Three possibilities for me. There are three Pilot's watches with an in-house movement: the Big Pilot, the high-end Chrono and the Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar. So, it will be one of those, with a special dial, and maybe special coloured hands. The perpetual will be too expensive, so I expect one of the other two.
Kind regards,
Paul
Maybe one other thought: a variation of the Vintage Collection Pilot's watch. So easy to overlook, except I wear mine today. It has an in-house movement and isn't extremely expensive, so it would fit the bill. Personally, I like the watch quite a bit, give it a nice light blue sunray dial and it will be almost irresistible. Oh well...
Kind regards,
Paul
Sounds good to me. Blue dial.
Kevin
Argiris, In all due respect - if IWC puts the watch up for sale to the general public via full retail sales, be it boutique or AD then, it's not a Collectors Forum watch is it. It's simply a LE which might be made available for sale to collectors OOPS SORRY NO, Forum members first!
No objection from my side, if the watch needs to be procured/picked up via an AD or a boutique - but IMHO the application to "qualify" for the privelage of owning the CF3 should be ONLY via registration on this Forum ( and if it was up to me, with some additional criteria to qualify such as active, etc.
Just my 2 cents worth :-)
Food for thought?
I quite agree. Like, more than 100 posts in the last 12 months that say more than just "+1".
Kind regards,
Paul
Mark we are close friends.
This was only possible due to this Forum.
More watches available means more collectors able to buy, more success for IWC, eventually less money to acquire the piece too, more happy people.
Everybody happy.
I don't believe devoted collectors ll lose anything out of this, on the contrary I would say. This is not a closed club to benefited individuals my friend, it is open to all with a common denominator being the immaculate love for everything bearing the "Probus Scafusia" insignia.
Now what could that watch be?
This discussion shows the tragedy of a collectors forum watch idea.
There is no criteria that would suffice to allow people to buy the watch or not based on this forum. Registration? Anybody can register. Number of contributions? Which ones count? Do all the "Congratulations!", the "nice watch!" or the "+1" statements count too? Or does quality matter? Would you not count the critical ones, because they upset some others mentally? Is somebody who posted a lot 12 months ago but was unable since as the workload just did not allow him to do so less eligible than a newbie who recently made 100 contributions?
Personally, I do not really care - it just shows already now that many people will be disappointed. There will be people that will buy the watch and will try to sell it for a higher price. There will be people who "deserve" one but can't afford it or won't be there just in time to get one. There will the ones upset because all the pieces not being sold immediately will go to the general public AD, as IWC for sure wants to sell the watches as fast as they are produced. And there will be the ones who will see that the limited edition will only be a small variant to a mass production model.
But why worry? At the end, it will simply be a limited edition with some engraving at best, most probably with "one out of 250", not even really numbered.
Argi,
I'm optimist about this CFIII.
We have 2 former experiences.
Why CFI was successful?
1) It coincided with the launch of a new model and what a model!
2) It coincided with the launch of a new calibre, in-house!
3) It had a peculiar, unique, recognizable personalization
4) Price was fair, close to touching if we think of today, LOL!
Why CFII didn't meet forumers' expectances?
1) It was a new model indeed but a "niche" one, can I say so?
2) It had a new calibre, in-house too. So this probably was not its problem
3) Its personalization was labile, almost unrecognizable
4) Price was pretty high, considering a wider audience (actually this is just arguing from my side, since I don't have any indicator to consider this assumption correct). Let's say it was higher than CFI for sure
You know why I'm optimist? Because Michael knows it!
David,
I was waiting for you to find all the black clouds in this discussion. And you did not disappoint!!
I enjoy all the speculation, most of which is just the satisfaction that something is coming down the pike. None of it means anything until Herr Kern and MF and others make some final decisions.
So please let us enjoy the possibilities. Blue dial, blue dial, blue dial !!!!
Blue dial, blue dial, music to my ears and images in my dreams till till the official announcement confirms or doesn't.
Regardless, count me in.
Kevin
I'm enjoying this speculation thread. It adds to the excitement knowing something is coming down the pipeline or as we Forumers often refer to as "Inbound" when a new piece will soon be added to our collections.
This talk of Blue dials got me thinking how cool it would be to see a Mark XVII with a in-house and a "Midnight Blue" dial like the new Portofino variation. My only request would be, please please no 3 level date. In fact, no date at all. Just add back the 3 and 9. Wait a second...here's another thought. Maybe a PR sub-dial at the 6:00 position.
Time out to go eat something...need to build up my strength for more speculating.
Andy
Andy, add a fish crown and I'll vote for you for president!
Second thought... Ardoise dail, sorry
Well! All valid comments I'm sure.But let's not be snobbish about it.
Regards.
Kenneth.
A Mark XVII with an inhouse movement is not that easy to create. At the moment IWC just does not have a suitable inhouse caliber in production to replace ETA 2892.
A 80111 caliber is so thick that the only way to get it inside Mark XVII case would be to leave the soft iron inner case away.
Considering the practical limitations on what can be changed, my favourite alternatives of the day are:
- A Saint Exupéry chrono 3878 with an ardoise dial instead of a brown one
- A BP with a blue dial
I don't think that a BP with a blue dial would work,because apart from the old BP 5002 in platinum,the current crop of IWC watches with a blue dial have applied markers.That wouldn't look right on a BP.
Kenneth.
I don't think production run of 250 blue dials with painted white markers is out of the question.
Ardoise works .... I could live with that! With a touch of red in the PR and the perfect shade brown strap , we have a winner.
Pres. Andy