IWC Schaffhausen will be auctioning off a unique, platinum edition of its UTC Edition Antoine de Saint Exupery watch.  Accompanied by an original, signed copy of Saint Exupery's celebrated memoir "Wind, Sand and Stars", the timepiece will be featured on IWC's on-line auction between December 8th and December 14th.  IWC has set a starting bid of $39,000 United States dollars.  The entire amount of the selling price will be donated to the French Sipar association, a non-governmental group dedicated to combating illiteracy in Cambodia.  

The platinum IWC Pilot's Watch UTC Edition Antoine de Saint Exupery features a distinctive tobacco brown dial and a rugged leather strap with a platinum tang buckle.  Two distinguishing elements are Antoine de Exupery's "A" initial on the dial, and a commemorative caseback displaying an engraved Latecoere 25 aircraft and the number 01/01. Movement is the self-winding 30710 caliber, which offers a display for a secondary time zone, as well as sweep seconds and the date.    

"This expression of respect for Antoine de Saint Exupéry as a pilot is not only a piece of jewelry for cosmopolitans," remarked Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen.  "Whoever acquires this unique watch will also, through its purchase, boost educational opportunities for Cambodian children by improving their literacy."