The Dec. 12-19 auction will take place at IWC's Web site, www.iwc.com , and will feature a one-of-a-kind platinum timepiece along with a rare first edition of de Saint Exupéry's debut novel Courrier Sud (in English, “Southern Mail”), which bears the author's own handwritten dedication.

The watch on auction is a special-edition “Pilot's Automatic Edition Antoine de Saint Exupéry.” It's limited to 1,929 pieces in a nod to the publication date of Courrier Sud, but the timepiece on auction is the only one to be encased in platinum.

This special edition is an automatic watch with a power-reserve display, large seconds hand, a date indicator that resembles the altimeter display in an aircraft and a relief engraving on the back that outlines the geographic range of operations in de Saint Exupéry's era. (The author/aviator was born in 1900 and presumably disappeared in 1944 while on a flying mission during World War II.)

The watch, which is worn on a brown buffalo-leather strap, also features a 44-millimeter case and tobacco-colored dial marked with a silver A and large, luminous Arabic numbers and hands that glow in the dark. The inner case is made of soft iron, has a screw-in crown, is water-resistant to 60 meters and has a convex sapphire glass with antireflective coating on both sides.

The auction proceeds will benefit a school named in de Saint Exupery's honor, the Ecole des Sables—Antoine de Saint Exupéry, in the West African country of Mali. The institution provides schooling for children of the Tuareg, a wandering, nomadic people.

In a statement, IWC said it expects the December auction to feature exciting, competitive bidding.

Source: nationaljeweler.com