IWC

This 8 parts consist mostly of images and complementing SJX's earlier post:  CLICK HERE .

On the 3 March, IWC South-East Asia invited the press to  preview  this new Pre-SIHH Vintage Collection at 11:15am.

Greeted by the IWC Jubilee logo.


Location was at the Arts House, Singapore Old Parliament House, a colonial building.

Very relevant to theme of IWC.   The colonial building was painted in white, and the colour theme for IWC is the clean-cut and minimalist black & white.  Even the jublilee theme is black & white!

Good choice of venue, Connie.

And a huge poster with IWC founder, F.A. Jones & his great work.

Arrived a bit early, preparation was still on.  That's Andreas Boesch,  General Manager of IWC SE Asia.






Mr. Hannes Pantli, Member of the Board of Directors, one of the important people who worked for the survival of IWC in 70s.

Glad to have a chat with Mr. Hannes Pantli... more about him and his watches later.


This Jubilee Collection, besides celebrating IWC's 140 years anniversary , it is also paying homage to the First model in each of the 6 families.

They are ( arranged in the sequence of their introduction year)  :

Be it Air, Land or Sea range, IWC has them all.

The new Jubilee pieces consist of 3 manual wind ( all Calibre 98XXX) and 3 automatic with the Pellaton winding system ( all are Calibre 80111).

Very soon, the new Jublilee pieces will appear in everywhere.   I decided to have more pictures of the great vintage pieces and some comparison shots of the past & present!



"The future is a present given  to us by the  past."   
                                                             ~ André Malraux


Enjoy!


Kong


This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2008-03-25 14:52:10

This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-28 23:15:24

This Pilot's Watch of 1936 was the predecessor of the famous Mark XI (11) and the WWW Mark X (10).

Was this piece of  Pilot's 1936 a Mark IX?

A picture of the new Pilot & Portuguese


Spotted any differences?



A picture of the 2 extremes - the Air & the Sea













This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 06:57:03

I like this piece... a sucker for small second pieces.

The “chemin de fer” – railway – style in both the minute and second chapter rings.

A picture of whitel dial Pilot & Portuguese


The new Jubilee Portuguese still has the same “chemin de fer” – railway – style on both the minute and second chapter rings.  The arabic numerals for the odd-number-hour indices were replaced.
Somehow a quick glance, it reminds me of the Harbring² Time Only.

Among all the 6 Jubilee pieces, the Portuguese has the thinest casing, at 10mm.
Pretty sleek even at diameter 44mm. 





This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 07:23:32

A picture of the white dial Ingenieur and Portofino











This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 07:32:34

Like the straps and the pedal-second hand.




A picture of the Jubilee Da Vinci and Aquatimer.




This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 07:47:23

Are you the owner of the ref 812?....Never seen that stamp of dial before (just curious).

All the vintage pieces photographed belong to IWC.
I wish it was mine

Kong

Strange dial but that sometimes happens with lots held by manafacturers.

Wow...this piece of Beta21 Da Vinci has the most outstanding casing.  Consider it was designed in 1969.
Seem to be still relevant today, remains contemporary and avant garde.
You either like it or hate it!

Besides the striking casing, the bracelet was well made.

The bracelet seemed to flow.... actually when worn, this vintage Da Vinci grab the wrist snugly.

The Jubilee Da Vinci without the bracelet but a formed straps.

Quite a looker....your friends can recognise the Da Vinci by the case-shape from far!

A side by side shot of the past & present

Sharper edges and corners for the Jubilee version. Observe the stiffness of the straps at the formed lug-areas.


I'm quite intrigued by the Jubilee Da Vinci.  Somehow the aesthetic reminds me of the Yenko Camaro & Mustang.
However the formed leather straps do not sit nicely on my pencil-wrist.
The above picture will explain why.  Hopefully after the straps would soften after frequent wearing.





This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 08:25:21

This piece of vintage Portofino is a stunner!

Though it was at 46mm diameter, the lugs-design ensure the watch embrace your wrist nicely.
This could be the First large diameter watch, done in 1984... too ahead of its time.
Perhaps it was weird to wear something over 40mm then.

Simply Beautiful and elegant!

Anyone wonder how to set the moon phase?

Truly a wearable Lepine pocket-watch.  Beautful movement -5251.

Coming on are 2 new pictures of the Jubilee version.

So has anyone wondered the reason the 2 sub-dials are relocated?

Somehow the vintage Portofino's movement was of Lepine construction, with the small second in-line with the winding shaft.  And it was considered a flaw (not sure of the reason/s), so it was decided to convert to Savonette construction, where the winding shaft and small seconds display stand at an angle of 90° to one another.

It was explained in the press release :

"The Portofino Hand-Wound, a dream of a watch with its narrow Roman numerals, small seconds display and, as a counterpart to it, a lunar phase display, does however take this opportunity to correct a “quick fix” used in the 1980s.

For Reference 5251, as it then was, had a charming flaw in that the movement used normally drove an open Lépine pocket watch. And that means that the winding shaft and small seconds display are located in a direct line, in contrast to the Savonette construction of the movement, where the winding shaft and small seconds display stand at an angle of 90° to one another.

However, the ultraflat 95-calibre for Reference 5251 did not exist in the Savonette construction. And so here, the two indications of lunar phase display and seconds display ended up in a horizontal position at “3.00” and “9.00” – which looked interesting, but from the watchmaker’s point of view was not quite right. In the Vintage Portofino, this “positioning flaw” is remedied by the choice of the 98800-calibre Savonette movement. And through this, the lunar phase and seconds displays finally end up at their traditional places, at “12.00” and “6.00”. "

I prefer the white dial as the black dial, the contrast is not good.  However the preliminary pricing for the Pt was about 3 times that of SS!

After looking through all the 6 Jubilee pieces, I would place my Top 3 as follows:

1) Portofino
2) Portuguese &
3) Da Vinci

However the vintage pieces are difficult to forget, especially the Portofino.

Kong


 

This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 09:56:05

Some pictures of the new collection to close :

The casing for all black dials are in Stainless Steel, while the white dials are in Platinum, limited to 500 pcs for each family.

The Pilot's Watch and The Portuguese (Both Hand-wound)

The Da Vinci and The Aquatimer (Both Automatic)

The Ingenieur (Automatic) and The Portofino (Hand-wound)

The Jubilee Collection

A side by side look of the past and the present.


That's all.

Kong



For detailed specifications, please proceed to the press release by click here .






This message has been edited by Kong on 2008-03-25 09:39:05

I wonder if other brands will follow and reintroduce vintage looking pieces. 

Cheers,
Anthony

Anthony, Longines also did a 1960's remake of their diver's watch and its looks quite similar to IWC's. Think it was launched last year.

Cheers!
Lionel

No message body

Kong,

Thanks for the real-life in-person photos and impressions.

Good to have feely-touchy reports.

I'm in 2 minds about back-to-the-future editions.

On one hand, I like that we get a flavour of the originals that never can be found by ordinary folk i.e. not those with $million and private museums.

On the other hand, perhaps we should let bygones be bygones and not hang on to "icons"; we should seek true "faith" and advance design.  Or do w think that design is just a Circle of Life?  Discuss......................

Regards, MTF

Dear Dr MTF,

In 1978 in the coastal city of Shenzhen overlooking Hong Kong, the most enlightened leader of modern China said " never mind black cat or white cat, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat." There you go.

The beauty of history . . . is . . . history always repeats itself . . . . because  . . . we are humans and human nature . . .  never change (Ok, now bigger is better).

Horological developements over the last 250 years has been extensive and what we are seeing at this age are refinements of what have already been done in the past. It is only natural that someone dips into this 250 yr old magic hat to fish out something that is relevant to this present age.

So I'm fine with "designs" being "recycled". We should go "green".

And thinking of going green, we are so fortunate the watch is powered by air and not by petrol.

Regards.

 

Most things in life is innovation, once in a while we get invention.

To do innovation, sometimes you have to reflect to the past, for history is a good and reliable source of knowledge.

So "replica, homage, recycle" designs are OK in my eyes. Outright fake (you use somebody else's brand) is a NO NO to me, other than that everything is OK.

In fact in business, there is such thing as "benchmarking" i.e. taking the best practice and apply it to our organisation. And what's the best and most economical practice other than "copying" a better management practice?

Maybe I'm a bit extreme in this regard, but maybe I'm extreme in nature

cen@jkt

ps: in my biz, a lot of people copy my designs, i don't give a damn, as long as they don't use my brand. i believe it's my duty to improve and move 2 steps ahead of the copycats.

 

Was dying to see the Portofino's moon and moon disc in real life (well, at least a real life pic). A bit disappointed that it's not as stunning as the Portuguese Perpetual Calender but I guess if its to look 'vintage', they can't and shouldn't do too much 'decoration' to it.

Cheers!
Lionel

Thanks Kong for the "live" photos. I like all the designs and I suspect I'm not the only one thinking of getting the vintage pieces, if they are still reasonably affordable!

Original is the best i think

 

 

 

Regards

The only thing I regret on the Pilot and on the Aquatimer is that IWC didn't find a solution to make their luminova less green , and more Vintage...A creamy color should have been nicer, IMHO...And woild have lead me to go on them...
But there are again the non luminova pieces, the 4 others...
And among these 4, The Portofino, and the Portuguese are highly desirable...
A wrist test is mandatory...
Yes, I'm thinking that it's a good and nice idea to re introduce these Vintage pieces to the catalogue...
And a bad idea for my wallet! LOL
Best.
Nicolas

Kong,

Thanks,for bringing it live to us.

Amazed with the release of these vintage design watch again to the modern fans.As usual,impressive by Port.and portifino looking forward for a try.Heard they made them in  50 collection/sets world wide?Hope it will not be over price......LOLOL.

BHK9