Founded in 1868 by American watchmaker and engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones, the “International Watch Company”, now renowned as IWC Schaffhausen, was built on the vision of combining the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge industrial technology and processes. This unique engineering approach to watchmaking has set the brand apart and has allowed it to create and innovate in ways never before seen in the world of horology.
Constantly pushing the boundaries, IWC has become renowned as the Engineer of Watchmaking. This year, at Watches and Wonders 2026, IWC presented an impressive array of novelties that showcased its wide range of expertise, from engineering a watch that can be used in space to commemorative timepieces that not only highlight the brand’s heritage but also put the focus on its material development.
The Time Place Magazine recently had the distinct privilege of discussing these new models with Franziska Gsell Etterlin, IWC’s Chief Marketing Officer. Responsible for developing and implementing IWC’s global product, marketing and communications strategy across all markets and channels, Franziska is instrumental in ensuring that IWC’s message and product information are conveyed clearly to all its networks.
This year’s novelties feel like a remarkable leap in technology yet they remain instantly familiar, deeply rooted in IWC’s DNA. In an industry that often celebrates complexity, IWC brings innovation to life with a sense of ease. What makes IWC’s approach to innovation feel so natural rather than technical?
I would simply say that IWC is renowned as the engineer of watchmaking and engineers are actually never happy, they always feel like they can do it a little bit better, and therefore an engineer tries to solve complex topics and this is what we translate into our watches, and what you see this year is our 90th year legacy in Pilot’s watches. To celebrate that we are venturing into space. This is the New Space Age as we call it, and we have designed and developed the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive with astronauts, a watch they can use in space flight
When you look at the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, you will notice that it looks completely different than other watches, it looks very futuristic. The timepiece doesn’t have a crown; you navigate using the vertical drive system via the bezel. This is also designed in collaboration with VAST. VAST is designing and engineering the next space stations. They even won the competition for the ISS in 2023 and they are developing the first commercial space station, which will be in orbit as early as March 2027.
Apart from the Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, we are proud to also showcase our 40 years in perpetual calendars. Kurt Klaus, the lead watchmaker in the 1980s, developed the perpetual calendar so you can just navigate it by the crown yourself. Now, we present the new perpetual calendar in the Perpetual Calendar IWC-ProSet®, a system that introduces a fully synchronised, gear-based architecture. Departing from traditional correctors and multi-step adjustments, the IWC-ProSet® mechanism allows the wearer to move the calendar both forward and backward using a single crown position in an unprecedented level of convenience showcased in mechanical watchmaking. It is a breakthrough innovation and took about 10 years to develop.
Materials like Ceralume® and Ceratanium® push the boundaries of what a watch can physically be, yet for most IWC clients, that level of innovation goes beyond everyday necessity. From a marketing perspective, when everything is technically impressive, what ultimately makes a creation feel meaningful?
This is exactly how you describe it, by using emotions and storytelling. We aim to bring engineering to life so that a broader audience can understand, join in and respond. We try to simplify our concepts by using storytelling. For example, when you try to explain the IWC-ProSet® mechanism, how do you translate that into a campaign? We wrote about supersonic flights, because we have a collaboration with Boom Supersonic, so they come with supersonic airplanes in the near future and there will be a situation where you’re travelling – it could be that you reach earlier than when you left. In this context it makes sense that you can go backwards with your perpetual calendar. This is how you translate stories that resonate with people.
For IWC Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive, we built on a 90s legacy, and this is very important because we don’t say “oh we’re going now into space, because space is very popular”. We have nearly a century experience with Pilot’s watches and then to go to the next step, to go to the future of space feels authentic to IWC as well. Then you have to tell the stories to different people and different channels. You have to find what will connect with people, with the end-users.
IWC’s “The Little Prince” editions celebrate 20 years of storytelling. How do you strike the balance between honouring the legacy and keeping it emotionally relevant today?
This book is very fascinating, it has been translated into more than 600 languages and the moral of the story is relevant even in today’s world. Keeping this story alive is not too difficult because of the lessons it imparts that children should be kind, as well as other values; its legacy will surely live on. In our case, it’s very fascinating to see what “The Little Prince” does to a timepiece because it tells an additional story.
This year, we perpetuate the story of “The Little Prince” by introducing innovations in our commemorative novelties. For example, we launched the perpetual calendar for the first time in the Le Petit Prince watch and use our white ceramic case in the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Le Petit Prince (IW389410). By combining our engineering knowhow and this timeless story, we present an entirely fresh take on a verified classic.
From space stations to literary icons, IWC operates across vastly different worlds. What is the unifying idea that ensures the brand never feels fragmented? And what makes a partnership feel truly authentic to you?
The answer is engineering, it’s what we have excelled in and will always excel in. We have a dedicated playground wherein we play with ideas, we promote open communication with all the departments, and go from there. It’s more of the mindset of curiosity that you can always go a bit further, that you can always bring something new.
The expansion into smaller, more ergonomic sizes like the Ingenieur 35 suggests a broader audience. How is IWC redefining who its core client is today?
It’s quite broad, because as you might know, we start from the reachable price level but we go very high-end as well, and we have a really broad spectrum of clients, male and female. The difference is that the generations, coming from the legacy of 14 years now in Formula One™, it caters to younger generations but also to more mature generations, so there is no one typical client. I think, if we can generalise, our clients are people who are interested in honest engineering and design, because IWC is never in your face, it’s the opposite.
If someone encounters IWC for the first time through this year’s novelties, what lasting impression would you hope they carry with them?
I hope the lasting impression we impart is that we will design for the Next Space Age, that we are really going into the future, equipped with our long legacy, but we are really future-oriented.
