A tale of dizygotic twins, the Titanic and a brotherhood of friends : Part # 2

The final delivery was so understated versus the history of this piece. It is in such good condition that we could not open the back to admire the movement, I have yet to see a c77 in person. So Mark, detective extraordinaire, we need photos of the movement.
There is a little twist that Mark forgot to highlight. Obviously the original shipment into the USA all those years ago, was by sea and years later Alan and Bonnie arrived into the UK not by air but after a cruise and that is how Mark is it's new owner. I am glad it is with such a dedicated collector who is the new custodian.

What a terrific story! Detective work, serendipity, helpful friends, and the whole story beautifully told.

A truly wonderful read. Thanks for sharing it with us.

The good will and assistance of this community never cease to amaze me! Great work, Mark...your persistence resulted in the acquisition of a beautiful timepiece. As Greg noted, it's perfect symmetry that the Ross' brought it to you via an ocean voyage!

Lovely story, big congratulations, Mark. After reading posts like these I'm more and more glad to be part of this forum. Thanks for sharing it with us !

Did not visit the forum for a while.
Then I read this.
Holy cow!! Amazing story!

I need to add a fact or two to Mark's story.
When he initially contacted me about the first watch, I was amazed that some of the family resided in a community adjacent to where I had lived in Pennsylvania for over 30 years. I was no longer there but confident that Bill Barker would do the legwork if necessary.
So imagine my surprise when Mark contacted me about the second watch. It just seemed like too much of a coincidence.
Initially, the person selling the watch in Chicago seemed sketchy at best. The name of the store did not match the address and it looked like a scam. So I called the guy and he gave me a different address in the jewelry district on Wabash St here in Chicago.
As Mark recounted a meeting was set. But when I got to the address I realized that Wabash St stores are of two varieties. There are street front stores, which is what I expected. But above these, there are old high rise buildings with shops, offices and rooms of various sizes. The address where I found myself had a lobby with no directory and no one to ask. And twenty plus floors. Hmmm....
So I got out my cellphone and called the guy again. He told me to go to the 9th floor and turn right and find an unnumbered room in a narrow hallway.
This proved more difficult than it should have been. I circled the floor several times before knocking on what appeared to be a janitor's closet.
But no, it was a very small watch shop with a gigantic safe which dominated the room. At first the owner started selling me with the usual sales pitches. But I assured him that, whatever he said, Mark would know more. I told him that Mark knew these watches well. For example, he explained the watch was a calibre 76 at which point I decided not to correct him. He opened the back and it matched the picture Mark had sent.
I also misheard Mark's admonition the day before to be sure the case enamel was in good shape. I thought he said dial. Upon examination of the watch, it clearly did not have an enamel dial and I feared that I could not make a deal without further clarification from Mark. And so the call was made.
After business concluded the owner happily opened the monster safe and proceeded to show me other pieces along with his collection of high denomination US currency. It was cool to hold a $10,000 bill from 1934 in my hand.
All in all, a fun day and I'm thrilled it worked out in Mark's favor.

Tremendous detective work, persistence and assistance!

What a great story - congratulations Mark.

MASTER Mark! You are!
Such a great story; this is what makes this Forum worth coming back to again and again. I look forward to meeting you some day and seeing your phenomenal collection.

Waimar, as they say in the classics - you snooze, you lose :-)

But then, maybe one day you will end up sharing on this forum under your own post, an IWC journey you underwent yourself, with all the ups 'n downs there too!

A very nice story.

During my holidays in France I had not too much time to look for watches,
and also not for IWC-c.77, my most preffered movement.

But I have found a funny "Horlogerie".

I'd like to share the picture of it....

kind regards

Ralph

Ralph, what a fantastic and quaint watchmakers habitat!

I bet we could find / uncover quiet some stories there

The IWC Forum is a tool to learn about IWC watches and its collectors. I am a member from the Forum from the start but only in 2013, I discovered that Mark Levinson is living only 30 km from my place, although in another country!
A week ago Tonny Berteloot, me and our wifes were invited to dine at Mark's place. As president Obama described his recent visit to the Netherlands as very "gezellig" ( cosy),our evening was very "gezellig". Great South African food (Mark's roots)and great IWC watches and stories.
Mark is one of those collectors who take the time to dig in IWC's history, finding incredible data. This leads to great posts as we all know.
Some Forum members complain about how few interesting stories are told on the Forum. To those I would say , read the posts of Mark Levinson.
Kind regards,
Adrian,
(alwaysiwc).

Truly amazing story Mark.
You are a great hunter.
Wishing you for the better ones to come buddy.

Do you mean a story that might look something like this?

Hi Mark, first and foremost congratulations on this amazing find ('rare' is not the right word). Your story reads like a novel, thanks for sharing!

Best,

Bob

I was obviously snoozing Waimar! Great post of yours.

And part 2...

Thanks Jarrod for reawakening this post. It just reminds me of the tenacity and creative brilliance of our fellow collector Mark L. I enjoyed reading it again.

What a fantastic story buried in the archives almost impossible to find. We need a search function!