Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s 1943 novella The Little Prince has captivated generations with its poetic parables on love, loss, and the human condition. The book’s legacy lives on through a new horological homage by IWC Schaffhausen.

The Swiss watchmaker has partnered with Saint-Exupéry’s heirs since 2006, integrating themes from The Little Prince into limited-edition timepieces. Their latest offerings, unveiled in May, are two Pilot’s watches with high complications that fuse fine mechanics with the story’s enchanting essence.

The Big Pilot’s Watch Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Le Petit Prince couples a perpetual calendar with a flying tourbillon in a 46.5mm blue ceramic case, evoking the titular prince’s extraterrestrial origins. The intricate 51950 calibre movement boasts 447 parts, synchronizing displays for the date, day, month, four-digit year and moon phase set against an image of the prince on his asteroid.

Meanwhile, the Big Pilot’s Watch 43 Tourbillon Le Petit Prince features a 43mm platinum case housing the 82905 calibre and its flying tourbillon, which appears to float weightlessly when viewed against the deep blue dial. The innovative stop mechanism allows fine-tuning of the time. Both models use a Pellaton winding system and showcase custom rotors shaped like the Little Prince on his asteroid, with baobab trees sprouting.

The collection starts at $84,300.