IWC Schaffhausen pays tribute to Saint-Exupéry

To mark the 80th anniversary of Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s transatlantic crossing, IWC Schaffhausen unveiled a special exhibition in its New York store.

Organised in collaboration the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation, this event commemorates the writer’s journey aboard an emblematic Latécoère 521.

In addition to breaking records as a pilot, Antoine de Saint Exupéry made aviation history as a passenger too. Travelling onboard the Latécoère 521 Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris in July 1939, the aviator and writer took part in the flying boat’s first nonstop crossing of the North Atlantic in just 28 hours and 27 minutes.

Celebrating the anniversary of his involvement in this epic flight, IWC Schaffhausen’s exhibition showcases stunning photographs and other items from the period. As well as telling the story of Saint Exupéry’s journey aboard the luxuriously-equipped flying boat, the retrospective looks back on the exciting times the famous French aviator and writer spent in New York itself. While living there, he wrote his most famous literary work, The Little Prince. Indeed, the Big Apple is so significant in his career that IWC and the Antoine de Saint Exupéry Youth Foundation, in partnership with the Latécoère Foundation, have published a new coffee table book on the subject. Lavishly designed, it will be on display at IWC Boutiques around the world.

The inauguration of this anniversary exhibition was also followed by the official launch of the Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Chronograph Edition “80 Years Flight to New York”, an 80-piece limited series.

October 31, 2019