Introduce Yourself!

Greetings,

We haven't gone around the table for some time, and told each other about ourselves. Many of the “old timers” know one another, but with a constantly evolving membership, I suggest we introduce ourselves now.

Me? I've been collecting IWC watches since 1994 and moderating the Collectors' Forum for IWC since its inception in 2001. Previously, I helped develop another popular watch website, and created its first brand forum there –naturally it was about IWC. At one time or another, I think I've owned most key IWC vintage models, and in the past five years have concentrated on pre-1920 IWC pocket watches. For daily wear, I use a contemporary IWC wristwatch. My “everyday” model is a Portuguese Regulateur Tourbillon, but I very much love all the IWC models that I own.

In “real life” I'm an attorney in the U.S. concentrating in wealth management. I moved two years ago from my own 20-attorney firm to a larger one, where I manage their estate planning department and Private Client Group. I live with the partner of my dreams –my wife Kay, who even fully supports my watch addiction, and now also with my new Boxer puppy and “watch dog”, Coco.

Now –it's your turn! Tell us about yourself....

Regards,
Michael

Hi everyone, and congratulations to IWC and Michael on this new and exciting forum.

I've been around the IWC forum since it's beginning days, and have met so many great people thru this site and the events it generates. My early memories of IWC, even before this forum, were lusting after the watches in the catalogues before I could afford one, and then one day my father bought a Mark XII. I was totally smitten, and am still to this day.
I am a dentist in Virginia, and must say my blood pressure is lowering and the DT's are subsiding now this forum is back on line again!

Hi to everyone!
Nelson

Hello Members,

I would first like to congratulate IWC and all who were involved in the relaunch of this wonderful web-site, and especially for the Member's Forum. It looks to be an exciting new development and look forward to exploring it all in the coming days!

I am located on Montreal Canada and bought my first IWC in 2002. It was the SS GST Chrono Automatic, and I never looked back from that time.

I run a family business with my brothers and we specialize in casual sports apparel, and therefore travel frequently around the globe!

Cheers!

Nad

HI everyone,

I am from Hong Kong and I run a factory making precision tools for semiconductor manufacturing industry, so I have all sort equipment to inspect/appreciate the fine polishing of watch movements!

Got my first IWC in 2005, an 322701 and that's a point of no return for me!

Cheers,
Erwin

Taken at a IWC watch making class held in a Hong Kong household.

Greetings - Great to be back here after a week away, and get re-introduced to old friends here. IWC is a real passion of mine, the tradition of hand-made perfection and heritage of the style and diverse product lines, as well as this collector's community is what keeps me buying the product.

My career is in software applications and information technology -currently focused on the telecommunications industry in North America. I recently relocated from the West Coast of USA to New England where I am enjoying a pleasant lifestyle with my wife of 9 years and 4-year old daughter.

Here is a photo of me in the IWC Lounge at the Museum in Schaffhausen. (by T. Berteloot).

IWC Party in Los Angeles, NOV, 2009

Best regards.

Richard

Hi Forum Friends,

I'm from the Netherlands, happily living together with my wife and our almost 2 years old daughter. In my professional life, I work as a Strategy Director for a large international Telecommunications company.

I started 'collecting' in the early 90's, but I consider myself more a 'user' /i than a true [i]collector! I.e., I try to limit my collection and obtain the pieces I really really like. In general I like diversity too: between the different product lines but also vintage vs. contemporary.

I'm still very surprised that there are so much other active collectors from the 'low lands'!!! Great to 'see' you all here!

Best regards,

Bob

Greetings everyone. It is great to see the new Forum up and running. For those who do not know me I am a retired attorney/entrepreneur from Philadelphia, PA who also spends a fair amount of time (mostly summers) in Chicago. If you check the archives, until recently I used the moniker "lndblr".on the forum.
I own 7 IWC watches which I wear and rotate on a daily basis.
I look forward to participating on this forum.

Hello Brothers and Sisters,

This is the hardest part. Should I be funny, serious or shy?

Maybe it's best to be all three, so here goes:

The first IWC forum on the other site got me going. With the mentorship of Nelson Herring, Terry Russell and David Polakopf, I purchased my first IWC in 1998. A steel Portofino on a bracelet. It was the first time in my life that I spent more than $500 on a watch. My second watch purchased less than month later was a Mark XII also on a bracelet. My wife was ready to strangle me. She is much smarter than I am and proved it by telling me I better keep good records. At last count 73 IWCs have passed through my hands. Although I currently have 14 (waiting on the 15th), there are many, many regrets and most of those are in the Seiden Wing at the Terry Russell IWC Museum!

My wife and I are employee benefit brokers. For 25 years she's run a very successful business. I joined after 20 years on Madison Avenue (actually the west coach office) and have been working ten times harder than when I was a Sr. VP with a staff of 45 and wearing way more hats!

Our two children are grown (both engineers) and our four dogs (mostly Poodles) are out of control. All those things that successfully raise children, don't work on dogs! Well, I guess that is better than the other way around.

I love IWC watches, their history and the people who make and own them. I became so enraptured with the early Ingenieurs that I had the honor to spend a year writing "a thesis" on dial variations with two of the finest people I've ever met Marco Schönenberger and David Ter Molen. And the funny thing is we never met in-person. We did everything via email though as many as 9 timezones apart.

I've been to Schaffhausen three times and hope to get there again very soon!

Terry, myself, Nelson and David at SIHH.

Hello fellow forumers,

some of you know me in person, others by exchange of email or forum posts.

I have been following the forum since the beginning and I found it was really different from all the others then, and in my opinion also this forum will enabe us to share even more our passion for IWC.
I Bought my first IWC , a 3714 Portuguese Chrono, without really knowing too much of the heritage behind this brand, I was just finding it really irresistible.
Once I got more deeply to know what was behind and around IWC, it really became a passion. Now I own 3 modern IWCs, including my CFI 11, and two vintage ones, a cal.88 and a cal. 83 that has become my wife's property the moment she saw it!

My name is Alessandro Maturo, alexmaturo on the forum.
I am a Business Development Consultant, with a long experience in the field of energy management, and telecommunications energy and antenna infrastructure, Industrial and commercial airconditioning, so a lot of "boring" industrial stuff.
I live in Vicenza, a very nice town near Venice, in the italian North East,. A very nice area,
If you have plans to come to this part of Italy, please let me know, I will be glad to meet you and chat about our favorite watch brand.

Ciao from Vicenza
Alex

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I has been my greatest pleasure to be part of this outstanding community. I bought my first IWC, the RG 5001, in August 2006. It has been a joyous experience since then. I was fortunate to have been invited to two SIHH trade fairs as well as two Collector's Meetings in Schaffhausen. Since I am often in CH (for my annual ski holiday), I have visited the IWC factory several times. My greatest pleasure, however, is getting to know and meet so many other knowledgeable IWC Collectors from all over the world. Having GTG's either in the States or in Europe is a true pleasure.

I am a retired business executive with the best possible situation... my wife continues to work as a 5th grade teacher. As noted above my first luxury watch purchase was the classic 5001 Portugieser. Since then ten additional IWC have joined the collection (plus one other not to be named RIchemont family member).

A particular thrill of being associated with IWC is the opportunity to meet and have great conversations with the iconic Herr Klaus.

Of course, no slight is intended to the pleasure to get to know our moderator and becoming friends as well.

Here is a picture from the 2010 SIHH.

And lastly, my current collection. One more is one order (and maybe two).

Thanks MF for the opportunity to talk about myself and for guiding us all along our learning curve of IWC collecting.

Bill Barker

Fraternal greetings y'all!
My name is Jim Pearson and I go by the forum name of "dzul" (which is Yucatec Mayan for anyone who isn't...well, a Maya from the Yucatan). I am the director of training at a large psychiatric hospital in Austin, Texas. My wife Dorothy and I live 35 miles NE of Austin in the small town of Taylor. Our pride and joy is our 120 year old Hill Country Victorian house that sits near the middle of town.

My wife is Kenyan and many of her immediate family immigrated to Switzerland a couple of decades ago. When I went to visit my inlaws in Zurich, my Swiss brother-in-law told me about a Swiss watch company founded by an American in the German-speaking part of the country (an anomaly I was to learn). He showed me his beautiful hard-bound catalog and I was hooked...and infected! I returned to Texas, located an AD and bought my first IWC. A couple of months later I found this forum and I have been a daily visitor ever since. This is a place I have made new friends and continued to nourish my habit for all things IWC! I now have four IWC watches including the new Collector's Forum DaVinci. I met our esteemed MF at the Watch Time event in Dallas last year...and spent an evening in Rome with Roberto (flyrobfly) and Cristina this Spring. My fervent wish is to meet as many of you as possible!

Best regards,
Jim

Here is a picture of Dorothy and I with Michael in Dallas
]

Greetings everyone,

I’m Roberto, I live in Rome, I’m responsible for Training and Internal Communications in a multinational Company, leader in the ICT market.

My love for watches is overcome only by my love for my Cristina and for skydiving, that’s why my nick-name may remind you of flying.

But my passion for watches is pretty new, for a long part of my life I couldn’t wear watches due to the discomfort they gave to my wrists, a legacy of playing tennis for many years and also the impatience of feeling bound somehow, both physically and mentally, by something or someone.

My passion for watches starts seven years ago when I saw a Portuguese chronograph, I obviously bought in a snap of a finger. This first watch left me a sort of imprinting and so, despite my appreciation for watches from several brands, IWC will always remain the maison of my heart.

I like to study watch history and I’m particularly interested in technical arguments; in my opinion, the most important things in a watch are, in order of importance: movement, finishings, aesthetic. I like vintage watches and contemporary also, I think the most beautiful IWC watch ever built is Portuguese ref. 325.

This forum is very special to me, is different in many ways to other fora, I have already had the pleasure to meet some of you, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the People I met, I consider many of them between my dearest friends. Last but not least, I think the forum moderator Michael Friedberg gives a special “plus” to this forum, I will always look at him with admiration.

Ciao!

Roberto

Hi, my name is Rene and I'm a Technical Manager in the medical business. Just recently I joined this world of fine time pieces and bought my first IWC. A Portuguese Automatic Reference IW500114 and already I can tell you, this will not be my last IWC. To make this choice was not so hard, knowing that another beautiful piece will join the it.

The most glorious moment of the day for me is when I wake-up, take up my IWC and slide it over my wrist. The moment I feel the clip closing and can admire the beautiful piece of technique, that's my moment of the day.

Everyone on watch sites knows me as "Whichwatch" but my real name is Richard or "Dick" for short.

After living in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, California, Wisconsin. Texas, Ohio (two different cities), Pennsylvania (again), and then 10 great years in Chicago, we moved to Ohio for third time two years ago to be near our now six grandchildren.

I had a career in industry, eventually serving as President of two different manufacturing companies. I retired early and began my own business as a Consultant helping companies with Manufacturing Improvement and specifically, Lean Manufacturing and Toyota Production System.

I bought my first IWC, a Mark XV, in 2000 and immediately fell in love with the brand. Since that time I have owned several dozen IWC's but currently 6. This Forum is by far the best for all things IWC. I was lucky enough to live in Chicago and get to see MF in person from time to time, and I thank this Forum for a number of friends I met here. Attending the Jones Launch in Boston and a Collectors Meeting in Schaffhausen are memories I will always enjoy.

fotoalbum.dds.nl/bdekkers/audi/kurt+en+bas.jpgHi,
I'm Bas Dekkers and live with wife and kid in the Netherlands (Zeewolde).
After attending the Royal Dutch Military Academy I spend 15 years of service as an officer. Choosing civilian life in 1997 and so leaving the Dutch Special Forces (green barets) at the rank of captain. Having done everything you can possible imagine.. Rushing through university getting my degrees to justify this career switch, I started working as a consultant, interim manager and my occupation now is senior manager at the firm SYSQA (short for SYStem Quality Assurance). Planning my own agenda and responsible for new business, I have more free time to spend at my hobbies: motorcycling gsxr 600 (on circuit and road), running marathons (one each year), skiing and supporting a good cause Racing Against Cancer (RAC) witch helps families with kids who have the terrible disease Cancer. Have a look at www.racentegenkanker.nl . I love IWC from the time I left the army and got a MarkXII after finishing university, now I own 6 (MarkXII, UTC, Fliegerchrono 3706, Aquatimer 3536 and 3719 and finally a GSTAlarm) Between all that I still find time for my lovely wife and 14 year old son.

Best regards,

Bas Dekkers

Greetings to all forum members, old and new!

I was bitten by the bug when I first saw the Da Vinci perpetual calendar chronograph in London, in the late 90s. It was my first exposure to a horological complication other than a simple chronograph. Not too long after, I was able to get my first IWC, a Mark XV Spitfire, which I unfortunately no longer have, although it would not get much wrist time now that I'm accustomed to larger watches. But being the first brand that drew me into this obsession, IWC will always have a soft spot in my collection.

I'm lucky to be able to express this passion through my job as well, as an editor of a watch magazine in Hong Kong. I maintain a link to my previous professional experience in IT as I'm also managing a project for developing a well-known watch industry website for the China market.

Wishing everyone an excellent weekend, and I look forward to many interesting discussions on the new forum!

Best regards,
Sean

Hi Everyone,

I'm Tim and I currently live in the Netherlands. Although born in Holland I spent the last twenty years abroad in France and the US. I'm the husband of one, the father of four and a pastor of an international church in The Hague. My first love is reading and spend most of my free time doing that. Yet, I also love watches and try to keep up as much as I can with what's happening. I've loved watches for as long as I can remember, even as a little kid. I also have a brother who has shared my appreciation for fine time-pieces. My first nice watch was an Omega seamaster (Bond). When I first saw a picture of the IWC Big Pilot I knew it was the most perfect watch made for men and I had to have one. Then I found out how many zeros there were on the price tag and I was shocked! It took almost six years of waiting and saving for me to be able to buy it and it is still (in my opinion) the highlight of my collection.

Aside from my interest in IWC, I also love JLC, but especially Panerai and perhaps most recently, and most passionately A.Lange and Sohne. Here's a quick snapshot of my collection. The Rolex and Portuguese are my brothers and I just happen to be baby-sitting them for the moment.

I love the new IWC forum format and look forward to visiting here more regularly,

Tim

Hi dear new forum!
I am still a little bit confused but it's getting better.
My name is Hans Goerter and I am in the forum from the very beginning.
I live in Germany, in Northrhine Westphalia in a town named KREFELD. The town has 240,000 inhabitants and is in the neighborhood of Dusseldorf and Cologne.
I am a IT specialist and at the moment I am a lecturer for computer sciences in the field of adult education.
I came to IWC during the 80's when I saw the Porsche Titan Chronograph in a windows display.
Every year I am learning more about IWC and the watches and meet many nice people here in the forum or at Collectors Meeting.
Hope to meet you again - virtually or in person :=)
Hans
My hobbies are (besides the watches of course)
[list=a]
[li]Music music music - most of all acoustic guitar fingerpicking[/li]
[li]motorcycling[/li]
[li]painting[/li]
[/list]

with Kurt Klaus at the first Collectors Meeting

me and my BMW K1200RS

Fingerpicking on an old MARTIN D-18