Top Gun watches are black. That is the rule the Lake Tahoe breaks — IWC fired this case in white zirconium oxide ceramic and named it after the snow around the Nevada lake near where US Navy aviators train. The dial stays matte black with blackened hands and white luminous markers, which inverts the usual relationship: on a standard Top Gun the case disappears and the dial carries the contrast, here the case is the loudest thing on the wrist and the dial reads as a dark window cut into it.

Key Specifications

• Case diameter: 41mm
• Case material: white ceramic (zirconium oxide)
• Dial: matte black with white luminescence
• Hands: blackened with white Super-LumiNova
• Case back: titanium with Top Gun engraving
• Crown: stainless steel, screw-in
• Crystal: sapphire with anti-reflective coating
• Movement: FL Factory clone automatic (genuine Cal. 32112)
• Power reserve: genuine 120 hours
• Water resistance: 100 meters

Top Gun Lake Tahoe Edition

Top Gun is the US Navy Fighter Weapons School, now run out of Naval Air Station Fallon in Nevada, and IWC has had the licence to use the name since 2007. Lake Tahoe sits in the mountains near that training ground and gives this reference both its name and its colour. The white ceramic is not a finish applied to a case — the whole case ring is fired in that colour, so there is nothing to wear through and nothing to chip off.

FL Factory Ceramic Excellence

White is the hardest ceramic to fire. Zirconium oxide picks up any impurity in the mix as a grey or cream cast, and on a case made of several separately fired parts, every one of them has to come out the same shade or the mismatch shows in daylight. The common shortcut is white-coated steel, which looks correct in photographs and then chips at the lug edges, taking the entire advantage of ceramic with it. FL Factory handles the Top Gun references and fires real ceramic, keeping the white cold rather than warm, with the titanium caseback and steel crown in their correct contrasting materials. Fired ceramic rather than coating is what makes this a super clone Top Gun Lake Tahoe instead of a white watch that stops being white. Our Pilot’s Watch guide traces the Top Gun editions through the collection.

Clone Caliber Details

• Movement: FL Factory clone automatic
• Genuine calibre: IWC 32112, 120-hour reserve
• Frequency: 28,800 vph
• Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, date
• Winding: bi-directional pawl system
• Soft-iron inner cage for antimagnetic protection

Water Resistance

100 metres with a screw-in steel crown. Ceramic is dimensionally stable and does not expand or contract the way metal does with temperature, which helps the seal hold. Swimming and surface water are fine.

Top Gun Collection Options

The Lake Tahoe name runs across two references in the Pilots collection: this 41mm automatic and the 44.5mm chronograph IW389105, which carries the same white ceramic in a larger case with a column-wheel chronograph. This one is the wearable version — 41mm and 11.4mm thick against the chronograph’s 44.5 and 15.7. The rest of the Top Gun line stays in black and grey ceramic.

Frequently Asked Questions

What colour is the IW328104 dial?

Matte black, with blackened hands and white luminous markers. The white belongs to the case, not the dial — this reference inverts the usual Top Gun relationship between the two.

Does white ceramic discolour over time?

No. Zirconium oxide is chemically stable and UV-resistant, so it does not yellow the way white coatings do. The risk is at manufacture rather than in ownership — an uneven firing shows as a cast from the first day.

Which factory produces genuine ceramic Top Gun replicas?

FL Factory for the Top Gun references. Real fired ceramic rather than white-coated steel is the deciding factor, and coating fails visibly at the lug edges within months.

Is ceramic more fragile than steel?

It resists scratching far better and will not mark from desk or doorframe contact. It can crack under sharp impact where steel would dent. Normal wear poses no issue; a hard drop onto tile does.