Introduce Yourself!

Welcome to the forum, Christina. It's a fantastic community and great place to find information and fellowship. Welcome, we're happy to have you here.
That Petit Prince watch is a blast.
If I hadn't the first limited edition of the Petit Prince Big Pilot's Watch, this would be very high on my list.

Hi Christina

A very warm welcome to this great forum.

Congratulations on your first IWC, it's a real beauty and it looks pretty cool on your wrist.
Hope to see many more pictures coming.

Cheers Chris

Thank you all for the kind words!

Hello IWC community,
I am glad that this post came up: I have been thinking of introducing myself to the forum for several months now, but was still hesitant on which topic to do it…
I am Simon, 37 years old, French. Proud father of 3 kids, who are basically the only valid reason for me to remove my IWC watch: they seem to not care that much about my precious !

To go back to the origin of my interest for mechanical watches, we don’t need to travel that long in time.
March 2015, we took a family decision to convert inheritance money to something durable, in souvenir of my grandparents: watches.
So then I started to pay interest to this totally new world for me, and started investigations on mechanisms, brands history, design, maintenance…

My criteria, besides an appealing design, were a brand with strong personality and history, in house movement, easy to read dial. And also, as I am planning to keep this watch for a long time (forever basically), a design that I feel I could stand forever, i.e. not too specific.

I was working on a short list with models from different well-known manufacturers, in very different styles.
Until I discovered on the net the IWC Yacht Club ref IW3902-11: direct crush. Totally aligned with my wishes... except for the diameter(45,4mm)that seemed too big for my wrist... Few researches later and here it was: IW3905-02 recently released ! Just perfect.
I went to try it and my first impression was confirmed. That's the (long) story...

Since then, I was bitten by the bug of mechanical watches and am trying to learn as much as I can.
IWC history, technology and models have my preference. And I find on this forum a mine of information, and really inspiring people who manage to transmit their passion. I love it and looking at the forum is part of my daily routine since almost a year now, before going to bed… sweet dreams ;-)

At the moment I am a beginner and try to absorb as much information as I can. So I cannot call myself a contributor. But one day, who knows, I might be able to help / advice / inspire some people myself…

Anyway, my last word is for all the active members of this forum: thank you so much: your contribution is essential and very appreciated.

Kind regards,
Simon

Good beginning, nice story, welcome to the forum and enjoy your yacht club.

Hello Simon,

a great decision and a warm welcome to this wonderful forum and group of passionate friends. At least starting today you ARE a contributor, you contribute with your personality and love for fine mechanics, beauty and the great IWC brand. That's what it's all about here.
The longer you are interested in the subject, the more knowledge and experience will build up. But the enthusiasm is the primary and driving forced behind all of it.
At least that's how I see it.
Enjoy and stay. You will love it here.

Thank you for you welcome messages. I agree with your statement Tilo that enthusiasm is key here, and this community definitely helps boosting it.
Simon

Hello everyone! My name is Ara and I'm new to the forum, but not IWC. IWC is the brand that ignited my passion for watches. Back in the early 2000s I had a co-worker who was into watches and used to teach me about the different brands through the international Watch publication. I immediately fell in love with the Big Pilot 5002. On my 21st birthday in 2003, my dad wanted to get me a Rolex, as he had done for my older brother. I declined and asked for an IWC Mark XV instead since the Big Pilot was a bit out of range at the time. As they say, the rest is history.

My collection has grown steadily since then. IWC represents the largest portion of my collection and continues to be the brand with which I feel most at home. I was also fortunate enough to visit SIHH and Schaffhausen this year and now feel more connected to the brand than ever before.

Looking forward to sharing the passion for this wonderful brand with you all.

Ara

Hi everyone,

I'm a collector and DIYer from Italy and my hobby is to take care of old watches. From the most noble to the anonymous, it's always a pleasure for me to deal with old gears and there's always something new to learn watch by watch. Yesterday I came across an old IWC and I'd like to know more while taking care of it. Thanks in advance for your attention and care.

Cheers,
Concetto

Hello everyone!

I am a watch fanatic and I am thinking in buying the petit prince chronograph with the blue dial. I have some questions, does iwc change the models every year?? And I love the leather straps with the buttons, I know they do it for their in house movements but looks awesome! Does anyone know if it is possible to put the strap with the metal buttons on other watches like the petit prince ?? Many thanks and looking forward to speak about this fabulous timepieces !!

Hello to all,

My name is Gary and I'm a watch dealer...

I've been doing this professionally for about 12 years and although it originally started as a way to supplement my income working as an IT engineer, it quickly became so much more to me. For the first time in my life it was 'work' that I really enjoyed doing. After about a year of effectively having two jobs and slowly building up the watch business, I began to realise I could make a career out of it and focus 100% on my passion. I left my IT job in 2005 and will hopefully continue to do this for the rest of my life.

My father & grandfather were both watchmakers in Nottingham, UK where they worked together for a time in a small workshop in the city centre. My father later joined the RAF, working on the Berlin Air Lift and also as an instrument repairer. Although he never properly got back into watchmaking after he left the RAF, he did do some some-scale watch repairs and servicing for people he knew during the evenings through the late 50's and early 60's.

My story about how I came to be fascinated with watches goes back to when I was perhaps 12 or 13 years old. I remember there being a couple of pocket watches stashed away in a bureau in our house; one was a J.W. Benson silver demi-hunter and the other, a large goliath triple-calendar with moonphase. I recall often opening the drawer they lived in and looking at them, studying the dial and the way the hands moved round, opening the back of the Benson so I could see the movement, etc. My older brother gifted me at some point around the same time, a gold-plated Accurist mechanical wrist watch which I wore for the last couple of years I was at school. I'm pretty sure I was the only kid at school with a watch that wasn't a Quartz. I loved the fact that I basically had a tiny machine strapped to my wrist that worked all the time, even after I'd taken it off.

Being a watch dealer, I've had the privilege of owning and handling some really beautiful watches over the years (modern, vintage and antique). Whereas several manufacturers produce watches that appeal to me on a personal level, I can usually only find one or two in their respective catalogues that actually 'speak' to me enough to desire owning them. IWC on the other hand produces more than a few which I covet and would like to own. I'd hankered after the Portugieser Automatic with white dial and blue markers for years before finally finding that the planets had aligned correctly to let me have one (which I managed to get just before Christmas 2016). My other IWC, a Big Pilot came to me a little over a year previous to that. Interestingly, I'd always looked at the dimensions of the BP (on paper) and thought it would be far to big for my very average 7" wrist. But when I tried it on, WOW! It just looked so right and I had to have one.

I love how many of the IWC product lines have evolved from tool watches, be it the Ingenieur, the Pilots Watches, etc. and that they have kept a lot of the characteristics that defined them way back when. I really enjoyed reading about the history of the original Portugieser model and how it wasn't a particularly popular model when first released. More recently, I spent some time in the IWC Boutique in London a few weeks ago and had the pleasure of seeing/handling the Ingenieur Constant-Force Tourbillon in platinum. What a stunning watch... I could have literally watched it for hours! Must.... put.... it.... down.......

One of my goals/dreams is to visit the manufacturer in Schaffhausen and hopefully I can make that a reality in the next year or two. My wife won't be best pleased if I drag her there en-route to the South-of-France on one of our road-trips but hey ho :)

I still have those two pocket watches along with my fathers Omega Constellation he bought in 1963 - I'd never part with them. He wore the Constellation from when he bought it right up until when he handed it to me, straight off his wrist. The Benson demi-hunter was also his watch prior to the Omega that he used when he worked as a coal miner. My father and I still talk about watches all the time - he currently wears a Tudor Black Bay (red) which I got for him a couple of years ago. When he was a bit more mobile he used to accompany me to the watch and clock fairs that are held fairly frequently across the UK. In fact, he made mention about missing going to them just the other day. I should find a way to make that happen for him again...

Cheers, Gary.

Hey guys! It's been a pleasure getting to know some of you on the fora. My membership is more recent, starting after I acquired my Aquatimer ref 3568 in November 2015. I fell in love with this model thanks to the sapphire bezel. It reminded me so much of the bakelite bezels found on some of my favorite vintage divers.

It took one Aquatimer to get me hooked, though. Don't know why I had waited so long. When I was in graduate school, I worked in a watch repair shop refinishing cases and bracelets while the watchmaker serviced movements. My 1st IWC involved a customer that needed a couple dents polished out of his Flieger Chronograph, and that was back in 2004.

My collection revolves more around Jacques Cousteau and the watches his team used while I was watching him growing up as a kid. Other watches I have include a vintage Blancpain 50 Fathoms, Doxa Subs that are US Divers and La Spirotechnique dialed, including an Auricoste Spirotechnique. It was wonderful to make my 2nd Aquatimer ref 3538 one that the Cousteau Society used while returning to the Red Sea in 2005 commemorating a milestone anniversary.

I am a Community College professor that was born and raised in San Diego and teaches drawing, design, and art history. When I am not in the classroom, or making art, I am free-diving in La Jolla. So far, the watch habit and diving passion haven't gotten me in trouble with my little lady. I'll consider myself lucky.

Cheers!

Hi guys,

thought its about time to do a short, tho proper introduction. 

My name is Adrian, 31 years (at least until November) and I´m from Germany.
To be honest when I was younger, I never liked wearing watches as at that time I found watches kinda uncomfortable. 
When my father died I got his Junghans, and I was very happy about the watch as he always wore it and so there is a strong link between him and the watch. So if I wear the watch now it feels like he´s with me. 

When I got the watch, I started wearing it for special occasions and it grow on me over time and the watch became more and more comfortable.
But even before I was into watches and always impressed and fascinated by the small mechanical parts and how everything works perfectly together to keep the time. Must be 8 or 9 years now since I saw the IWC Portugieser for the very first time and immediately fell in love with the design. 

So as soon as I started wearing a watch on a daily base I was thinking about getting myself a Portugieser - which I finally got a year ago (nearly as it was the 9th September 2017).
As soon as I had the Portugieser on my wrist, I got bit buy the watch bug - in the following 12 month until now I added loads of books, watch forums and watches of course ( The Omega Speedmaster and the IWC Pilot Chrono ref 3777-01). 

To mark a milestone in my life and as I´m really impressed by the movemnet it runs, my next purchase going to be the IWC Big Pilot LPP. 

I still work at the company I did my apprenticeship at - of course not as a apprentice anymore, but as a Country Manager, which includes some travels around the globe (another reason to add the IWC Big Pilot ;-) )

Beside of watches I have a weak spot for Whisky, Gin, Cigars, Food and all kind of technical stuff. 

I´m frequently checking out the forum to learn more about watches, movments and IWC of course and I´m very glade that this collectors forum is very activ and frequently updated with new posts. 

Keep the good work up, IWC. =)

Nice to meet you Adrian
We know each other from Instagram 

Hey All IWCers!! 

Well the story goes.. I started back in 2010 when i was allowed to pick a watch as a graduation present from my parents. Fell in love with the portugese line up.. (now portugieser) you know the 3714 that everyone almost wants one well i ended up with the 3717.. and its now called my princess watch (leather strap in equatorial weather sure is hard to maintain) fast forward a few years i have the 3767 and 3236- plastiki.. waiting painstainkly for the 5102 -150 yeras to show up; not sure why i still have not got around to the 3714...

Personal stuff next! .. I'm currently an Internal Auditor. looking out for the next role to finance my IWC addiction. Complete my MBA in 2016 and did a thesis on Luxury Branding for watches; in all honestly the research part was fun, writing about something you have a huge interest on is not that hard!. Well the forum time.. i have been on and off.. starting out here becuase i wanted to know what IWC was really about and found that the collectors here are really different (was running away from the traditional to go Rolex culture in asia). I am under the allias of look to the left i used it to post this..but my full name is BonHon Tan instagram is BHTan1; Turning 30 this year and that is why i dediced to get a watch to well i just wanted my 4th watch so turning 30 was just an excuse... Born and bread in the lovely city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia... if you do drop by and want a quick GTG to share writs shots.. pleaseee let me know

Well here is a picture of the current collection..
(PS: IWC please send the 5102 to KL before October 8.. i really do what to wear the watch on my birthday)

Cool story Bon Hon. Very interesting read!
Good luck for your next acquistion.
I got my first IWC with 32 years, so you already made a good head start. 

Thanks Tilo! I have see your collection on the Facebook group... I don’t think head starts matters!! The pieces you have and the stories they come with are the best!! 

I am already planning a BP I need one... just can’t imagine which BP and when! 

Thanks Tonny! 

I know... I am watching the same video review of it everynight before I sleep, and just dreaming of it... the sales guys told me early October and I just hope.. October 1!! It’s just a few days away!

Tonny!!

It did come before October 8... picked it up yesterday!!

Morning All,

Trevor, London....  Caught the watch bug with a Rolex about 15 years ago, but soon realised there were other brands out there and have consistently drifted towards IWC, I work in finance so there is a part of me that wishes they could do what Rolex manages re appreciation, but my god if my house was burning I know what I'd save!!

Owner of,
IW3538-04 (Aquatimer 2000)
IW5009-16 (BP LPP '16)
IW3706 (2004 Pilots Chrono)

and about to take the plunge on IW5010-08!!!

But the watch I covet, but just don't know if I am grown up enough to pull it off is IW5007-05, I love it, it might be next.

Happy to spend the next 20 years letting my son steal the Rolexes, because as his twin sister says "Daddy, you love your watches dont you?  More than us?"

Have a good day all!