Case #784 — International Watch Company Le Petit Prince Blue on Leather Ref. IW377714

Case #784 — IWC Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition "Le Petit Prince"

Ref. IW377714

Status: Available

Condition: Excellent Pre-Owned

Scope: Box, Papers, and Cards

Year: 2019

🔎 Case Notes

Most pilot's chronographs are built to be read, not admired. The Le Petit Prince is the exception that proves the rule: the same instrument architecture IWC has refined for decades, rendered in a deep midnight blue that transforms a cockpit tool into something considerably more charismatic. The deep blue dial, now closely associated with the "Le Petit Prince" series, adds richness and personality to an otherwise instrument-driven design.

This is the steel 43 mm execution, reference IW377714 — the version that paired the blue dial with the return to the single-digit date display for the 2016 generation of IWC's Pilot's Watch Chronograph, giving the day-and-date window at three o'clock a cleaner, more typographically balanced look than the double-aperture layout that preceded it. Inside is the 79320 calibre, automatic self-winding, with a 44-hour power reserve, protected by a soft-iron inner case against magnetic fields. The caseback is solid and carries the edition's engraving rather than a display window — a deliberate choice that keeps the soft-iron shielding intact.

BST's inspection grades this example Excellent Pre-Owned, with no specific flaws recorded. It arrives on a leather strap with a tang buckle, sized to fit an approximately 8-inch wrist, and is accompanied by its box, papers, and cards — the complete presentation set, which is increasingly worth noting now that the reference has been discontinued.

🕰️ The Evidence

• Reference: IW377714
• Model / Collection: Pilot's Watch Chronograph Edition "Le Petit Prince"
• Year: 2019
• Case: Stainless steel
• Case Diameter: 43 mm
• Thickness: Approximately 15.4 mm
• Lug Width: 21 mm
• Dial: Midnight blue, luminous Arabic numerals, day and date display at 3 o'clock
• Crystal: Sapphire, convex, with anti-reflective coating on both sides; secured against displacement by a drop in air pressure
• Bezel: Fixed, polished finish
• Crown: Screw-in
• Caseback: Solid, engraved special-edition caseback
• Movement: IWC Calibre 79320
• Movement Type: Automatic, self-winding; 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 240 components, 25 jewels
• Power Reserve: 44 hours
• Functions: Chronograph with hours, minutes and seconds; day and date display; small hacking seconds
• Water Resistance: 60 m (6 bar)
• Strap: Leather
• Clasp: Tang / pin buckle
• Fit: Approximately 8-inch wrist
• Condition: Excellent Pre-Owned — no specific flaws recorded at inspection
• Included: Box, Papers, and Cards

🌟 Collector Provenance

The IWC Pilot's Chronograph occupies an unusual position in modern collecting: it is one of the few aviation chronographs with genuine lineage that never priced itself out of being worn. The Le Petit Prince treatment, introduced across several Pilot references, took that familiar platform and gave it a dial colour that has since become a recognisable sub-line in its own right. The Le Petit Prince designation gives the watch stronger collector relevance than a standard production Pilot Chronograph, particularly because the blue dial and themed execution have become a recognised sub-line within IWC's broader Pilot family.

The IW377714 specifically captures a transitional moment. For the 2016 edition of the Pilot's Watch Chronograph, IWC returned to the single-digit date display — a small change with an outsized effect on dial balance, and one collectors routinely cite when choosing between generations. It also sits at the end of an era: this reference runs the 79320, the Valjoux-derived cam-actuated chronograph IWC refined over many years, before the collection moved toward in-house chronograph calibres in the generation that followed.

Collectors value this reference for representing the pre-in-house chronograph era at IWC, when the brand combined industrial finishing, practical engineering and distinctive themed design. That is not a backhanded compliment. The 79320 is a proven cam-actuated chronograph movement known for dependable serviceability and everyday robustness — a watchmaker-friendly architecture that any competent independent can service, which matters more over a twenty-year ownership horizon than it does on day one.

🌟 Historical Provenance

The name is not decoration. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was a working aviator — airmail routes over the Pyrenees, South America and North Africa — long before he was a novelist, and *Le Petit Prince*, published in 1943, was written by a man who had spent a career in open cockpits and survived a crash in the Libyan desert. He disappeared on a reconnaissance flight in 1944.

That makes this one of the comparatively rare "themed" watches where the theme belongs to the category. A pilot's chronograph named after a pilot's book, produced by a manufacture whose Pilot's Watch line traces to the 1930s, is a coherent idea rather than a licensing exercise. The engraved caseback carries the edition's imagery rather than merely a logo, and the midnight blue dial reads as a night-flight reference rather than a fashion colour.

IWC's Le Petit Prince editions have been produced in association with the Saint-Exupéry estate's charitable work, and the series has run across multiple Pilot references over several years — Big Pilot, Mark, Chronograph, Perpetual Calendar. The chronograph, in steel, remains the most accessible entry point into that story.

🧾 From the Case File

At 43 mm with a thickness in the region of 15.4 mm, this is a watch with genuine presence, and it is honest to say so. It is not a slim dress chronograph. What it is instead: enormously legible, mechanically unfussy, and properly proportioned for a larger wrist — this example is set up for an approximately 8-inch wrist on its leather strap and tang buckle, which is exactly where the case geometry works best. The 21 mm lug width is slightly unusual, so buyers planning a strap rotation should source accordingly; the upside is that the strap, when correct, sits flush against the case with no visible gap.

Functionally, you get more than most chronographs deliver. The chronograph registers hours, minutes and seconds, the movement is shielded by a soft-iron inner case against magnetic fields, and there is a day and date display — meaning this can genuinely serve as a one-watch proposition for someone who wants a complete calendar and a stopwatch in a single piece. Water resistance of 60 m (6 bar) covers daily life comfortably, though it is a chronograph with a leather strap, not a diver.

The practical case for this particular example is straightforward: it is an Excellent Pre-Owned 2019 piece with no specific flaws recorded at inspection, it carries its box, papers, and cards, and the reference is no longer in production. A buyer today cannot walk into a boutique and order one. Buying a complete, well-kept secondary-market example is now the only route — and completeness on a discontinued special edition is precisely the variable that tends to separate one listing from another five years from now.

Buy with Confidence

BST guarantees the authenticity of every watch we sell and provides a 30-day mechanical performance guarantee under normal use.

Accuracy may vary with age and service history, and water resistance is not guaranteed unless specifically stated and pressure-tested.

🗝️ BST Verdict

A steel Pilot's Chronograph with a reason to exist beyond specification: the midnight blue Le Petit Prince dial, the single-digit date layout of the 2016 generation, and the robust, serviceable 79320 calibre shielded by a soft-iron inner case.

Excellent Pre-Owned, dated 2019, complete with box, papers, and cards, and set up for an approximately 8-inch wrist. For a buyer who wants an IWC Pilot with narrative weight and no interest in chasing a discontinued reference piecemeal, this is the version worth examining closely.

👉 Every case deserves a closer look.