The Swiss watchmaker collaborates with George Cleverley, Revolution and The Rake .

Much like technology, the field of combat accelerated the development of the humble wristwatch in so many ways during the 20th century. When beleaguered WWI trench fighters migrated the gentleman’s pocket watch to the wrist by crudely soldering strap attachments to their cases for convenience, it was a revolution.

Since then, no-nonsense monochrome aesthetics and Boy’s Own tales of derring-do have made the military-specification timekeeper catnip to male collectors. This is a mystique that specialist magazine Revolution and sister style title The Rake keenly tap into with their latest limited-edition watch, produced in collaboration with Swiss player IWC Schaffhausen and bespoke London shoemaker George Cleverley.

Limited to just 150 pieces, the last six of which MR PORTER has available, the Pilot’s Watch Automatic 36mm Special Edition for The Rake and Revolution is a tribute the iconic IWC RAF-issue Mark XI of 1948. It’s a purist pilot’s watch that continues to evolve within the IWC catalogue, now up to Mark XVIII with newfangled mechanics and contemporary 40mm dimensions. This new reinterpretation is sure to have collectors reaching for their wallets.

During WWII, the flailing British watch industry already had its hands full making cockpit instruments, detonator timers et al, so the Ministry of Defence turned to Switzerland for a new infantry watch that stood up to its rigorous spec of highly legible, luminous white-on-black numbering and waterproof precision. Only 12 Swiss manufacturers (aka the Dirty Dozen) were chosen to produce about 145,000 examples of watches known as “watch, wrist, waterproof” (or WWW). Just a handful of obsessives worldwide have managed to accrue a complete set.

After the war, as engineering and technology advanced, there was an increased demand for precision, antimagnetic and clean designs. RAF pilots benefited from this in the form of the Mark XI, which followed up on IWC’s own WWW watch (now reverse-baptised by collectors as the Mark X) and issued to aircrew up until the 1980s. The seconds hand was centralised to sweep the dial more visibly and a soft-iron inner core protected the delicate mechanics from magnetic cockpit instruments.

The Rake and Revolution’s limited-edition timepiece with IWC brings things back down to subtler dimensions (36mm diameter), yet reimagines them with particular dash. Material of the moment bronze alloy replaces stainless steel as the case metal, smartly complemented by an olive-tinged dial and all mounted on a leather strap like no other: vintage Russian reindeer calfskin – salvaged from the Metta Catharina, which sank near Plymouth Sound in 1786 – now beautifully repurposed by George Cleverley’s Mayfair craftsman.

If you’ve missed the boat this time, so to speak, you’re still spoilt for choice by the core collection IWC’s pilot’s watches, newly refreshed for 2019. And you can still own your own bit of maritime history, thanks to MR PORTER’s accompanying capsule of George Cleverley accessories, launched in parallel to the watch.

Crafted from the same rare calf hides brought to the surface in the 1980s by amateur divers, a wallet, watch strap and belt have been tanned the traditional Russian way, soaked in pits of willow bark and curried with birch oil, which bestows water resistance and, thanks to its distinct aroma, insect repellence. Practicality and precision combined with rakish élan – if wallets could ever be “mil spec”. The watch isn’t bad, either.