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Toto Wolff’s Race-Worn IWC Big Pilot XPL to Hammer for Charity

Benefiting Laureus Sport for Good.

A highlight of IWC’s long-standing partnership with Laureus Sport for Good, the organisation’s annual charity auction returns for 2025 with something a little different. Rather than a simple blue-dialed edition of a standard model, IWC is instead offering an existing watch with special provenance.

Hammering this Saturday, the Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL Toto Wolff was worn by the Mercedes-AMG team boss himself during the recent Singapore Grand Prix. As ever, all proceeds benefit the Laureus Foundation Switzerland. Bidding is currently live online, and will conclude on October 25th at the Laureus Charity Night in Zurich.

Initial thoughts

IWC has cultivated an enduring partnership with Laureus Sport for Good dating back to 2005. It’s a good cause that uses sports programmes to improve the lives of children in over 40 countries. For the annual charity auction, IWC typically produces a special model with a blue dial for the charity auction each year. Over time, most of the brand’s collections have been tapped for service, from the Da Vinci to the Portofino and the Portugieser. Naturally, the emblematic Pilot’s Watch has reported for duty over the years as well.

For 2025, IWC has departed from its own norms and is offering a single unit of the existing 100-piece Toto Wolff edition of the Big Pilot’s Watch Shock Absorber XPL. The twist is that it’s the actual watch worn over race weekend by team principal Toto Wolff himself, so the printed signature on the case back carries a little extra significance in this case.

Smaller than it looks, the 44 mm black Ceratanium case is clad in rubber to absorb impact, and the movement itself is suspended within the case by a damper made of bulk metallic glass (BMG). These features add up to a degree of shock resistance that few will ever require, but most can agree is cool.