2011 Forum Holiday Drawing!

My first IWC was an IWC UTC (now referred to as the UTC 'classic'). It was the year 2000(ish), i was with the family in Southern Spain, and there in the window ... beautiful! I was into watches for quite a while, but never into a specific brand. But that changed instantly. There in the window, nicely lit, was the IWC UTC with a beautiful brown strap. Days i thought about it. Almost forgetting to enjoy the vacation. Returning to the shop and standing outside several times. Finely i thought: what the ****! I drove to the shop, went in, asked if i could see the UTC .... and i was sold (and so was the watch). I still have the UTC and still wear it regularly. It has been serviced twice and recently given it's fourth strap.

Since then i bought more watches, the majority of them IWC. Some of them i sold, but not the UTC. I guess i will never sell it. I like the size (contrary to recent trends i'm not a big fan of watches over 41-42 mm), the layout of the dial and the complication (love a second timezone).

In fact i love it so much i decided to look for a platinum one. I'm not sure why, maybe to 'celebrate' my first 'real' watch :-) While i'm not in a hurry, if i walk past a window and see a beautiful classic platinum IWC UTC with the blue dail i just might enter the shop and ask if i can see the watch ... and be sold all over again.

Prior to June 2010, I thought that spending more than a $100 on a watch was silly. In fact, the only two watches I owned then was a Timex I used for hiking and a Kenneth Cole my mother bought me. I received an Amazon gift card from someone in June for my birthday and after much debating, research, and agonizing over the $80 I had to add to the value of the gift card, I bought a Tissot PRC200, which in many ways was my first "real" watch. I came across few watch forums (such as WUS) while I "researched" the Tissot, I saw a picture of the 3714-17; I instantly fell in love with it. The only problem was that I didn't think I could ever afford it nor did I think it wise to spend that much money on a watch. Though after that, I began to spend a little more money on watches - $400 here, $400 there, until I bought my first mechanical watch, a Panerai, in August 2010, but my desire was never satiated. A few other watches came and left, but something was missing. The purchases just never satisfied me. I'd buy it, wear it for a few weeks, then realize I just wasn't in love with it. Gradually, the watches became more and more expensive. I went from the $80 that I had to add to the gift card, to hundreds, and then nearly $4000, and gradually up.

And then one day in August 2011, it happened. I told myself I should just buy an IWC. I walked into an AD to look for the 3714-17 - the one that caught my eye and got me started on this crazy journey (or at least an IWC), but alas, that dial combination was not in stock. No matter, what about the 5001-07? Well, they had one in stock and I tried it on. I also tried on a few other IWCs, but nothing echoed with me as much as the 5001 did that day.

I went home, thought about it some more, and a week or two later, this showed up at my door.

Ahhhhhh, the joy. I love it, I absolutely love it. And that is how I came to find my first IWC. A far cry from that painful $80, for sure. ;)

The lesson to newcomers? Just buy what you wanted in the first place, especially if it's an IWC. They represent incredible values, and worth every penny.

My fascination with mechanical watches started last year and it was early this year that I started to pay attention to IWC. I was very much drawn to the Wempe edition of the Portugese regulateur. I am still very fond of the Portugese line in general and it would probably be my next IWC. I was also looking a lot at the Vintage Da Vinci on the forum as one of the collectors showed very well its interesting form with his nice pictures posted. Having the opportunity to try on a few models with a dealer, I was shown the Misson Earth among others. I was immediately impressed from the scale and weight to the details and have settled for it to be my first IWC. My second IWC would be the AT chrono which was out of my guess at that time again . I find it very interesting that looking at and trying an IWC in the metal give me quite a different impression compared to looking at two dimensional images, making experiences of visits to dealers and the boutiques truly amazing (& dangerous lol).

I considered myself quite a frugal person. People who have known me for a while know that I don't spend much money on flashy things. Watches, in my mind, are flashy things.

Unlike some folks here who have mentioned that they hadn't worn anything other than quartz watches before their first IWC... well... I wasn't in that extreme. I have my share of Rolex, Omega and Cartier... but they were mostly gifts from my family/relatives to commemorate special occasions. Besides these, I have never purchased a watch costing more than US$2000 until very recent years. For the record, I have only purchased watches like Oris, Hamilton and the like (yeah... those affordable brands). Most of these are just tool-watch for me.

My parents and grandparents were very into watches. They have plenty of Rolexes/AP/PP/JLC... yet for some reasons they never excited me. When I was a kid, paying visits to the local watch shops had been a habit to my family, but a difficult chore for me to bear.

Quickly zooming into the early 2000... I came across a GST titanium while doing some window-shopping. My eyes popped out and my heart jumped out. How could a watch look that elegant and good? Instantly I fell in love with it. However, spending that amount for a watch was way beyond consideration at that time for me.

My love for IWC has quietly started since I saw that GST. At times I have purchased watches as replacement... fooling myself that I wouldn't need to spend that much on a watch. I even bought a Porsche Design at a removal sales, and later a Casio titanium Protrek, fooling myself into believing that... I could have cheaper alternative than to buy an IWC...

Well... my plan didn't work. I started to go looking at the window displays where IWCs were shown. Slowly, the GST's have disappeared. Then, the titanium Aquatimers caught my eyes. I thought they looked even better than the GST. Then, came the titanium Ingenieur...

all pipe-dreams to me, I think. Spending over US$5000 for a watch was an absurd idea to me still. Nonetheless, my yearning for an IWC still hasn't died. So, I began going to 2nd-hand shops to look for IWCs...

I came across a used GST Rattrapante selling at a 2nd-hand shop. It was still selling at around US$4000, although didn't come with papers. I struggled for a long time, finally had the guts to go ask the owner to let me try it on. The bracelet was too short... and the owner didn't have any additional links. OK, good, I said to myself... my US$4000 was safe.

A week has gone by... (did I say I still went back to take a peek at the watch almost every other day?) the GST was finally gone! replacing it was a titanium AMG ingenieur with nylon/leather strap. How lovely! and a lot more affordable too! so, I went and tried it on... but I noticed that the strap already had some cracks on it... too bad.

Since I had already taken some bold steps to try it on... I knew then my heart was sold. As I walked around looking for another AMG Ingenieur, I came across a shop having removal sales!

Better yet, it had one of my dream watches... the AMG chronograph! The sales even gave me a really good discount to pass up... so, there I was, taking home happily with the trophy!

(I said to myself--hey, I could go wild just once... I would just pay this much for a watch -ONCE-... yeah right... little did I know, soon I already have 5 IWC's in my possessions, and I know very well that more will come...)

This is my first IWC, and I LOVE it:

Here is a snapshot of an old Chinese watch magazine (dated sept 2005) that I have, featuring the AMG Chrono, which first caught my eyes and got me interested:

In that same magazine was an article on IWC, again helped to educate me and got me into the world of IWC watches:

another page:

Thanks Michael for the drawing. It is like, we are writing our love stories with IWC.

Here is my story:-

I have no interest in watch prior to June 2009. I used to wear two mechanical watches in rotation. The first one I bought about 19 years ago and my second watch was a performance award from my company, which I got 12 years ago. They have been very reliable and robust. They gave me confidence that mechanical watches are very long-lasting.

One day, I was talking to my wife to discuss what we should buy to commemorate our 10 years wedding anniversary in Nov 2009. We should buy something precious and long-lasting that we can pass to our next generations. The decision was quickly made. We should buy a pair of matching watch from a top watch brand.

Initially, She preferred a pair of Cariter Ballon Bleu while I was thinking a pair of Patek Phillipe Calatrava. We couldn’t compromise on the choice. We finally decided to select our own favorite watch.

Watch shops visits became my family weekend activities in that period of time. IWC Flagship store at Heritage 1881 was just open. One day, my wife, my 7 years old boy (at that time) and myself went into the Flagship store. We were amazed. I believe anyone come to the IWC Flagship the first time will share my feeling. Not only there were a lot of watches you can see and try them on your wrist. There was a flight simulator in the Pilot corner. My son spent 20 mins with the simulator and loving it. The beautiful Pilot jacket, the super lightweight bike in the Ingenieur corner, Aquitimer corner, Portuguese, etc. They kept amazing you. The staffs were amazing too. The depth of IWC watch knowledge and its history, their friendliness. I have never experience this kind of shopping experience before.

After this visit, I am sure that my anniversary watch will be an IWC….

I started to read the whole IWC catalogue, reading all information in IWC website. I also found the IWC collectors’ forum. OMG, not only the depth of IWC knowledge I could get out of the forum, I could feel the passion of the fellow collectors in the forum. I was impressed.

At the end, I bought a Portuguese Automatic 5001-07 as my anniversary watch on Aug 5, 2009 and couldn’t be happier.

Below is a photo of my 5001 with the IWC Flagship store as background

Finally, my wife went for a Piaget Ultra-thin Altiplano. The price of her watch was twice the price of mine. I should have gone for the Rose Gold version. Ha Ha.... LOL...

Below is a photo we took in our 10-years anniversary day, showing our pair of watch.

Watch appreciation becomes one of my hobbies now. Even though I also interest in some other brands' watches, IWC will always my favorite brand.

Thank you so much for reading my long story.

-

Hi All,

I won my Big Pilot (5004-2) in a charity raffle. Against the odds, luck found me the owner of a watch that I could never have dreamed of obtaining. It's a timepiece with great character.

About six years ago I went on a Timezone watch tour in Switzerland. Among a number of watch brands on the schedule was IWC. I owned a few Breitlings and other lessor watch brands at the time and had just become interested in Panerai. IWC was next in the progression. After the tour of the IWC facility in Schaffhausen we were treated to the conference room with all of the current watch line.
I had been waiting for this with great anticipation. It was a chance to try on and compare any number of watches. I had been zeroing in on a white ( OK Tony, OFF white)dialed 5001 for some time. I lusted after the perpetuals but my budget said otherwise.
As soon as I got home I ordered one. I still have it and wear it today.

My First IWC (you never forget your first!)

What a wonderful thread, especially at this time of the year!

My First IWC

Years ago, my life took a turn toward the sedimentary. I turned 44 years old and I started to feel like as though I was no longer a "young man." I always found time in my life to do the physical things that helped me feel alive. Bicycle riding, weight training and most of all, playing hockey. I wasn't an "athlete" in any sense of the word, but I
enjoyed how alive I felt while playing. And I enjoyed the camaraderie of my hockey teams. I played in adult recreational leagues and I constantly told my friends, it was better to be the worst player on a good team then the best player on a bad team. That was my philosophy. I loved the speed and contact of the game, but most of all I loved the friendships. At that time, here in Northern California, there were no senior leagues, so I was playing with players as young as 18 and although I had no pretense about being a “the man”, I always felt I could be competitive. About 2 weeks short of my 44th birthday, while (skating up the ice during a game, I heard someone yell from the stands, “the slow guy has it, get it from him." And they did, with ease.

Well that was that, it was clear that for all the fun, I was having, I was really the boat anchor on the team. Smarts and experience can take you so far, but when the wheels fall off, it's time to hang the skates up. My wife couldn't believe it. But after celebrating birthday number 44. I said no more to playing 2- 3 nights a week. Well that left a huge void in my life.

I wish I could remember what drew me to watch collecting. I honestly can't remember but I was probably researching a watch in the days before Google. I had a small watch fetish since I was a kid, but outside of a quartz Raymond Weil, and an old Ebel I had nothing to show for it. I took a lot of pride wearing my RW. It was snazzy two-tone white dialed, bracelet watch that I purchased in the Caribbean while on a cruise that my wife thought I totally fell off the “lets be responsible adults with 2 children,” spending the enormous sum of$725 on a watch.

Finding IWC

I spent more than a six months lurking on the previous IWC forum and studying without posting even a newbie's question (What's better: a strap or a bracelet?). I bought more than 50 books on watches and watchmaking. I had turned my physical energy into a zealot's pursuit of the “truth.” Yet, I was frozen. I couldn't pull the trigger and buy a new watch. As much as I made weekly lists of watches I'd like to own, I was still wearing my two-tone Raymond Weil.

I didn't feel I had the experience to chase after vintage pieces so I narrowed the field of possibilities to a Blancpain Flyback on a bracelet, an IWC Mark XII on bracelet and an
Omega Speedmaster. I kept watching the sales corner and the large auction sites checking prices, trying to gauge the right time and piece to enter the market.

I knew I was gravitating to IWC. IWC was proud of their history, they constantly referred to it, and it was a touchstone for their values. As an American, I felt a kinship with a
Swiss watch company started by an American. If Florentine Ariosto Jones didn't feel like a stranger in a strange land then I would be at ease dreaming about Probus Scafusia. And then there was Günter Blumlein. After reading an interview with the then head of IWC, it was clear he was a real watch guy who had to vision to run a company that made watches for people who wanted to wear a special watch. One that said something about the watch, rather than the owner. I really wanted an IWC, I could see myself talking IWC to my friends all of whom never heard of IWC. And I also knew they would scoff at the preposterousness of paying more than $200 for a watch.

It’s not a brand, it’s history

I poured through the stack of IWC catalogs on my desk. They spent so many pages on the history of their accomplishments, all done in way that read like a story rather than a sales presentation. Interestingly enough, in contrast, they took a minimalist approach to describing their current collection. An almost haiku approach; their style was clearly if they needed more than 14 words to describe a watch it was bordering on hyperbole. Or maybe they were paying for their copy by the syllable.

I memorized the product lines in 1997-1998 catalog. I knew all the details. And everyday I checked in to read the experts on the IWC Forum.

One night while trolling on the big auction site, I saw an IWC SS Portofino (Ref: 3513) on a bracelet and the bidding was only $1400 with 3 minutes left. After watch starving myself for the better part of a year I won the auction with a spontaneous bid of $1425, which was a very good price for a barely used watch with a retail of $2995. The seller was a very nice IWC collector and within days I was wearing this great watch. I was so proud until a co-worker said it's "so shiny.' My heart sank as I learned the first lessons of watch collecting - buy what you like. And trust your gut.

It wasn't that I didn't like the Portofino. It really just wasn't me. It was an IWC, but it wasn’t the Mark XII that I yearned for.

The Mark XII lineage

Still I wore the Portofino everyday, but my eye and heart were wandering. Again, I saved my money and kept my eyes open for what I really wanted. Finally a Mark XII on a bracelet showed up on Sales Corner from a seller in Philadelphia. In a series of emails, I peppered him with questions. He was like me, a big IWC fan. He was a chocolate maker and he couldn't wear his Mark XII to work and it was killing him that it sat in his drawer, only worn on weekends. That didn't seem like a hardship to me, but he felt it was best if he parted with it. I sent him payment and the watch of my dreams was on my wrist. My Portofino was back in its white leather box and exiled to my drawer, until the day came when I decided it was best to send it to a new home and a new owner who would give it the life that it was made for — to be worn, enjoyed and treasured.

Probus Scafusia.

My best to all!

Larry

HI! EVERY BODY,

A)MY 1ST IWC WATCH WAS "PORTOFINO AUTOMATIC"WHICH WAS PRESENTED TO ME BY
MY WIFE AS A GIFT OF MY BIRTHDAY.

B)I LEARNED ABOUT IWC THROUGH AN ADVERTISEMENT IN A MAGAZINE.

C) I BROUGHT IT DUE TO ATTRACTIVE STLYE OF IT

D) IT IS UNIQUE AND DANDY

E) OF COURSE, I STILL HAVE IT WITH ANOTHER TWO IWC

F) IWC IS PROUD OF MINE.

BEST REGARDS
T.K.LEE

Can one enter the drawing if they don't have an IWC (yet...) ;-)

Been researching for my first timepiece for years now and am soooo close to pulling the trigger, in fact, I just posted this www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/32389/

Greetings All:

I was first introduced to the name IWC around late 70's early 80's.(I belive). PD by IWC was the sleekist/cleanline/unique watch collection that I had ever seen. It was simply "Works of Art" in my eyes.

However, for whatever reason I did not buy one at the time. MISTAKE!!! Live and learn...

Fast forward to October 2010, I was given the opportunity to pick out a new watch as a birthday gift. I have always enjoyed the look of pilot/military style models so I focused my search in that direction. Started looking at Ads of watchmakers and struck gold when I saw various IWC ads, especially one for the Pilot. Must say, IWC advertising is teriffic and certainly got my attention. It smelled of "QUALITY".

Lucky for me, I live anywhere from 20min-1hr away from 6 AD's and 1 boutique. It didn't take long to find my 1st IWC. It was love at first sight. Great size(diameter and height),clean dial design and it's ability to be a everyday,sport or dressy watch.

For a little over a year now, I have found that my fondness and enjoyment of my Mark XVI has done nothing but grow. Every time I look at it , I smile !! it makes me feel good. This last October I said to myself, Self...you need another birthday gift like last year. I twisted my arm and headed for the AD and picked out an AT 3568-white dial.

As we all know, that first IWC infects you. There's no known cure or vaccine available to protect you. Turns out for me, it's been one of life's risky pleasures.

Best to All ,

Andy

My first introduction to IWC was when I had visited a seller in 1999 to buy from him an Omega Constellation of the 60's era. He asked me if I was interested in pilot's watches to which I answered, "Not particularly" however I was interested to see what he had.
Knowing very little about IWC I made a couple of telephone calls to collector friends of mine and very soon realised that it had to be bought. And so my interest in IWC was formed and continues to this day.
It was this one. What an introduction to IWC !!!!!!!!!

My first IWC was a Mk XI that I bought in 1989 in Dr.Croot's auctioneers in his former shop in Aachen as a resale.
I fetched another vintage wrist watch from repair and his watchmaker showed me the Mk XI, because he knew my attitude to watches with a 'navigational' background.
This watch will be inherited by my eldest son who later became a professional pilot at Air France.

2 years ago Adrian (alwaysiwc) detected that I had already bought previous unacquaitendly an IWC PW, a Stauffer one, in an antique shop in Dublin during a visit with the German Navy in 1976.
Apologize the quality of the pics of Mk XI. Just taken because it's on my wrist today ,-).

Thank you for the opportunity Michael,
It all started in year 2000 with a ref 3714 Portuguese and this being a gift from my wife, has always been very special.
I then had the opportunity to visit IWC Schaffhausen many times and toured the factory with my wife.
One can only begin to understand precision and expertise that is required to manufacture time pieces while there.
I am special grateful for your work and guidance.
Best regards

For me the IWC adventure started around 2005. My first watch was a Mark XV. My brother had just bought a nice high end watch and by doing so opened my eyes for the world of luxury watches unknown untill then. The Mark XV was a result of a few months looking for a brand and a style that fitted my needs and it exceeded all my expectations. The rest is history. I got infected by the IWC uhren-virus and started to take an interest in IWC and it's impressive history. I joined the forum, visited Schaffhausen a few times and many more IWC watches followed that first Mark XV since....

For many years, I happily wore this quartz Movado:

I remember once someone said to me "that's a nice chronograph". I didn't know what a chronograph was, or a chronometer either, and this watch is neither, but I still enjoyed it. During those years I frequently travelled internationally on business. I remember going to Zurich, and walking down Bahnhofstrasse with my nose pressed against all the windows, admiring the lovely watches. The prices seemd crazy to me, but I certainly liked to look at them. I just couldn't figure out why anyone would wear a watch as expensive as those.

Some years later I was doing well, and decided to stop by a large watch dealer to browse. I was smitten, and walked out with what I thought was an absolute prize - a quartz two tone Baume and Mercier Riviera like the one in the picture below which I borrowed from the internet.

Two thosuand dollars! But I thought it was so cool. How could I know that a month later I would stumble onto a major watch site and start to really learn about watches.

The year was 2000, and I saw a picture of this marvelous device called a Mark XV. That was it! I had to have one. I didn't know who IWC was, but I started to read about them. The Mark XV hit all the right buttons: handsome masculine styling, attractive functionality without "foo-foo" pseudo elegance, just the right size (at the time), great appeal to my engineering background, etc. Best of all, I found out that Sales Corners existed where lightly pre-loved watches could be purchased for a much lower price than the then current Mark XV list of $3995. When I saw an almost new Mark XV on that wonderful original "grains of rice" bracelet posted for less than half the price of a new one, I knew what I had to do.

I couldn't believe I was soon purchasing a Cashiers Check and sending it to someone I didn't know in the hopes that he would send something back to me. I was totally delighted when a package actually appeared in my mailbox a few days later, and in it was my glorious Mark XV from a company called IWC. I didn't even have a digital camera then, so I had to find this picture originally posted by rkny. Same watch, just a different (and much hairier) wrist than mine.

So began my long love affair with IWC. Out went the Baume et Mercier for a sigificant loss. Lesson learned. I wore that Mark XV with the bracelet like liquid steel every day for a long time.

Over the years, I have owned hundreds of different watches, about half of which have been IWC's. I figured if I could only have one woman, I'd enjoy a multitude of watches.

During the last few years I have cut back quite a bit in quantity, though the quality in my collection is a tad higher now. And as you can see, the brand mix has become rather focused!

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my post!