When IWC’s vintage collection was announced at SIHH 2008 it was a “can’t believe it” moment for most devotees of the brand. Six classic models with slightly modernized designs and all with in-house movements – “Yes please!” As drool inducing as any supermodel, I simply could not resist.
But which to get? The Ingenieur, Portuguese and Aquatimer were the most appealing to me. Since I had a CFI and 5001 the Aquatimer made perfect sense. I’ve always wanted an AT but never had a rationale for getting one over another IWC model. But with its classic dial and the cal. 80111 this was the perfect AT for me. Was the display back a concern? Nah. If I ever dive with the watch it certainly won’t be at any significant depth.
So I quickly placed an order with high expectations that my beauty would arrive before my 40th Birthday in October 2008. My hopefulness, unfortunately, was misplaced. Month after month passed without any word. “That’s OK,” I thought. “Such watches are not mass produced and quality cannot be rushed.” But as October came and went I made some inquiries, especially because it appeared that no dealer in the U.S. had seen one for months. Ultimately, it was indicated to me -- from a source that has proved reliable in the past -- that there was a problem with a large batch of VC Aquatimer dials and that such dials were made by a single supplier (it was also indicated that IWC now works with multiple suppliers in this regard). Finally, late last week, the long anticipated call came in – my AT was in!
First Impressions: I love that IWC decided to keep lettering on the dial to a minimum. No “Automatic” or other useless verbage. Just “IWC Schaffhausen” / “Aquatimer.” Enough said. The inner bezel and the applied hour markers provide the dial with nice depth and the paddle second hand makes you wonder why it’s not included on all IWC models. The inner bezel makes the watch appear a tad larger at 44 mm than would an external bezel, but that’s just an observation and not a negative. The watch isn’t overly large for my wrist and is extremely comfortable to wear. The proportions, including height to width, are perfect for me, as hopefully can be seen from the pictures below. Overall, I couldn’t be happier and think that IWC produced exactly what they intended to create - a modern classic.
David
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