IWC watches - a tradition of quality

There was a time when I collected vintage watches, many of them military timepieces. One of my favourites (now long gone) was an IWC Mark 11 (or Mk XI) watch, issued to pilots by the RAF from the late nineteen forties through to the eighties. Like all military watches, it was robust, simple in design and easy to read. Made as a chronometer, accurate enough for aerial navigation, it was remarkably accurate even sixty years after manufacture.

IWC Mk XI (image Grey Fox)

The IWC Mk XI was a beautiful watch to wear and I miss it. The problem with watch collecting is that you're always after that next purchase and, as a result, many watches are sold and later regretted and that's the reason I stopped collecting seriously.

However, I was recently shown IWC's watch collection here in London and in Switzerland, where they're based in Schaffhausen in the north of the country where they were founded (as the International Watch Co.) by an American in 1868. I was delighted to see that the quality, simplicity of design and robustness, which had drawn me to the vintage IWC, still shines out in their products.

Here are a two of the ranges of IWC watches that caught my eye, starting with a direct descendant of the Mark XI - the IWC Pilot's watches:

IWC Mk XVII (image Grey Fox)

IWC's pilot's watch range comes in many guises and vary in diameter from 36mm (in the beautiful reference 3240) to 46 mm in the larger pilot's watches. All have a family look, generally with black dials and elegant sword hands which make reading the time quick and easy. 

Above is a picture of the Mk XVII. This and the recently-launched Mk XVIII (a real favourite of mine in the black-dialled version pictured below) take a simple approach which relies heavily on the original military design. 

IWC Mk XVIII

My other favourite in the IWC lineup is the Portugieser which varies in diameter from about 41mm to over 45mm:

IWC Portugieser 8 Days - hand-wound and gorgeous (image Grey Fox)

Again, this is a direct descendant of a classic design. First introduced in the late thirties in response to a request from two Portuguese (hence the name) businessmen who wanted chronometer-accurate watches. To achieve the required accuracy at that time, a pocket watch movement was used resulting in a slightly larger wristwatch which is hand-wound. As with the Pilot's watches, I'm drawn to the simplicity of the Portugieser, so elegant, despite the larger size.

IWC Portugieser ref. 3714 - one of the smaller at 40.9mm

This is a very personal selection and I hope in due course to show more of the IWC range. You too can spend a happy half hour browsing the IWC website if you want to know more about their range of watches.

This feature is unsponsored, although I did attend an event with IWC which was featured here.