Next Space Age Exhibition
To celebrate 90 Years of Pilot’s Watches, IWC Schaffhausen kicked off its Next Space Age Exhibition on the International Little Prince Day, 29 June 2026. As a new era of space exploration dawns, the exhibition will tour Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei, blending engineering innovation, heritage and the poetic philosophy of The Little Prince to propel the brand’s aviation legacy beyond the sky – and into space.
IWC’s Next Space Age exhibition is now open at ELEMENTS mall in West Kowloon, Hong Kong, and features a booth inspired by a next-generation orbiting space station to present the first tool watch engineered and certified for human spaceflight. At the heart of this immersive pop-up stands a detailed sculpture of The Little Prince – the beloved hero of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s most famous literary work – seated atop his planet. Embodying a spirit of curiosity and exploration, he celebrates IWC’s 20 years of partnership with the author’s heirs through the new Le Petit Prince Anniversary Edition Pilot’s Watches. Visitors can also enjoy an immersive astronaut-themed photo experience, as well as space-inspired refreshments and a preview of the IWC Le Petit Prince film story – “Odyssey Through Time”, in which IWC Schaffhausen offers its own interpretation of the story viewed through the lens of the brand’s universe and the art of watchmaking.
Honouring nine decades of IWC’s expertise in Pilot’s Watches dating back to 1936, the exhibition includes a special legacy and rare heritage showcase of eight carefully curated pieces flown in from the IWC Museum in Schaffhausen. With the 1936 Special Pilot’s Watch (Ref. IW436), the first-ever pilot’s watch tailored for the extreme demands of aviation, an iconic timepiece established the foundations of IWC's aviation heritage. Rarely seen outside Switzerland, the exhibition presents a precious opportunity for local collectors and enthusiasts to engage with IWC’s watchmaking history at close quarters.
The exhibition’s key pillar creates a link from IWC’s heritage to the future, and features several of the brand’s cutting-edge new models debuted at Watches & Wonders Geneva 2026. These include:
The Pilot’s Venturer Vertical Drive (Ref. IW328601) is the first tool watch engineered specifically for human spaceflight, developed in collaboration with pioneering space habitation technology company Vast. IWC Schaffhausen has become Vast’s “Official Timekeeper”. Its crownless design features an innovative, patent-pending vertical drive rotating bezel clutch system specially developed for astronauts wearing thick space gloves, and is fully spaceflight-qualified by Vast for use on the upcoming Haven-1 commercial space station. Crafted in white ceramic and Ceratanium®, this model is designed to withstand the extreme thermal cycling experienced in space.
The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume® (Ref. IW505801). Developed by IWC’s experimental engineering division, XPL, this timepiece introduces IWC’s proprietary Ceralume® luminous ceramic technology to the Pilot’s Watch collection. Featuring a perpetual calendar and four subdials displaying the date, weekday, month and moon phase, its case, dial and strap are enriched with Super-LumiNova® pigments so that the entire exterior acts like a light-storage battery.
The Perpetual Calendar ProSet Collection. As IWC’s most sophisticated evolution of the iconic perpetual calendar system, this model solves a historic watchmaking problem by offering seamless forward and backward calendar adjustment via a single crown position. It is powered by a new, fully gear-based module architecture protected by five patents, eliminating the need for correction pushers. The improved moon phase display accuracy translates to a deviation of just one day every 1,040 years.
The New Le Petit Prince Collection. Commemorating 20 years of partnership with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s successors, each of the new models features a deep blue dial with a radiant sunray finish evoking the immensity of the cosmos. The collection includes the Big Pilot's Watch Perpetual Calendar ProSet Le Petit Prince, available in white ceramic (Ref. IW339601) and stainless steel (Ref. IW329601), the very first Le Petit Prince Chronograph in white zirconium oxide ceramic (Ref. IW389410), and the enchanting first Portofino in the Le Petit Prince collaboration, the Portofino Automatic Day & Night 34 Le Petit Prince (Ref. IW459806), which features the iconic image of The Little Prince standing on the golden moon at 6 o’clock.
By bringing together historic aviation timepieces, pioneering engineering innovations and the timeless cosmic philosophy of The Little Prince, the Next Space Age Exhibition creates a time travel journey from past, present to future. It invites visitors on a journey from the aviation heritage to the frontiers of space exploration, where engineering precision meets the poetry of the imagination. Each element of the exhibition contributes to a broader narrative of discovery, creating a convergence of worlds in which technical ingenuity and human curiosity exist in constant dialogue.
Event registration link:https://live.eventtia.com/en/nextspaceageexhibition_hongkong
