Question.........

Did IWC ever produce a cal 854B. I know of 8541B. Can anyone please post a scan of watch and movement if this one exists?
Many thanks and best wishes
Regards
Ivan Melbourne

Yes!

Hi Ivan

They produced the caliber c854. The additional B is not of big importance and only for service reasons. (Differences in the fixture of the balance spring).

From the back the movement is identical to the c8541 (B) but it has no date.

(FTP client ill , picture later)

Best regards

Ralph

Just the picture...

Her it is.

Thanks Ralph........nt

nt

Hacking seconds.....

Ralph
Does the "B" indicate Hacking seconds or no
Regards
Ivan

"B" doesn't mean hacking (more)

Many people erroneously think that cal. 854B's and 8541B's have the "B" representing hacking, since every such one they've heard about had a stop seconds function and "plain" 854's and 8541's did not. That is technically incorrect.

My article on the Cal.85xx family (see articles on the upper left of the forum page) explains the issue as follows, with the underlining added here:

In 1976 IWC began production of the Calibre 8541B, which
has a "Greiner" type collet. Due to new regulation machinery at the factory, the collet --a ring affixed to the balance staff and which hold the hairspring-- was changed, as was the balance staff itself. The Calibre 8541B continued to be available for 20 years.

During this period, several variations were made of the Calibre 8541B, although the mainplate was not engraved with different calibre numbers. For example, some Calibre 8541B movement had a "second-stop mechanism" (what is sometimes called "hacking"). These were listed in factory records as Calibre 8541BS, but the movements still were engraved as "C. 8541B". The so-called "Jumbo Ingenieur" (Ref. 1832 in steel), of which reportedly only 978 were made in all metals with automatic movements, contained the Calibre 8541ES. This designation meant that certain movement parts were antimagnetic (the "E') and that the movement had a stop-seconds mechanism (the "S'). Again, however, this was not engraved on the mainplate.

Since that article, I learned that some of the production years may differ and also subsequently posted an image of the Greiner collet (you may want to search archives).

But as a practical matter, few 854B's and 8541B's don't hack ;)

Regards,
Michael

Question?...........

Michael thanks for the detailed information.
Looking at your chart of the cal 85 family no mention is given on the 854B, hence my initial question. How many 854B were produced or are the figures included with 854?.
Are there any other calibers belonging to the cal 85 family, not shown; would be interested to know as I am putting together a small collection to include one of each.
Anybody got a cal 81 to spare????????
Regards