When it comes to “traditional” Swiss watches, restraint comes in many shapes and forms, but it’s made most immediately apparent here with how well proportioned the IWC Pilot’s Replica Watch Mark XVIII’s 40mm–wide and 11mm-thick case feels on the wrist. IWC designers only scaled back the dimensions by a single millimeter from the XVII, but it’s a minute difference that even Goldilocks would agree feels “just right.”
But what’s likely to land the IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII into the good graces of pilot watch enthusiasts, is that there’s an aesthetic simplification with a focus on legibility and classic styling. We have a subtly brushed stainless steel case, matte leather strap and a high-contrast dial that could easily pass for a German Best IWC Replica Watches made by Sinn or Damasko – and believe us, this utilitarian look is a good thing because it hearkens to the IWC many have a nostalgic love for.
Keen-eyed pilot watch purists might also be happy to note that Copy IWC Watches has brought back the 6 and 9 on the dial – noticeably absent from every Pilot watch in the collection since 2002. It’s a difference that might not even register at first – or second – glance, but it’s one that’s significantly more in line with the lineage of IWC’s famed flieger watches that once fought for air superiority during WWII.
Just don’t expect a light show, as only the hands, 12:00 triangle and indices are generously filled with luminous paint, though there is enough to make them pop on the dial. However, the minimalist approach to lume isn’t entirely out of tune with the rest of iwc replica watches reviews pilot collection and shouldn’t compromise low-light legibility as the contrast of the hands against the dial is as crisp as ever. This is particularly true with the exceptional matte white dial variant, a welcome addition to the Mark family.
The IWC Pilot’s Watch Mark XVIII is an entry-level model, and as such, operates on the IWC Replica Watches, a modified base Sellita movement. The movement comes shielded from magnetic fields in the cockpit by a soft-iron cage, and protected from water ingress by a screw-down crown that guarantees resistance up to 6 atmospheres of pressure. It operates at 4Hz and has 42 hours of power reserve.
