cal.89 hand setting / crown operation

Hello; I just have bought my first IWC watch, a newly overhauled cal.89 steel from ca.1969.

I read in this article people.timezone.com/msandler/Articles/BestYears/BestYears2.html that this caliber is a bit special, that "turning the crown towards you moves the hands clockwise". With my watch it is the opposite. Is something "wrong" with my watch?

Also googling says power reserve is 36 hours, and some places it says 44 hours. Mine get 46 hours and goes very accurately. Do you think my movement is OK after all?

Best regards GN (new here)

Hi Negaard,

the hand setting on your Cal. 89 is totally normal. A right turn of the crown forwards the hands clockwise. The Cal. 89 is an impeccable movement, built and decorated to very high standards.

br Cromagnonman

Thanks for your reply! I still wonder though why this (seemingly serious) article says the movement have "two intermediate wheels for handsetting" and that the hands move in the opposite (and more intuitive) direction than what is most common? Are there different versions of the movement (older/newer)?

I will have a watchmaker to open it, would be interesting to have a look :-)

Hi Negaard,

As one of the authors of this article, it was indeed a serious look at one of my watches in the hands of a budding young watchmaker student at the time, John Davis. John went on to do complications work for a well known manufacturer and today is head of NA Service for a major brand. The comment you reference was indeed incorrect. The hands move clockwise when the crown is turned forward - away from the winder. Not towards. The explanation regarding the intermediary wheels was however correct.

In all of these years, we never noticed the error and it could have resulted from the orientation of the movement as it was being serviced.

Correcting it would be all but impossible as TZ has never been responsive to edits, even on articles they paid for.

This is probably how history gets all screwed up and why people are still searching for Big Foot.

Cheers!

Terry

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated! G.N

There was one more post here?, which I read briefly. Seems to have been deleted now, but thanks anyway. I think my watch is a R810, it´s really nice.