IWC Should Really Be Getting More Respect

Its impossible now for a watch enthusiast to not see countless videos of watch influencers ranking watch brands against each other and letting their personal bias influence the rankings. When I was in the thick of my formative years in collecting watches, the main way to get information and viewpoints on watches was through watch magazines.

These magazines really didn’t put much bias into their reviews and news and it was pretty much up to you to make up your own opinions. Maybe it is a bit unfair, but I was also able to be around watches from every fine watch brand for a period of years in the mid to late 2000s. This exposure to the actual watches, along with extended wrist time with tons of watches formed my opinion on certain brands.

I can see based on the current media being put in front of newer watch enthusiasts how their opinions are being formed. If I was a new watch collector today, I’d think that Rolex, Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Richard Mille were really the only names that mattered in the watch industry. While I do have great respect for AP, Patek and RM, they are not and should not be the only regarded names in the watch industry. Rolex on the other hand is another story… they build a great watch, but if you’re looking at horological value, Rolex doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on given their most complicated watch is an annual calendar.

What I’m here to talk about today is how one of my personal favorite brands, IWC, is often ranked in the middle of the pack of watch brands being ranked. Is there personal bias here for me defending IWC? Of course there is, but hopefully I can put some examples in play that show IWC should definitely be ranked towards the top of watch manufacturers.

For a quick history of IWC… IWC was founded by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen in 1868. The original goal of the International Watch Company (IWC) was to produce high quality pocket watches for the American market. Since its founding, IWC had been in operation continually as an independent watch brand until being purchased by Richemont in 2000.



IWC produced their first wristwatch around 1899 out of a modified pocket watch and started making their dedicated wristwatch movements in 1915. 1936 brought about IWC’s first Pilots watch built with an antimagnetic escapement, with 1940 bringing around the B-Uhr Pilots watch for the German Luftwaffe that would later inspire the Big Pilot. In 1967 IWC also debuted their Aquatimer, which was a water resistant watch boasting 20 bar of water resistance. In 1980 IWC released the first chronograph watch created in titanium and in 1982 they released a watch that had 2000 meters of water resistance, both created in collaboration with Porsche Design.

The above history gives a good glimpse into why IWC has a rich history, but doesn’t really touch upon why they should be ranked in the higher tier of active watch manufacturers… but before I go into my reasoning for regarding IWC higher, let’s touch upon my experience with IWC.

After owning two Omega Speedmasters, I choose IWC to be my first next level watch purchase. The watch I ended up deciding on was the GST Chronograph Automatic in titanium. I just loved the look and lightness of titanium and at the time thought that I chronograph was really the complication to have in a watch. Next up, I did get engaged while wearing an original Big Pilot 5002, so that watch will always be important to me. I have owned an Aquatimer Automatic IW356802, Big Pilot Heritage and Big Pilot Miramar as well. I do currently own a Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar in black ceramic as well as a GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium.



Ok now having got the history of IWC as well as my personal IWC collection out of the way, let’s get on to why I feel IWC should rank amongst the best watch manufacturers…

The first watch we need to talk about came out in 1985 in the form of the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar IW3750. Although this watch used a modified ETA 7750 as its base movement, the real star of the show here was the perpetual calendar module. This module was designed by master IWC watchmaker Kurt Klaus and was acclaimed for both how much the perpetual calendar had been simplified and the low cost to manufacture. This module used just over 80 components to achieve an extremely accurate perpetual calendar that only needed to be adjusted once every 122 years. Something also very unique to the module was that all the calendar functions could be controlled via the crown, getting rid of the complex method of setting a perpetual calendar via case pushers. Also the Klaus module featured a four digit year display, which is very unique to this perpetual calendar. A version of this perpetual calendar module is still being used to this day by IWC, including in my Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar.



The next watch we need to look at is the Doppelchronograph IW3711. The IW3711 was the first watch to feature a modular split seconds chronograph, in this case added on to the ETA 7750. The module was designed by Richard Habring in 1991. Before this watch, the split seconds chronograph was really only for the highest of complicated watches and in turn had prices that reflected that. The Doppelchronograph IW3711 brought high complications to watches that people could actually afford.



Following up on the Da Vinci IW3750, IWC came out with the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Tourbillion IW375203 in 2000. Like the IW3750 before it, this watch also used the 7750 as the base movement and used the Kurt Klaus designed perpetual calendar module, but added a tourbillion. The tourbillion which is often regarded as the pinnacle of complications was only visible through the caseback. The only clue to its inclusion in this watch was the word “Tourbillion” on the dial.



The 1990s really brought IWC into their own as creators of highly complicated watches. In 1990 IWC got the attention of watch world with the creation of the IWC Grande Complication IW3770. IWC already had a solid base with the 7750 movement which now had a tourbillion, perpetual calendar as well as a split seconds chronograph. One thing missing was the minute repeater complication. IWC was having an extremely hard time getting a minute repeater to pair with the 7750, and ended up tapping the tremendous ability of soon to be super star watchmakers in Dominique Renaud and Giulio Papi to solve their issues.



The follow up to the Grande Complication was 1993’s Il Destriero Scafusia (The Warhorse of Schaffhausen) Grand Complication. In reply to the Patek Philippe Caliber 33 high complication, the Blancpain 1735 and the Audemars Piguet Triple Complication, the Il Destriero Scafusia was IWC’s world beating watch that put the most respected Swiss manufacturers of Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Blancpain in their place. IWC threw everything in their arsenal into this watch, which was still unbelievably based on the 7750 base movement. This included a perpetual calendar with four digit date, rattrapante chronograph, minute repeater and a flying tourbillion. Even thirty years later the Il Destriero Scafusia is considered among the most complicated watches every produced with 33 complications included.



Now that we’ve gone through some of the extremely notable complicated watches that IWC released in their storied history, we can address one big elephant in the room as to why IWC might not be held in the same regards as some of the other celebrated watch manufacturers. Although IWC started off making their own movements, they did start using a lot of base ETA calibers. Even my GST Aquatimer 2000 uses a base ETA 2892, and we just got done going over some of the crazy things IWC did with the 7750 base caliber.



Starting in the 2000s, IWC once again started producing their own in-house movements with the caliber 5000. The caliber 51000 and 52000 series found use in the Big Pilots and Portugieser series of watches. This caliber boasted over 7 days of power reserve and featured the large rotor Pellaton self-winding system. IWC soon followed up with the 80000 caliber for Ingeniuer models and the 59000 caliber for the Portofino hand wound watches.

Besides these more basic movements, IWC has also come out with the caliber 94000 which it uses for astronomical displays and for the constant force tourbillion. The 98000 caliber was also created in-house for IWC’s tourbillion and minute repeater models. With all of these in-house calibers, IWC has truly become a true in-house movement manufacturer, solving one of the long running complaints with IWC.

I’ll now move on to some more modern watches from the IWC catalog that showcase not only high complications, but also the use of innovative materials that put IWC right up with the best in terms of horological marvels and design.

The first watch I’d like to touch on is the Aquatimer Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Edition “50 Years of Aquatimer” IW379403. This 49 mm watch is crafted out of Ceratanium, which was developed by IWC. Ceratanium combines the lightness of titanium and combines it with the hardness and scratch resistance of ceramic. This Aquatimer also has a big digit display for the day and the month of the perpetual calendar. The in-house caliber 89802 features 474 components and 51 jewels with a 68 hour power reserve. All of this is featured in a watch with a water resistance of 330 feet. It’s very rare to see a perpetual calendar in a for real divers watch, with maybe only some Ulysse Nardin and Jaeger LeCoultre examples.



Next up we’re going to talk about the Portuguese Siderale Scafusia released in 2011. The Portuguese Siderale Scafusia was created in-house by IWC with the help from Jean-Francois Mojon. The Portuguese Siderale Scafusia displays sidereal time at 12 o’clock, which is time based on Earth’s rotation around a fixed star, which is around four minutes shorter than our typical solar day. The Portuguese Siderale Scafusia also features a constant force tourbillion at 9 o’clock. As that watch loses power, the constant force kicks and makes the tourbillion move in dead seconds, or one second increments. On the back of the watch is a star chart display tailored to the owner’s preference. The back of the watch also features a perpetual calendar which is on the perimeter of the caseback. A leap year indicator and sunrise and sunset times are also displayed. This is truly a high complication timepiece that any of the holy trinity brands would be proud to produce.



Finally we’ll finish up our look at more modern IWC watches with the current catalog Portugieser Grande Complication IW377601. This current Grande Complication is crafted in platinum and measures a large 45 mm. The caliber 79091 is based on the 7750 base movement like Grande Complications of the past and features a perpetual calendar, minute repeater and chronograph. It’s a nice throwback to the Grande Complication and Il Destriero Scafusia’s of the past in a more modern package.



Maybe it’s just me, but with the long and rich history of IWC, along with some of the most complicated watches ever produced, it is crazy to me that people tend to group IWC in with midlevel watch brands that have never produced a more complicated watch than a GMT. I believe a lot of watch influencers look at IWC and just bypass what they have done for horology and see the brand as only producing simple pilot’s watches using off the shelf movements, which is just so far from the truth.

We saw the reality of this recently when IWC re-released their Ingeniuer and everyone came out in arms at how much IWC was charging for the watch. This integrated sports watch starts at just over $11,000 and features an in-house IWC 32111 caliber. When you compare that price to the base price of an Audemargs Piguet Royal Oak ($27,800), Patek Philippe Nautilus ($31,940), Vacheron Constantin Overseas ($25,000) and a Girard Perregaux Laureato ($14,300), you start to see that the Ingeniuer is actually a great value given IWC’s heritage.



Now would I rank IWC at the same height of say AP or Patek? No I would not, but they wouldn't be far off. IWC has done some truly amazing things and one of the most important things to them is keeping costs down making the brand accessible to most watch collectors. The top of their achievements do rival the best of the best, but at the same time the brand isn’t unachievable as a whole as say Richard Mille. I don’t feel like having affordable simple models should ding the brand down to levels of newer brands that have never done high complications nor have the rich history of IWC. I honestly feel IWC should get the respect they deserve and be ranked amongst the best in the industry.