Up for sale is this rare vintage mid/late 1960s ref. 666 IWC Ingenieur in screwed stainless steel case. This rugged and elegant antimagnetic watch features a beautiful silver applied logo dial with stick hands and the classic Pellaton-winding auto caliber 853 under the hood, which has just been fully overhauled by my NYC Master Watchmaker. It is in overall Excellent original condition and comes with a 6-month movement warranty for all normal non-abusive use.
Not to be confused with the modern reissue, this is the genuine vintage article, one of the Big 3 of antimagnetic "scientist" watches, along with the Rolex Milgauss and Omega Railmaster. If you've ever searched for one of these you know they just don't come around very often so this is a great opportunity to own this iconic timepiece from IWC Schaffhausen.
The asking price for this all time classic IWC 666 Ingenieur is
$5850 USD including fully insured FedEx shipping worldwide. Bank Wire only on this transaction please. Payment must be made in US DOLLARS. Watch will ship upon full clearance of the funds, as well as any necessary bank vetting.
CASE & BACK: Large 37mm wide (
not including crown) by 44mm long Stainless Steel 3-piece case with screwed back. Correct polished lug tops and bezel and satin finished sides. Big for the standards of the time and certainly by IWC standards, the classic recessed-crown 666 also measures a beefy 13mm thick to the top of the crystal due to the Faraday cage construction. This case shows polish only to the lugs, IMO, and I have just had the bezel lightly buffed at service. There are some minor scuffs & scratches but the case is easily in Excellent+ vintage condition. Stamped 1.6 million serial number between the "6" lugs, unique to the Ingenieur line at this period, is also present. Originally rated for 10 ATM, the water resistant, dedication-free notched caseback is in Very Good+ condition with the original factory finish evident but some scratches from poor opening technique in the past. I believe that until about the late 1960s and the introduction of the Yacht Club, the Ingenieur was one of the very few watches that IWC produced with screwdown case construction.
DIAL & HANDS: Gorgeous silver dial with applied IWC logo and black-accented markers is all original and Excellent with all luminous dots intact. By my tough standards, the only defects are some small rub marks/signs of age to the sunburst finish and an almost imperceptible "warp"/crease of the soft iron dial above the Ingenieur logo that is pretty much impossible to photograph and damn hard to see with the naked eye. This is the more "modern" style of Ingenieur dial mostly found on cal. 854x generation models but for whatever reason a lot of these non-date cal. 853s appear to have this later-style dial from new. My guess would be that having moved on to a newer generation movement as well as an upcoming redesign for the cal. 854 ref. 866 Ingy, IWC were anxious to use up their remaining stocks of 853 movements and old-style cases and these non-date 666s were in fact cased a year or two later than their serial ranges would indicate. But it could just be as simple as a transitional overlap period between the end of the 853 and beginning of the 854, with both calibers being sold simultaneously for a brief period, albeit with the newer dial design. Matching baton hands are Excellent+ with a small loss of original Tritium luminous on the minute hand having been beautifully repaired by my watchmaker at service.
MOVEMENT: In-house Caliber 853 21-jewel full rotor movement with patented Pellaton automatic winding system with shock protection and inner anti-magnetic dust cover with an antimagnetic rating of 80,000 (1000 gauss) and 1.62 million movement serial. This classic movement, which some consider one of the best mass-produced automatics ever manufactured, has just been comprehensively overhauled by my watchmaker including the installation of a new mainspring. Therefore it is keeping very good time with strong power reserve and is guaranteed for 6-months of normal, non-abusive use. As you may know, vintage IWC parts are extremely difficult to source on the secondary market and one usually has to send the watch to Schaffhausen for a very expensive service where they will in all likelihood replace the Tritium dial with a repainted modern Luminova one. So having the movement freshly lubricated and overhauled will save you a lot of headaches, as well as big bucks!
CROWN: Correct recessed water resistant push-in steel "Fish" crown shows some light wear, Excellent condition. The crown pushes in tightly to the case, winds the movement and pulls out to the non-hack time setting position exactly as it should.
CRYSTAL: Low dome acrylic crystal shows some light scratches but no cracks or chips and is quite clear, Excellent condition.
BAND: This great Ingenieur comes on a brand new Hadley-Roma black Italian calfskin strap with croc pattern. It has only been worn by me once or twice to wind the watch and shoot some pictures. This IWC takes 18mm straps.
I make NO guarantees for the water resistance of this watch in any way, shape or form.
This classic vintage IWC is offered with a 3-day inspection period from the date of receipt and may be returned for a full refund less any shipping costs incurred by the buyer. This refund is unconditional and once I get the watch back in exactly the same condition as it was sent to you, your money will be refunded. Of course, once the 3 days are over the sale will be considered FINAL.
Thanks for looking,
T.
tomvox1 AT hotmail DOT com
United States
