IWC teams with Vast as Official Timekeeper of Haven-1
IWC Schaffhausen continues its pioneering spirit—now venturing into territory no watch brand has explored before. In a new collaboration with Vast, the company developing the world’s first commercial space station, IWC becomes the Official Timekeeper of that space station: Haven-1. Unlike past missions tied to government space programs, this partnership aligns a Swiss luxury watchmaker with a private space habitat designed for both scientific research and commercial use, marking a new chapter in the relationship between timekeeping and space exploration.
Haven-1 is the first commercially planned space station, being built by VAST.
Founded in 2021, Vast is advancing the next chapter of human space exploration with its Haven-1 station, scheduled to launch in 2026. Before then, the company will send Haven Demo, an orbital test platform, to trial critical technologies. Haven-1 is designed to serve private astronauts and government missions as both a home in low-Earth orbit and an innovation hub. Onboard, crews will conduct scientific research, technology development, and in-space manufacturing with the goal of improving life on Earth and supporting long-term space exploration.
Vast is a California-based company that has been working on the Haven-1 to be fully space ready.
For IWC, the collaboration extends a century-old legacy in aviation and engineering. Established in 1868 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, the brand is renowned for its instrument watches and its pioneering use of advanced materials such as titanium, ceramics, and Ceratanium®. With Vast, IWC will now apply its expertise to spaceflight readiness. Prototypes of future watches will be tested alongside station hardware at Vast headquarters, undergoing simulated launch vibrations and material compatibility evaluations. Some of these timepieces may ultimately be exposed to the same conditions as the Haven Demo and Haven-1 missions.
While modern spacecraft are equipped with digital systems, a mechanical watch offers astronauts something more elemental: a tangible, Earth-linked measure of time and a reminder of home. IWC CEO Chris Grainger-Herr has noted that the collaboration provides an opportunity to push research and development “for watches that are tested for spaceflight” while also creating emotional resonance for those living and working far from Earth.
Max Haot, CEO of Vast (left), Chris Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen
For Vast, this is its first brand partnership—a signal of the growing role private companies will play in the commercialization of low-Earth orbit. As CEO Max Haot has observed, both companies share a “passion for bold invention” and see the partnership as a milestone in space-ready watchmaking.
