IWC Box/Package - inadequate?

I like the idea that I pay for the watches and for nothing else. The package of IWC watches indeed is border line in my opinion, but that is more than OK by me, as the boxes disappear at the attic far out of sight for the rest of the watch life with me.

Kind regards,
Paul

I agree. But I guess what I meant was not that it should be more @luxurious or anything just that the current box seems very unnecessarily big with no discernible advantage. The Panerai ones have tools obviously, and lange or other brands typically smaller boxes. I don't mind if IWC just makes their box super simple and smaller, i just want them to use their creativity abit more!

I have no big complaints on the IWC boxes, other than the fact that it will melt and become sticky if you don't keep it in a cool and dry place all the time.

However, they do look pretty much the same nowadays regardless of whether you buy a limited edition or not. When the boutique sales asked me for my opinion, I told them that it would be nice and not very costly to make just one minor change:

keep the current box, but make some part of it modular. What I mean by that is to say leave a hole in the box. For the regular production of watches, just put something basic to fill the hole (like a little plain cushion or just an IWC plaque). For the special editions, put something special there to fill the hole. That way, IWC can keep on mass-producing a lot of the same boxes to keep the production-cost low, but give out something special to make a difference to those who acquires a special/limited edition of watch. (ie, to have a special box to go with a special watch).

Some 10 to 15 years back IWC had some very nice wooden boxes, for example the 5002 big pilot came in such a box. You can find some pictures here by Bill B.

They looked great and for sure were more expensive than todays boxes, but the inner parts, especially the cushion decomposed within a few years.

In 2005 the Ref. 3227 Ingenieur was delivered in box that looked like the common one, but the outer sides were covered with black (artificial?) leather. Five years later the glue gave up and the leather cover came loose from the box.

The current basic box tends to become sticky and the rubber-like soft lacquer sometimes peels off.

From a collectors point of view you need a durable box, because you want to maintain a proper full set. You keep the watch for many years, sometimes decades and there is no reason why the box should not hold up as long as the watch it belongs to. I think there is still some room for quality improvements.