Tom Brady Wore a Fully Glow-in-the-Dark IWC

Back in May of 2024, IWC equipped Lewis Hamilton with every five-year-old boy’s dream watch. The Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Ceralume, which looks white at first glance, is actually made of ceramic powder infused with luminous pigment, so the case, dial, and white rubber strap doubled as a night light. Unfortunately, like many pieces worn by Hamilton, it was just a production piece that wasn’t available to the general public.Collectors’ patience was rewarded earlier this year, though, when IWC debuted a commercial—and more complicated—version of the technology in the form of the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume. Limited to 250 pieces, it has already found itself on the wrist of one mega-collector (and former IWC ambassador) in the form of Tom Brady, who wore one while on vacation with his family in southern France.This IWC has been one of the breakout hits on watch social media this year. The effect of the entire piece breaking out into a neon blue glow whenever it enters the dark is quite a stunt. This watch is a statement piece unlike any other statement piece. While many watches at Brady’s level earn their keep with endless complications, stupifying diamond setting, or both, IWC developed a watch that steals attention unlike anything else at the horological buffet right now.Of course, being a Big Pilot’s Watch, the thing lives up to its name. Measuring 46.5mm, it only looks manageable because Brady is 6’4”. Being made of ceramic, however, it’s not nearly as heavy as one might imagine, and its heft is further mitigated by its white two-piece rubber strap. The movement produces all sorts of inten—a moonphase, date/power reserve, month, and running seconds/day—plus a small aperture for the year—but pales in comparison to the story behind the watch’s insane case.So, how did IWC produce a watch with such an intense glow? What looks monochromatic and simple is actually a high-tech ceramic impregnated with Super-LumiNova pigments via ball-milling, a process overseen by lume specialists RC Tritec. When “charged” with light, the pigment briefly stores and then emits it in a bright blue that can last up to a full day. As the dial and strap are also luminous, the effect is otherworldly in complete darkness, with the watch taking on the aspect of some kind of Tolkien-esque artifact.Brady’s watchbox is vast: from vintage and modern Rolexes to white-hot Cartiers to complicated Pateks, the man can choose from all manner of crazy pieces. But of all these, the Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Ceralume perhaps cuts most against the grain: enormous, glow-in-the-dark, super complicated, military-adjacent, and pocket watch-inspired, it’s the type of object that only IWC could’ve cooked up.Ewan McGregor’s Panerai ref. PAM00112Appearing at the world premiere of his new film The End of Oak Street in Los Angeles this week, Ewan McGregor strapped on his personal Panerai ref. PAM00112. Part of the Base Logo series within the Luminor collection, this early-2000s watch is a 44mm stainless steel diver housed in a cushion case with the brand’s famed crown-lock system, which is inspired by historical models produced for the Italian navy. While earlier examples featured conventional painted indices, late-series examples utilized Panerai’s signature “sandwich” dial construction, which fits a luminous base plate beneath an upper dial with cutouts for the indices. One of the more affordable watches within the Panerai oeuvre, the PAM00112 can be had on the secondary market for under $6,000.Hiro Murai’s Timex Easy ReaderAward-winning filmmaker (and frequent Donald Glover collaborator) Hiro Murai showed up to a Widow’s Bay-themed experience at The Culver Hotel this week wearing the Watch of the People, the Timex Easy Reader. Perhaps the platonic embodiment of the all-business, no-frills, inoffensive Everyman watch, it’s effectively a midsize dress/everyday timepiece with a 35mm silver-tone brass case, a cream-colored dial with Arabic indices and a date window, a quartz movement with Indiglo backlight, and a leather strap. To see someone under the age of 75 wear one is to witness either a) a man emerging from an actual time machine; b) an innocent nostalgia play; or c) a deliberate middle finger to all of Switzerland. (Either way—it’s positively delightful.)Jaylen Brown’s Patek Philippe Complications ref. 5235/50R-001Newly minted 76er Jaylen Brown knows how to command a room. During his introductory press conference in Philly late last week, he wore the Patek Philippe Complications ref. 5235/50R-001, an annual calendar with a funky regulator-style display that splits time-telling into separate hours and minutes subdials. (Seconds are shown centrally, while apertures for the day, date, and month are displayed symmetrically at 10, 2, and 6 o’clock.) Powered by Patek’s automatic cal. 31-260 REG QA movement with a micro-rotor, the whole thing is housed in a 40.5mm rose gold case and paired with a black alligator leather strap, which picks up coloration from the subdials. Unique and beautiful, it’s one of the more striking annual calendars in Patek’s modern collection.