ovulating the matured eggs; keeping them within her ovaries for artificial retrieval later. At precisely 35 hours before the retrieval procedure, she is to take a large dose of (another) hormone, to 'release' the eggs right at the time of the procedure. Due to the dosage amount and time sensitivity of this 'last' injection, we were advised to have it done by the nurse at the hospital, which we did.

Exactly 35 hours later, my wife was pushed into the operating theater for the oocyte retrieval procedure done under GA. The doctor skillfully retrieved 9 eggs from my wife which was a pleasant surprised to us, as we were told we'll be lucky if we can get 4 during 1 of the examination over the 2 weeks process. However, how many of these 9 can potentially be a baby depends on how well they grow after fertilization. Day-0, the embryologist found 7 that were good enough for fertilization. Day-1, all 7 seems to be moving well to 2/4 cells stages! Day-2, 2 of the 7 seems to be arrested at 2 cells stage, while the rest progressed to 4/8 cells stages. Day-3, 2 of the remaining 5 we 'slower' at 8 cells where the other 3 moved on to 10/12 cells stages.

Day-5, the day when we'll know how many embryos are mature and good enough to be put into the uterus; the embryologist declared only 2 were good, and non of them were good enough for freezing. The only logical option then was to put the 2 in as suggested. The entire procedure went smoothly; the doctor and nurses briefed us on the dos and don'ts over the 2WW (2 weeks wait), and wished us luck as my wife discharged from the hospital.

If you wonder if this is the end to the whole procedure, every couple who have been through it will concur that it is just the beginning of a dreadful 2 weeks LONG wait; making very sure that we do the dos and avoid the don'ts, trying to eat and live healthy. The occasional 'forgetful' misses on the dos and don'ts, or symptoms that might suggest pregnancy or early miscarriage, will send our emotion to either end of the spectrum. Going through this emotional roller coaster ride for 2 weeks without any help and information of what's going on in her body makes suffering from those injections pales way in comparison.

We're supposed to know the result today, though we're prepared for the worse, we do hope for the best. But regardless of the outcome, I want to dedicate this post to the bravest woman I've ever known, my wife Wendy Yeo; for going through these period of time so courageously. I love you Bebe! <3 

My sisters do love me

I am the youngest child in my family. Not only am I the youngest child, I am the only male descendent that carries the family name in my entire extended family. For readers who are not aware of the Chinese tradition, let me just say that to be the youngest male in the family itself is already a big thing. Amplify that effect 10 times will be how it is to be the only male descendent in the family; extremely privileged and doted on, especially by my grand parents.

Without me even demanding or simply asking, I'll be given the things, toys and food my cousins can only wish to have. The act of munching on special treats alone will invite stares of jealousy, envy and anger from any and everyone in the family, adults and children alike. Maybe because of these special treatments I got from my grand parents, nobody likes me, not even my sisters. I don't consider myself a spoilt brat honestly, I don't demand a lot and never put on a bad behavior if I don't get what I wanted. I was taught young to work for the things I want; spending less than what I'm given for food to get the toy I was eyeing on, and later, saving on bus fares to school by walking 10km daily for months to buy the Nike shoes my schoolmates were already wearing.

I do admit that I was a naughty boy, playing pranks on my sisters, always. My sisters, especially my 2nd sis, didn't like me when I was young (I think). Being the strongest academically, my 2nd sis was always asked by my parents to teach me school work, but she profoundly refused. We seldom talked, we lived in our own world for most of my childhood, literally.

Things changed only when I was enlisted into the Army. Perhaps it was my absence from home, or perhaps, I've really grown up to be a better person since; Her attitude towards me changed. She would listen attentively whenever I shared my enthusiasm, my frustrations and my experiences in camp. Communication progressed to another level when I was reading Engineering in the University; exchanging ideas and concepts of technical and analytical topics in depth, it was the first time I experienced her regarding me as equal!

It might be perceived that she was nonchalant to my existence when I was young, but things happened has proven me wrong. She actually noticed all along that I am a big fan of watches, especially G-shocks and those classic vintage styled watches with analogue display. She bought me an antique looking Swatch that looks exactly like what I am fond of, and a rare titanium 'Mr.G' during one of her exchange program trip to Japan. Even though they are no longer in working condition, I still keep them fondly to date.

Swatch Croccante

1994 Fall Winter Collection

1996 G-Shock MGR-1B-1
in Titanium case
with titanium nitride coated 'gold' pushers and buckle

She has been paying attention to her brother all along, knowing my likes and dislikes exactly. Perhaps, it was her deliberate act of refuse to feed my desires, over and on top of the attention I've already been receiving. Or perhaps, just like many Asians, she just doesn't know how to express her love for her siblings. Right here right now, I just want to say, "Thank you for your love sister(s), I know you'all do, and I love you'all too!"

A tribute to Michael Schumacher

On 28th September 2008, Singapore held her 1st Formula 1 Grand Prix. Conceptualized since early 2007, it was the first ever Formula 1 race at night. After much track and lighting design considerations, the circuit was approved in May. Construction of the 5.065km race track with 23 turns began in August that year at Marina Bay Street, in the Marina Bay area.

Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore

Just two Sundays ago, on 20th September 2015,  Singapore held the 8th Formula 1 night race. However, the most memorable one to me must be the 2012 Singapore Grand Prix, where Michael Schumacher raced with Mercedes before his 2nd retirement in the same year.

Michael Schumacher during his qualifying lap
2012 Singapore Grand Prix

Began with go-karting, the young Schumacher won German drivers championships in Formula Konig and Formula 3 before joining Mercedes in the World Sportscar Championship. He was signed as a driver for the Benetton F1 team in 1991, and very quickly established himself as a top driver; finishing 3rd in 1992 and 4th in 1993. He became the first German to win the F1 World Drivers' Champion in 1994 by 1-point over Damon Hill. He repeated the feat in 1995 with a greater margin! Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996, where he came close to winning the 1997 and 1998 titles, before breaking his leg in an accident at the British Grand Prix in 1999. Schumacher's best runs were from 2000 to 2004, where he won another five consecutive driver's titles. He almost clinched an eighth title in 2006, but fell short to Fernando Alonso, due to technical problems in the final two races. He retired from Formula 1 driving after the 2006 season, but continued to stay with Ferrari as an advisor. Schumacher agreed to return for Ferrari mid-way through the 2009 season, as a cover for the badly injured Felipe Massa, but was hindered by a neck injury. Schumacher returned to Formula 1 on a permanent basis from 2010 with the Mercedes team, paying homage to where he started early in his career, before retiring for a second time at the conclusion of the 2012 season.

What impresses me most is not Schumacher's lustrous career of winning a record 7 driver's championship in F1, but his smooth and elegant driving style. It is also because of his finesse that he excels in the wet; slicing technical corners over drenched circuits like a hot knife through butter.

See how young Michael Schumacher control his go-kart
at 0:25min of this video

There are many great drivers, but what Schumacher has achieved in and out of F1 circuits is truly phenomenal. Extremely humble by nature, he revealed during an interview with Top Gear host, Jeremy Clarkson, that his regular cars are Fiat 500 and Fiat Croma (his family car). He is also active in numerous humanitarian efforts throughout his life; donated tens of millions of dollars to charity, surpassing any other sports person, most sports leagues, many worldwide corporations and even some countries.

To commemorate this remarkable gentleman and his achievements, Audemars Piguet and Omega came out with Michael Schumacher editions of their renowned Royal Oak Offshore and Speedmaster models respectively. Though there are many versions of them, but all Schumi editions have two things in common; chronograph movement and checkered-flag / grid inspired dial designs.

Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore
Michael Schumacher limited edition chronograph in titanium

Omega Speedmaster Racing

Michael Schumacher World Champion 2000 edition

On 29 December 2013, when Schumacher was skiing with his 14-year old son Mick in the French Alps, a tragic accident happened. While crossing an unsecured area between Piste Chamois and Piste Mauduit, he fell and hit his head on a rock, sustaining head injury despite wearing a ski helmet. Schumacher was put into a medically induced coma for the traumatic brain injury. On 4th April 2014, Schumacher's agent reported that he was showing "moments of consciousness" as he was gradually withdrawn from the medically induced coma. In mid-June, he was moved from intensive care into rehabilitation ward, and by 6th June the same year, Schumacher had regained consciousness and left for further rehabilitation. On 9th September 2014, he was brought back to his home. In a video interview released in May 2015, Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm said that his condition is slowly improving " considering the severeness of the injury".

Due to family privacy that Schumacher's wife tirelessly maintained, as he faces a long road to recovery, mystery still surrounds the condition of the racing legend till today. I can only wish and hope that Schumi will emerge triumphant over his current circumstance one day, like how he always do on the race track.