Few men have known the sky better than Mr Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – and fewer men still have airports their named after them, as Mr de Saint-Exupéry does in his hometown of Lyon. By turns a French Air Force pilot, aviation writer and airline director, Mr de Saint-Exupéry broke records as both a pilot and a passenger. In July 1939, the aristocrat boarded the luxurious Latécoère 521 Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris flying boat for its first non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic. It took 28 hours and 27 minutes.

In honour of this odyssey across the sea and of Mr de Saint-Exupéry’s involvement in it, IWC Schaffhausen has released a watch to celebrate the journey from London to New York. Powered by the calibre 79320 automatic chronograph movement, it is, like the plane, a feat of engineering. Limited to only 80 timepieces (in recognition of it being the 80th anniversary of the flight), we’re lucky enough to have 10 of them here at MR PORTER.

A bold design, the clearly arranged tobacco-brown dial, punctuated with luminescent white hands, numerals and indices, contrasts beautifully with the stainless-steel body of the watch. This easily legible instrumentation, including neatly laid out sub-dials, is crucial in the field of aviation, where a lot of information needs to be absorbed in the flick of a wrist. Meanwhile, the cream-coloured stitching on the calfskin strap is a nod to the flight suit worn by Mr de Saint-Exupéry during his reconnaissance missions. The perfect timepiece for the adventurous pilot with the soul of a poet.

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