The IWC Brand as it now is

Exactly.

Here they are. I wish everybody would follow them.

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I tend to agree with Alan, that there are new and more inspiring options today than the relatively old-fashioned way of having a forum. This is a general tendency, and also looking at other forum in the net, you can easily see the decline of activity on all sides. Thousands of registered members, but at the end only 10 to 15 people are really active. There used to be more in the past, but also IWC started to reduce its own activity and excluding people.

There is no innovation in having a forum. This was different 15 years ago. This is also why I have chosen a different, more intimate way of connecting with really devoted watch collectors on a non-anonymous, non-public but very direct way.

From this perspective, the CFW 3 will become maybe indeed a very special watch later in history - for those who never actually knew what the IWC forum was. I am pretty sure that my daughters will grow up with completely different formats of interaction than this one here.

Well...I'm confused. I think I'll go join Jarrod in the corner.

This is precisely my point. No one should feel like they need to go sit off in the corner. Everyone should feel welcome here. Alternate opinions, even from fashionista accumulators like me, are just as valid as those with vintage knowledge. LOL

Let's not forget that the new branding also gave us the havens of boutiques and flagship stores from which we have a better vantage point of all these new pieces.....and to assess side by side

lucky to have two nearby

Ha! I'm on the fashionista accumulator bus too. At least I'm not alone. :-)

Interesting discussion.

I am not a fan of quite a few of the current watches but there are still plenty within the collection that I love.

I also love some of the vintage / older IWC's but have to say, there are a heap of watches that fall into this category that I really am not a fan of.

So to compare the collections from today and yesteryear, I do not really think IWC has changed much over the years - there are some watches that I like, and some that I do not like - there were plenty of "soul-less" watches from IWC 50 years ago which still sold as there may be today.
What seems to have changed is the marketing effort that IWC has made over the last few years with Boutiques, campaigns, ambassadors and the like - none of which affect my like or dislike of a particular watch and if they help get some more money into the company to a) protect the brand from disappearing and b) create some more watches that I may or may not like, then great!

I know that at present I have 5 IWC's, none of which I consider as soul-less (and really, does anyone else's opinion matter?), I am hankering for my next one which will be a current IWC and I would gladly add a few vintage pieces to my collection again (I had to let go of a couple of vintage pieces a while back to make room for my lovely white gold PPC - who could say a current collection PPC is soul-less???) .

Cheers,

Ben

Further to my last post, I guess this is why most watch companies have a "collection" of watches rather than just 1 watch that they sell - not all things are equal to all men...

Thanks, Ben. Now is there anyone out there who would like to tell us why even Ben's position is not agreeable to him or her? Why has the brand stop speaking to you and when did it happen? (Guess I just had a quick "time out"-You're alone again, Jarrod.)

I will start by saying IWC is my favourite brand, it makes more watches I desire than any other brand.

I look forward to holding the new Aquatimer in my hands, there are aspects of it I don't like so I doubt I will buy. That does not mean I am put off the brand but I will just 'sit out' this incarnation of the Aquatimer.

I really like the changes to the Ingeneur range despite wishing more of them had held true to the 'robust - use anywhere' image. I especially like the Ardois faced racer and the AMG ceramic (black). Where I struggle though is the cost of those watches when compared to the competition. This resulted the purchase of my first non IWC watch in about 20 years.

I really enjoy the Forum which is unparalleled in the knowledge of the brand. Yes, there are other mediums, whatsapp, google groups etc but the traditional forum remains highly valuable to me.

I do find this forum to be more respectful than any of the others I participate in. It is more restricted though, which I feel is correct as I feel I am a guest in IWC's house and act accordingly without having to be reminded to do so by Michael. A small example of the self regulation is we do not mention other brands in here comparing them with IWC. Another example is I felt I could disagree with Paul in another forum but not here. [it was over the holes in the housing of the sealed clutch mechanism in the new Aquatimer range - I still can't see the point in them and think they will let dirt and sand in to the gap between the housing and the sealed clutch mechanism (not to the mechanism itself).

I am another one who does not get excited about having the same watches as people more famous than myself but I will admit though to a guilty pleasure of seeing one of my IWCs being worn on the wrist of the main character in Hawaii Five 0. (Watching that show is another guilty pleasure).

Short answer is I think there is a wide choice within the range in terms of size and 'presence'. I think the quality of the watches is consistently fantastic throughout the range so I know I am getting genuine quality with whichever watch I choose. I do think the price of IWC watches v competition is an issue for me however if it was a genuine issue, the board at IWC would see a decline in sales and act accordingly so the issue must be with either just me or a small group.

Sorry for the long post.

Graham