I promised to write a review on the IWC 5027 big pilot annual calendar le petit prince from AZF a while ago. I have had the watch now for about 6 weeks and have been using it in rotation with my other watches. For a gen - rep comparison, please see my other post on RWI, in which there is a thread highlighting the differences.
First impression when receiving the watch is quite good. It’s a lovely piece and looks excellent. As the big pilot is a little over 46mm excluding crown and over 17mm thick, this watch will not suite everyone. I have a wrist size of 18,5cm and its pushing it size wise, but does fit. I would recommend at least a wrist size of 18cm as otherwise the watch will be way too large and it would be better to go for a Portugieser, which is between 42,5mm and 44mm, depending on the precise type.
The strap which is delivered with the watch is not the one in the pictures when ordering, and instead of a brown calf skin strap its a black leather strap with alligator print. To be honest, the strap is inflexible, and feels cheap, so be prepared to buy a better strap when considering this watch. I’ve opted for a brown leather strap, hand made, with rivets, just like the original and with a price of 160 euro slightly cheaper than an original strap. I wanted to buy an original to be honest, but the delivery time at IWC was over 6 weeks, which I thought was crazy.
I was a bit nervous about the movement and the annual calendar as it’s a complicated movement which might be quite sensitive. When unscrewing the crown however, everything feels quite good, no play, and you can feel the smoothness of the movement. The operation of the watch is as per gen, so watching a video online proof usefull and setting the calendar was child’s play. You do have to rotate through the days, and months, to get to the right day, which in my case was several months, but it did not take more than 5 minutes to set the watch.
Time to have a proper look at the watch itself. The blue sunburst dial is insane! What a beauty! The whole finish of the watch is at real high standards. No flaws detected and everything seems to add up. The printing of the dial is excellent (although as you can read in the comparison post there is a difference in fonts in 2 places -which is the only difference between rep and gen by the way-) and the numerals are beautiful. The annual calendar windows properly display the date, day and month wheel. Dead center and with the right font, size etc.. The case is big as you might expect. With a little over 46mm it is the largest watch I own and I am not going any larger for a watch than this.
The daytime lume and night time lume are insanely good. Very bright and ling lastig. The hour and minute hand are of high finish and have a very elegant look to them.
The movement is the 52850 movement (adjusted 7750 for what I understood, but I am no watch smith) and is decorated to match the gen movement. The watch has an open case back as per the gen and it looks lovely.
Overall I am quite happy with the purchase. Its a stunning watch and has triggered a lot of compliments already. The difference in fonts is only a minor flaw which only watch geeks like us will be able to tell with the gen next to it, so does not bother me.
I have purchased the watch with @puretime and the service was as I am used to, excellent. I am mentioning this since i noticed a small issue the other day and when mentioning this to them they immediately offered to help. No need for it as the issue seems to be solved already, but great to experience their willingness to help.
Some pictures:
First impression when receiving the watch is quite good. It’s a lovely piece and looks excellent. As the big pilot is a little over 46mm excluding crown and over 17mm thick, this watch will not suite everyone. I have a wrist size of 18,5cm and its pushing it size wise, but does fit. I would recommend at least a wrist size of 18cm as otherwise the watch will be way too large and it would be better to go for a Portugieser, which is between 42,5mm and 44mm, depending on the precise type.
The strap which is delivered with the watch is not the one in the pictures when ordering, and instead of a brown calf skin strap its a black leather strap with alligator print. To be honest, the strap is inflexible, and feels cheap, so be prepared to buy a better strap when considering this watch. I’ve opted for a brown leather strap, hand made, with rivets, just like the original and with a price of 160 euro slightly cheaper than an original strap. I wanted to buy an original to be honest, but the delivery time at IWC was over 6 weeks, which I thought was crazy.
I was a bit nervous about the movement and the annual calendar as it’s a complicated movement which might be quite sensitive. When unscrewing the crown however, everything feels quite good, no play, and you can feel the smoothness of the movement. The operation of the watch is as per gen, so watching a video online proof usefull and setting the calendar was child’s play. You do have to rotate through the days, and months, to get to the right day, which in my case was several months, but it did not take more than 5 minutes to set the watch.
Time to have a proper look at the watch itself. The blue sunburst dial is insane! What a beauty! The whole finish of the watch is at real high standards. No flaws detected and everything seems to add up. The printing of the dial is excellent (although as you can read in the comparison post there is a difference in fonts in 2 places -which is the only difference between rep and gen by the way-) and the numerals are beautiful. The annual calendar windows properly display the date, day and month wheel. Dead center and with the right font, size etc.. The case is big as you might expect. With a little over 46mm it is the largest watch I own and I am not going any larger for a watch than this.
The daytime lume and night time lume are insanely good. Very bright and ling lastig. The hour and minute hand are of high finish and have a very elegant look to them.
The movement is the 52850 movement (adjusted 7750 for what I understood, but I am no watch smith) and is decorated to match the gen movement. The watch has an open case back as per the gen and it looks lovely.
Overall I am quite happy with the purchase. Its a stunning watch and has triggered a lot of compliments already. The difference in fonts is only a minor flaw which only watch geeks like us will be able to tell with the gen next to it, so does not bother me.
I have purchased the watch with @puretime and the service was as I am used to, excellent. I am mentioning this since i noticed a small issue the other day and when mentioning this to them they immediately offered to help. No need for it as the issue seems to be solved already, but great to experience their willingness to help.
Some pictures:
Last edited:
