The CF3 inside

Excellent pictures. Just comparing it to my Yacht Club and it's interesting to see the difference in finishing throughout. It is a beautiful movement.

Thx for sharing Tonny! Great to see the movement and also the inner soft iron cage! The rotor looks a little bit unspectacular - but usually we can´t see it anyway ;-)
But it isn´t your CF3, isn´t it?
Best,
-Christian

P.S. Do you know some reviews or comparisons of the calibre 89365?

Hi Tonny

Wow, this are totally unexpected pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Cheers Chris

PS. Same question as Christian's: Is it your CF3?

Interesting to actually see the soft iron cage, it looks like a lid on top of the movement. It makes you wonder why IWC didn't put it on the regular Spitfire, the movement must have been ready for it, I guess.

I like the finish of the movement, it looks very clean and industrial to the detail. I wouldn't mind if all movements were finished like this one, I see perlage and Geneva stripes as purely ornamental, not increasing the quality of the movement.

Kind regards,
Paul

Hi, Paul!
As I got told the ardoise dial of the regular spitfire allows no protection against magnetism - so an iron cage on the back would make no sense …
Best,
-Christian

Totally disappointed and this is the reason I didn't buy one.

This is completely unacceptable for a watch brand selling Haute Horlogerie but saving money on a decent finishing. Even watch brands at the low end are doing decent movement finishing (even with closed backs).

Very very sad and I would never ever buy an IWC with a closed back: the trust is lost.

Every excuse of "industrial finish" is ridiculous and just what IWC hopes, selling more expensive with lower costs.

sad sad

That finish is pretty much what I expected. But the dial and case look terrific in person. If it turns out to be the accurate workhorse that has been promised I think we did okay.

To me the quality of the movement matters (workhorse), not the finish inside in a closed back. The saved money might have been invested in other things, like a dial with a single window etc.etc. (See also the article from MF: "Creating the Collectors' Forum Pilots Chronograph")

It also reminds me on a quote from John Ruskin:

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When
you pay too much, you lose a little money - that's all. When you pay
too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you
bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The
common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a
lot - it can't be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well
to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will
have enough to pay for something better.”

Cheers Chris

I agree that movement finishing does not impact reliability but it is clearly a sign of (higher) quality. This is below basic quality standards compared to practically the whole industry. So, I am afraid that you indeed CAN get more for less... I don't argue about the price but about the decrease in quality.

You all got a beautiful watch but this is not haute horlogerie and IWC should not have gone this way.

What a magnificent quote, thank you very much! Intuitively I knew this, my fear for the lowest bidder always became true, my experiences when dealing with them later took quite a bit of money and pleasure in my professional life. As for watches: choose a good AD, it is worth it. Again, by personal experience and by stories from others.

Kind regards,
Paul

Thanks Tonny,

Was about to ask for pictures of the inside several times but every time something else came between...

Great to see the antimagnetic construction as such and of course the nice movement itself.

Have a great week ahead!
/Anders

As the CF3 has not an ardoise dial and an antimagnetic back cover, I asume also the CF3 dial is part of the antimagnetic cage.

It is a "problem" of the spitfire not the CF3.

Regards Ralph

…this was I meant to say ;-)
Best,
-Christian

Nice Tonny, yet sorry to hear you damaged it...

Groeten,

Bob

I fully agree with this. As long as the movement is functionally finished for durability and longevity, any additional purely decorative finishing is essentially waste on a closed back watch. Actually, I would even go so far as to say that this finish fits the CF3 as a tool watch very nicely. A highly decorative movement would not be a good fit with this watch IMO.

Thomas

I second that. The times where even Valjoux calibres were finished like high quality watches should be, with love and passion, are long gone at IWC. That's another reason why I wrote that you get more value in the 2nd hand market for watches of an earlier era.

I think I posted pictures of the regular Spitfire calibre here when it was released - so it should be no surprise to the audience that the CF3 is not different.