Erwin Pilot — 42mm, Full Set

Cabinet piece №1 — and what a way to open the doors. This is a Habring² Erwin Pilot from 2014: 42mm of understated Austrian independent watchmaking from Maria and Richard Habring — the man who engineered IWC’s famously clever split-seconds chronograph before setting up shop in Völkermarkt to do things entirely their own way, in tiny numbers, largely by hand.

The black sector-style pilot dial is pure tool-watch legibility — crisp silvered arabics at 12, 3, 6 and 9, a clean minute track, and the Habring² script sitting quietly where it belongs. Turn it over and the hand-finished movement is on full display through the sapphire caseback, decorated the way only a small Austrian workshop bothers to.

This 2014 example is in very good condition — honest, lightly worn, never abused — and comes as a full set with its original Habring² box and papers, on a comfortable tan leather strap. Independent watchmaking of this quality rarely appears at this money; it will not sit in the cabinet long.