QP 50611 - alone and willing for a service

still desperately looking for hands for a sleeping beauty... :)

Christophe, post your email address and suggestions might come forward. We are on the IWC forum dealing with a watch movement that will never be serviced by IWC without a valid IWC case.

Ok Greg.
I follow up your advice.
Here is my email address: christophe (dot) noscam (at) hotmail (dot) fr

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP GUYS !

Hi all,

and happy new year to all forum members!
It's been a long time since I visited the forum, but my love to IWC has grown since.

Back to this thread.
I might have found hands finally (still to be confirmed), and I have a super watchsmith who's building me a case. I'd like to put sapphire crystal, and I need to source it. Do you have any idea of the dimensions for it (diameter, thickness for back and forth) ?

What I already know:
- case: 44,2mm
- thickness: 15,48mm

Thanks,
Christophe.

Toc-toc,

anyone around with a 5021 who could be kind enough to measure the diameter of the crystal ? Thanks

Hi there,

small update... my case maker build something really nice from scratch...
Still missing the hands (but still raising hope... ;-) )

Here is it (the century disk is in a closet, no worries):

Anyone with a set of hands for 5021 (cal 50611) is welcome to contact me... :-)

Cheers,
C.

It's such a shame the movement is not in the case designed for this movement.
But I applaud your tenacity.

Thanks Andrew.

I wish I could send this movement for a service, buy a new case,... for me it's such a shame some companies prefer to let gorgeous pieces of art to die, most probably to sell a brand new watch...

Strange story! Is this then also a so called "Marriage"?
Best,
-christian

Apparently we are jumping from this post to my other one on the old 325... :-)
Some will call it a marriage. I will not. I am not trying to put this incredible movement into a dummy case with the excuse to make it work and make something badly similar.

The original case is lost. Too bad.
As IWC does not want to sell me a new case that would perfectly fit it (you can believe I tried many many times), I took the decision to build a new one, as close as possible to the genuine Portuguese design. It has no logo/printing of any kind on it pretending it is an IWC part. By the way, 5021 does not exist in steel. So even if I decide to sell this watch some day (which is not my intention), no one will pay the full price of a second hand IWC QP. And I am very fine with this statement.

Best,
Christophe.

Christophe, I hope that when this project is completed you are not tempted to pass the watch on because it would be a terrible shame if someone bought it in good faith as an original IWC, even at a knock down price.

While I understand your passion, the 'watch' has the name of IWC on the dial, and so in my book, the IWC brand is being adulterated, whatever your good intentions. I believe better just to keep the movement seperate as an interesting collectors piece.

Your tenacity is admirable indeed, but I really wonder about the seller: a high placed representative of a very famous Swiss manufacturer. In my modest opinion he must not like you very much, given the effort and cost, and time, it takes to make a watch out of it. Certainly if you try to make it look like a genuine IWC watch I raise my eyebrows, and fear the moment this watch will hit the market for whatever reason. It reinforces my belief in buying my watches exclusively through a genuine AD.

Kind regards,
Paul

Paul, Dave, Rave,

thank a lot for your posts.
You're absolutely right in one thing: what will happen if someday, for any reason, one buys this watch with the certitude it is a 100% IWC, whatever the price or the seller. This will be a fraud. And I will be responsible for that (consciously or not).

The only outcome I see is that IWC would be grateful for my tenacity, energy, love in this caliber and watch, and decide to replace my project with a brand new 5021, or more recent model... :-D

More seriously, as this will not happen, I will try to make this project to happen and to enjoy this watch as much as I can, I will try to educate my son so that he will keep that watch as a part of me, etc... This is a kind of faith I'd like to believe in.

You know what: I guess there should not be so many projects like mine with a c50611 in this World. That makes this watch even more special to me... ;-)

I am convinced there is someone around in this forum who has or who knows someone who could sell me a set of hands for this extraordinary caliber.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeelp me ! :-)
Christophe.

Hands are not unique and I would think you could find some even if they never were produced for use by IWC.

I will say --and you know I have tried to be helpful-- the watch IS a marriage. You can play with definitions, but the issue is not misrepresentation nor resale. It is a combination of factory and non-factory parts. They are "married" into one watch. Personally, that has no interest to me, but to each their own.

Thanks a lot Michael.
I will look after alternatives to get those hands indeed.

I hope to be able to share with you this wonderful... "thing".

Best,
Christophe.

Christophe, good luck with what you are trying to achieve, I think it's great. Bringing it back to life in whatever form it ends up will be interesting and I'm looking forward to the end result.

Cheers,

Jarrod

Yes, I´m also curious about the end result - let us know.
Best,
-christian

I will guys ! THANKS ! :)

Another year and a half went by...
Movement has been serviced by a professional and works like hell.
Amplitude is near 358° !!! Incredible but true.

BUT.. still no hands. I desperately look for them.

I will find those hands.
I will keep this watch, and transmit it to my son as something I really care.

If anyone around brings to me a good solution, you'll make me so happy !

May you all have a wonderful end of year IWC fans ! :)
Christophe.

Well, it's technically not a watch yet :-)
Have you considered having other hands fitted, close to IWCs design?

The only possibility I see, is a PPC going to Schaffhausen for a full service, hands are exchanged and given back to the client, who will then sell IWC parts on grey market.

Well...maybe it's time to move on?!