Yahya Abdul-Mateen II wears an IWC Aquatimer

In the character posters IWC and Warner Bros. released for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stands in the full Black Manta suit with the black trident in hand, lit deep red, and the dive watch on his left wrist glows the same red as the suit around it. IWC's experimental division XPL built that glow as working hardware: customized prototype Aquatimers, engineered with a battery-generated retroluminescent LED system, red for Abdul-Mateen's David Kane and blue for Randall Park's Dr. Stephen Shin, each tuned to its villain's costume. James Wan, whose film was the sequel to the highest-grossing DC movie of all time, selected the Aquatimer for the wrists of his characters.

Christian Knoop, IWC's chief design officer, framed the brief around the wardrobe: 'Aquatimer is one of our most technical collections regarding case, movement, and dial design. So, to perfectly match the ultra-technical outfits and costumes of the villains in this film, we created an ultra-slick black look and stunning light designs for the dial, which resulted in a very powerful combination on the wrist.' His designers, he added, were 'super enthusiastic to infuse some of our conceptual work into the movie project.'

Alongside the film, IWC released two limited editions inspired by the prototypes, the Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month: reference IW379405 with red Super-LumiNova on the dial, hands, and inner rotating bezel for the Manta colorway, and IW379406 in blue for Shin's, 25 pieces of each. The 49-millimeter Ceratanium cases are IWC's largest sizes yet, built around the manufacture caliber 89802, a flyback chronograph and perpetual calendar with digital date and month displays and a 68-hour power reserve, priced at 62,000 euros, about 57,600 dollars at launch. The editions are consumer watches, not the screen props; the battery-driven LED glow of the prototypes became phosphorescent Super-LumiNova in the production pieces.

Wan put it plainly in IWC's announcement: 'One of the things that we wanted to do with the watch is to keep it aesthetically in the same world as my design for Black Manta. They're not just accessories, they actually perform a very important function. I have a lot of admiration for all the skills and craftsmanship that go into building a really precise fine watch.'