IWC Has an Early Contender for Sports Watch of the Year

After Lewis Hamilton departed the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team for Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season, fellow British driver George Russell became the team’s unquestioned top star.

Hamilton’s move to Ferrari also severed his long relationship with IWC, making Russell the de facto top ambassador for the Swiss luxury watch brand.

We’ve seen IWC produce several special-edition watches for its F1 partner, but never a watch in collaboration with Russell himself. That changes today, as the brand has launched not one but two special-edition Pilot’s Watches co-designed by the five-time Grand Prix-winner.

IWC

By George, I think he’s got it

Outside of one welcome change that I’ll get into shortly, there’s nothing too revolutionary about this new pair of IWC watches — they’re mainly iterations on two of the brand’s existing Pilot’s Watch formats — but I’ll be damned if they aren’t some of the best-looking versions of these watches ever made.

There’s a Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 and a Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, both of which feature the same materials and aesthetics, with only their movements, functions and sizes separating them. (IWC’s Chronograph “41” actually has a 41.9mm-diameter case, so it’s effectively a 42mm watch, and it’s quite a lot thicker at 15.5mm vs 11.4mm.)

Both watches boast a matte-finished case in black ceramic, with each of their crowns and the chronograph’s pushers made of IWC’s proprietary ceramic-titanium blend, Ceratanium.

IWC

The Ceratanium used here is also black, giving these watches a far more uniform look than previous ceramic versions of IWC’s Pilot’s Watches, which use polished stainless steel crowns that stick out like a sore thumb. Hopefully, this color-matched Ceratanium crown is the brand’s preferred style moving forward.

The dials and hands are matte black to match the case, and every single marking — all dial text, the minute track, the chronograph markings, the date and the lume on the hands and indices (all Arabic indices, plus the hour markers on the minute track, are lumed here) — are all in the same brilliant shade of Russell’s “Signature Blue.”

While at first glance, this blue resembles the turquoise used for the Petronas team color, it is actually much bluer with a cooler tone and was inspired by Russell’s racing helmet — remember, this isn’t an F1 team collab, it’s a George Russell collab.

IWC

Perfectly matching the blue accents of the dial is the rubber strap that comes with both watches. It’s in the same very cool blue shade as the dial and is equipped with IWC’s EasX-CHANGE for quick, tool-free strap swaps. It also includes a Ceratanium pin buckle to keep the two-tone aesthetic of the watch intact.

The caseback is the only place on these watches where you’ll see a color other than black or that brilliant blue. It’s made of plain titanium and is engraved with “63,” which is Russell’s starting number. Sitting behind the solid caseback is the Cal. 32112 automatic in the three-hander and the Cal. 69380 automatic in the chronograph. Both are IWC Manufacture movements.

Otherwise, both watches share all the same specs as IWC’s other ceramic Pilot’s Watches, which include sapphire crystals with AR coating on both sides that are secured against displacement by drops in air pressure, screw-down crowns guaranteeing 100m of water resistance and soft-iron inner cases for magnetic resistance.

IWC

Availability and pricing

When I first heard that IWC was launching a collab with George Russell, I was hoping it would be a production version of the one-off Ingenieur in black ceramic with a “Signature Blue” dial that we saw the driver wearing last year. But, alas, that wasn’t meant to be. However, I think this is the next best thing.

The black ceramic case, attractive blue shade and dual-tone aesthetic is undeniably cool, and the decision to use Ceratanium crowns and pin buckles on the strap fixes my only real beef with IWC’s ceramic Pilot’s Watches.

Both of these new versions look fantastic, but I’m more drawn to the three-hander thanks to its improved wearability, cleaner design and vastly superior power reserve (120 vs 46 hours). While the year is young, I think it’s already in the running for my favorite sports watch of 2026.

However, neither watch will be easy to get. The Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 George Russell is priced at $8,900, while the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 George Russell is listed at $12,900. Each version is limited to 1,063 pieces.

IWC

IWC Pilot’s Watch Automatic 41 George Russell

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	IWC Cal. 32112 automatic
Water Resistance	100m

• $8,900 at IWC

IWC

IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 George Russell

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	IWC Cal. 69380 automatic chronograph
Water Resistance	100m

• $12,900 at IWC

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