Why?

It’s mostly cause of cost and maintenance reasons.

Then again, IWC makes aviator watches and I’m guessing pilots would hate having the fiddle with unscrewing the crown mid-flight, especially if they had gloves on.

I don’t know if I agree with cutting costs at these caliber and price point of watches but I do agree with pilots not wanting to fiddle with the crown. But the Longines Zulu has a screw down… the Rolex Airking has a screw down… just makes me wonder…I just can’t deal with a watch without a screw down no matter how nice the watch is.. just one of those pet peeves for me… similarly I need a date on all my watches 😅

What if the pilot needs to eject and parachute down to the ocean? GG? 🤣

Well, to be fair, its an aviation style piece. If you're worrying about getting a pilots watch wet, you've got bigger problems than what's on your wrist & I certainly won't be flying with you. 🤣

JK But honestly, I couldn't say why. My ProPilot isn't far off in style, nor is the crown particularly big but yet its threaded. Maybe its a cost related?

🤣no matter what it is you should never get on a plane with me if I’m flying it lol.

I just don’t feel it’s a cost thing at these price point of watches. I can understand cutting cost in Seiko 5’s but not on these IWC’s. I don’t know. 🤷🏻

Zulu is a GMT for a traveler, not necessarily the pilot. Can’t speak for the Rolex, they do their own shite.

Funny that you need a watch with a date cause there’s lot of folks on WC who hate seeing a date. I’m indifferent, just depends on the watch. Why a day/date on a diver Seiko?

If the pilot has to eject, a screw down crown on his IWC is the least of his worries. 😂

🤣🤣 I’m pretty sure most of us on this forum won’t be diving down to 500m in the Atlantic anytime soon or flying a F35 through Russia airspace. At least I won’t be lol. Therefore, I need my watches to be as practical as possible and the least would be a date when I’m filling out forms at the office 🤣

Because it doesn't need a screw down crown.

Given recent events, no one should even think about diving any deeper than 100m. If the water pressure doesn’t get you the orcas will.

I can’t talk about the F-35, I’d choose the F-22 or B-21.

Out of all the answers/suggestions I got so far I will go with yours. Straight to the point.

It’s like none of us really needs a watch here when we all have our phones reading these posts where there is the most precise time at the top left corner of the phone screen 🤣like who cares if the watch is accurate or not right? Lol

Wait a second..Let’s rewind here…So you are telling me that if you had to eject out of a plane and the first thing that comes to your mind is not thinking of how to protect your IWC from the water? I thought we were all watch enthusiasts here on this forum! 🤣😂

I agree and I understand the logic behind it. However, watches these days are not really made for the true original purpose but rather for guys like us here who wears our 300m WR watches to wash our cars on our driveways or our COSC certified ones just to ensure we arrive to the movies on time. I just feel they could add a little bit of extra security against the elements that’s all.

Probably because they're meant to be on the air, not under the water 😂

First thing I’d be worried about is if the canopy ejected. Talk to me Goose, talk to me…😭

Don’t think. Just do. I’d strap the parachute around my watch before myself if I had to🤣

I know I know 🤣 and realistically, I’ve taken my Casio Vintage swimming completely forgetting it was just WR rated and it was still fine. But it was also just $50 lol. I guess i just prefer that extra screw in for the peace of mind when we go and spend thousands on a frigging watch lol 🙈😂

So why did Rolex make the Air king with a twin lock crown system? 🤷🏻

Seconded. My IWC Spitfire Chrono and Mark XX both have screw down crowns.

I wonder if it has to do with the bronze case.

Iwc mark xviii is very similar aesthetic if u like that sort of watch and has screw down crown

I'm learning to have more faith in modern push-pull crowns to do their job well enough: provide modest WR and stay the hell put when pushed in. However, I have a lot of sympathy with 'just give me the screw crown when I pay the big money' and IWC largely charge the big money for relatively modest specs - when that's the case, the devil really is in the details. I can't recall a single watch enthusiast who has ever said "nice watch, just wish it had a push pull crown..."

I'd say tradition. Pilots watches never needed screw down crowns back in the day. And although some are now made with them, they're still not a style of watch that's "meant" to go bush with you.

I'd love all my watches to have screw down crowns and a minimum 100m, but "beware the pilot wearing a dive watch".... excellent choice there my friend....🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⌚🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⌚

Buy Fortis if you want the overbuilt tool flieger watches. Like other posters said, it doesn't need more than 50m of WR so they didn't bother.

Actually many push/pull crown watches can secure up to 200 meters + lower maintenance

The screw down crown isn't adding WR to my understanding 🤔 It's there to ensure that the crown stays in, because a "open" crown is not holding the water out.

Isn't this watch 6bars? I don't see the need for a screw down crown. They have added extra anti-magnetism and protection against pressure drops which makes sense. And it has enough WR for what ever you will do. If you are gonna dive then get a diver 😊

Screw down crowns also adds wear and tear compared to push pull. With the threads and all.

They probably don't because in effect a screw down crown is more likely to break and makes it more likely for water to get in.

Wow…. I guess I was misinformed by the salesperson from this store…🙈 I just checked IWC’s website and it does have a screw down🙈🤣

He told me there isn’t. And I couldn’t really tell because they had this plastic film that wraps around the watch case (not sure if you can see it in the pic) prettt much as soon as he told me there isn’t a screw down crown I lost interest and moved on so didn’t bother to do more research…… wow… I’m actually quite surprised the salesperson would give me false info… just wow

Just confirmed on the IwC website and it does have a screw down 🙈🤣😅 I was mislead by the salesperson… the display watch had a plastic film that wraps around the watch so I couldn’t test this at the store. As soon as he told me there isn’t one I lost interest and moved on and didn’t bother to research further… Wow… I am in shock that I was mislead… but in their defence the store carries multiple brands… but still…. Just wow

So I guess the answer to my post should simply be “ yes it does” 😂

Thank you @DeepCmonkey for enlightening me!!!

Hey but at least I did spark quite a few hilarious conversations from this! 🤣

It's a poer design. At that pricepoint (anything over $200.00) can and should have a screw down crown. Look at Seiko and Casio for examples. I wonder why Hamilton doesn't put a screw down crown on every piece

My mark xviii has a screw down crown. That can’t be right!

Some may say a Pilot’s swatch doesn’t need a screw down crown, but I think it should have it cause when you slap a rubber strap on it and you can do anything with it.

You are right. We found out that the salesperson gave me wrong intel 🙈 and because they had this wrapper that wrapped the entire case I couldn’t touch the crown to play around with it. Anyhow, although I love the spitfires, I’m currently patiently waiting on an Air King. I will pontentially go back to the spitfires in the future as I absolutely love that lineup from IWC!