When I was growing up, British sporting champions were rare. The past 20 years has seen that change, thankfully, and it’s been a pleasure to watch our cricket and rugby teams lift trophies, not to mention the likes of Sir Andy Murray, Sir Mo Farah, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sir Bradley Wiggins – the list goes on and on. But a seven-time world champion? Seven?

It’s hard to comprehend how good you have to be at something to defeat all comers time after time after time, let alone in a sport as brutally difficult as F1. So, when Mr Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag at the Turkish Grand Prix, sealing a record-equalling seventh Formula 1 World Championships, I just shook my head in awe. However, being a fully paid-up watch nerd, watching the post-race coverage something caught my eye. What was Mr Hamilton wearing on his wrist?

Looking more closely at Mr Hamilton’s wrist, I confess I found myself confused. His long-standing sponsorship deal with IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN meant I knew I was looking at a Big Pilot’s Perpetual Calendar (plus, any watch nerd worth their salt can ID that four subdial layout, even from a grainy, zoomed-in Twitter pic). But this looked… wrong.

Mr Hamilton has put his name to a limited-edition perpetual calendar with IWC before – a glamorous, flamboyant number with a burgundy-red dial and gold details. This was something else, however, and what really gives it away is the strap. Here, his watch clearly has a metal bracelet, which – a quick check of IWC’s catalogue, followed by a quick Google to be sure it’s not an old model – has never happened. All Big Pilot’s Perpetual Calendars come on alligator leather, you see. And here, well, it’s the clear glint of metal.

It turns out being the Greatest Of All Time in your field and Stevenage’s most famous son (sorry Mr Jack Wilshere) does open a few doors. IWC created this one-of-one Big Pilot’s Perpetual Calendar earlier this year and delivered it to Mr Hamilton in October, and he’s been proudly wearing it ever since. It has a case and bracelet made from Ceratanium, IWC’s proprietary blend of ceramic and titanium, noted for its robust qualities, scratch resistance, light weight and matt black finish. It’s the first time IWC has made a bracelet from the material, which is a challenge to machine, if not the first time it has cased a perpetual calendar in it.

However, Mr Hamilton’s watch also has a somewhat incredible dial – almost all of the calendar subdials have been rendered in black-on-black-on-black, with only a few white details left to stand out: the hands, the year and the moonphase indicator. IWC says it has been created to match the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team’s black livery for the 2020 season, an unprecedented move taken at Mr Hamilton’s request, to lend weight to their support of the Black Lives Matter movement. There are no plans to put this watch into wider production, says IWC.

So, sadly you can’t have one. But don’t feel bad – you probably can’t go from sixth to first on a treacherously damp track against elite competition in one of the fastest vehicles ever created, either. And hey, there are a great many IWC Pilot’s watches on offer that require no risk to life and limb whatsoever. Let’s let Mr Hamilton have this one to himself. He’s earnt it.