IWC

Here is why the IWC steel cases you own, will propably last a very long while without being "stained".

Prolonged exposure in a saline tank....case samples are dissected and studied thru an electron microscope...for even the tiniest inclusions which would later show up as spots on the case. These will be rejected. Cases tested as a batch by batch basis.

 Many companies do these tests outhouse, with contracters. But IWC does it all inhouse..for many years already, even at the old factory, where I took these pics.

The new premises has a cool homologation room.

More pics later!

When you meet the man, you get the impression of a gentle, kind nature - but he is, of course, living out destructive tendencies from which most watch lovers would shrink in horror - hammer testing a skeleton perpetual, anyone?

Cheers, Dirk

The company takes in house testing seriously. It allows a close monitoring of incoming materials like raw steel case blocks that have not been machined. These tests filter out steel with many impurities as seen in the electron microscope.

Later, I will post some pics of this process.

i was debating between the big ingy and the 233 and it was really close.. but this attention to detail made me wanna go with the big Ingy... calling AD tomorrow :-D

riley

IWC was an axis from which operated JLC and Lange and iWC.

The inhouse tests allowed a flexibility of monitoring materials that were ordered from sub contractors, this was then passed on to in house manufacture or onwards to other sub contractors for cutting/polishing/manufacture etc etc.

Homologation then proceeded to inspect and test parts, bridges, screws, crystals, straps, and eventually prototyping fuly assembled watches.

Of course, fully functional watches were tested in house as well.

These invloves many stages, of which I will slowly post up one at a time in this forum.

Meanwhile, also look thru the Ulysse Nardin, Genta and Bulgari forums where other homologation processes take place, but along a different path.

The IWC homolation is, IMHO, one of the most orientated towards product function in the field, a most military approach that was a brainchild of several men of the past, Gunther Blumlein, Kurt Klaus, Richard Habring, and many others. It is designed to minimse returns, failures, and to detect stoppages over long periods extending beyond 20 years.

The man who runs the show...a post later.

I'm sorry, Bernard. What is the great advantag of in-house testing? Other than the potential for fast turnaround of results?

The tests shown here are pretty standard test procedures. Do you know whether IWCs test facility is certified?

Without understanding IWCs material flow and test regimes (sampling rate, traceability, etc), the presence of a laboratory really signifies very little.

 

Very comfortable.  I think I need to buy one.  Thanks for the great report!

I hope someone can chip in more on the details.

The stretch test not only acesses the strenght of the strap, but more importantly the plasticity of the material, as it is worn over time,temperature and humidity, the strap may deform and alter. Homologation done in house allows close charting of these elastic parameters which will feedback into IWC product improvement as the watch ages and evolves over 2008 thru 2010.

Many brands do these tests "out house", but the disadvantages are that information would no longer be exclusive, much information done inside IWC homologation department has allowed them a certain wisdom, exclusive to the brand. Much of this can be seen in the fact that they were able to make the Cal 5000 series, a huge full sized automatic rotor, something that today's modern watches do need, but has not been done en masse.

 

thanks for posting, Bernard. And it reminds me of how odd it is that we have no IWC forum here...

;>`

Regards,

Tony C.

However, I do agree..a company needs a site that is outside of their "juristriction"..it lends much more credibility. Certainly IWC can easily take on any questions, I have alays seen them as honest.

It is only in the last 2 to 3 years, that IWC seems to have launched itself into aggresive marketing...in a more commercial way.

Hi Dr,

Nice to go through the post you put up,very interesting indeed.Thanks for sharing and cant wait for you next post.(hammer).I have read through the IWC magazine about this hammer testing procedure and etc.

Thanks.

BHK9

The great thing about reading this site is no clutter on the table and more pics! My stacks of magazines some dating from 1995 are making the room look terrible..

IWC is still one of the few and perhaps the best amongst the watch houses that actually build watches meant to be used/abused. Their attention to detail is not limited to just aesthetics/outward appearances but go beyond. A nice touch that will surely make a difference down the road in this increasingly "good marketing/PR is enough to sell watches" horological age. Thanks for sharing Bernard!!!

main building as the reception?   Don't remember seeing that during my last visit but then again, it was almost 8years ago...