20 years of ARDOISE love (and a reveal)

Hi Forum friends,

I remember very well when during SIHH in 2006, the first Portuguese Automatic was released with an ARDOISE dial and our great forum friend & collector Richard S. ('Mister Ardoise' himself) was obviously the first to show pictures of his 5001 in white gold (soon to be upgraded to the fantastic PPC).
All I knew was that I really really wanted that watch, so I bought it later that year to celebrate my wife and I being together for 10 years:

I know you guys can count (LOL)... so this year, for our 20th anniversary, I decided to go ARDOISE again. This time I bought a watch I'd admired for quite a while and again.... it's a Portuguese, with an ARDOISE dial, but a sporty one!
It's the fabulous Portuguese Yacht Club, which I had fitted with the rubber strap with croco inlay. I'm really blown away by this watch, so I hope you enjoy it too:

Kind regards,

Bob

PS: and yes I bought something nice for my better half too ;-)

Congrats Bob to a great YC, with a superb strap, nice ardoise dial and your 20. anniversery.
Wear it in good health.

Cheers Chris

Beautiful watch, Bob. Congratulations on your second ardoise and completing your second decade of marriage.

Great, beautiful watch, Bob! Congratulations and enjoy all of the excuses to buy a new watch.

Kind regards,
Paul

Fantastic addition, Bob. Enjoy and wear it in good health along with the other Ardoise beauty.

You chose a beautiful "bookend" to your second decade of marriage, Bob. Congratulations are in order for both events...the anniversary and the Ardoise reveal.

Congratulations Bob on your 20th wedding anniversary and new ardoise addition. The YC looks fantastic and is a great complement to the the 5001 Portugeiser. May you wear them in good health for many years to come!

LOL, I know it appears to be like that Paul! Aren't you pretending to go on holiday to Switserland for that reason ;-)

Thanks Tonny, iPhone7 and some foggy weather does miracles.

A beauty! Wear it in good health! What is your wrist size? Could you post a few wrist shots from the distance?
BTW my watch was the first non-precious metal cased modern IWC with ardoise dial - made in 2010... :)
Best,
Robert

Hi, my wrist size is about 16.5-17 cm, rather small, so I ordered it with 2 XS straps (to replace the standard rubber strap and the one depicted with croco inlay). The nice thing is that IWC decreased the case size when this version was released 2 (?) years ago. It's only by a few millimeters but it certainly is a big difference when wearing it!

I'll post other pictures next week I think!

Regards,

Bob

PS: and that is a great Aquatimer you have

Thanks a lot for the quick reply! I know that your YC has cca. 2 mm smaller size than the previous model. My wrist is just 17 cm so your wrist shots will be very informative! If you are satisfied with the shorter strap I might be too - if I decide to go for it some day. Ihave to get used to the crown protectors and if IWC would announce to have an even smaller (say 40-41 mm) YC in the sortiment, without crown protectors, I think I'd prefer that one but to tell the truth unfortunately the 43.5 mm model is extremely sexy too... :)
Thanks again and waiting for next week's photos!
Best,
Robert
PS: And I'm expecting a new normal-sized AT Chrono with the day-date chrono caliber 69380, maybe in ardoise too... :)

First of all, congratulations on your 20th anniversary with your wife and second, what a stunning watch! Enjoy and wear it in good health.

Kind regards,

Clemens

Bob- three things:
What a great story.
What a great watch.
What great photos.
Well done all around!

Nelson

Here are some extra pictures Robert!

Wow, fantastic shots Bob! Congratulations on that gorgeous watch and your twenty year anniversary!

Congratulations with two big milestones Bob, a wonderful wedding anniversary and a gorgeous YC. That strap makes it much more classy - great choice!