IWC and Hot Wheels Launch Limited Edition Titanium Watch and Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing Replica
A titanium pilot’s watch is paired with one of the most detailed Hot Wheels replicas of all time.
A Hot Wheels partnership may not seem obvious for IWC, at least until you factor in the luxe Swiss watchmaker’s longstanding partnership with Mercedes-AMG. Not to mention that the IWC Racing Team just ran a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL gullwing at the prestigious Goodwood Members Meeting’s Stirling Moss Trophy event.
Then the IWC x Hot Wheels Racing Works collector set, featuring a titanium watch and matching, 1:64-scale model of iconic and influential Merc coupe, makes a lot of sense.
Looking at IWC’s contribution first, the 43mm bauble boasts a dark gray matte finish achieved from a polishing and blasting treatment. A “Hot Wheels” flame logo adorns the side of the case at 9 o’clock, while the black dial stuns with a checkered flag pattern surrounding the chronograph totalizers and date window.
A peak at case back reveals the chronograph movement through a ring of smoked glass and a “68” roundel at the center, memorializing IWC and Hot Wheels’ founding years of 1868 and 1968.
The number also corelates with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL model’s black and silver racing livery. Hot Wheels’ digital sculptors Manseon Chung and Steve Vandervate worked with IWC designer Nicholas Schmidt to create one of the toy car maker’s most detailed replicas ever, complete with the requisite gullwing doors, bucket seats, a roll cage, red sill trims, and clear headlights covered with Merc star logos.
The chronograph and the model car are presented in a metal toolbox containing the instruction manual for the watch, a booklet about the project, and a limitation plate with the individual corresponding set number.
Only 50 IWC x Hot Wheels Racing Works sets will be produced, with No. 1 selling at a Bonhams auction benefitting the Two Bit Circus Foundation. The current bid is nearly $20,000, but the remaining 49 examples will sell for $10,000 each through IWC.
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