The Law of Attraction: GST AT 3536 - Episode 3

Dear
Friends,

This short note to celebrate with you my first acquisition of an IWC watch.

Not a new model though but quite an old one. A watch which very surprisingly
IWC stopped to manufacture almost 20 years ago: the GST AT 3536-01.

I cannot really explain how and why but while I was spending hours screening
internet, looking for an IWC sport watch, I suddenly came across a picture of
a 3536 and I became instantaneously infatuated with that watch.

I tried to stop thinking about it and even considered alternatives, looking at
more recent models but no, no other watch could rival with it.

I won't add to the many technical descriptions of the watch we can find in the
forum and elsewhere.

But in short: simplicity - timelessness - style. This watch could have been
crafted today.

I was done. Nothing could stop me. I had to find and buy this beautiful thing
at any cost.

And I did spend a fortune and I am sure many of you would consider me a mad
man, especially considering the price of more recent models by IWC or other
brands.

And to be truly objective, there is nothing fancy inside the watch as some of
you have abundantly commented. But with watches like any other work of art, I
suppose it is all about experiencing a profond emotional response.

I am acutely aware I am neither the first nor the last to experience that with
this particular watch but I nevertheless wanted to share it with you.

Congratulations .... 3536 is wonderful, in fact I will go as far as saying
perfect design. Nothing can be added, nothing can be taken away.........

Now that is perfection materialized!

Lucky you, wear it and enjoy!

Henrik

Congratulations on the AT.

And some more information about the former model OCEAN.
The OCEAN was designed by Porsche Design. After the cooperation between IWC
and Porsche Design has ended, IWC can not use the Porsche Design for their
watches anymore.

The AT is technically very similar to the Ocean, only the design has been
changed. The weight has therefore changed.

Some photos for comparison.

See below

@PhiKD has written:

Many thanks for doing this very instructive exercise.

I found it quite fascinating to contrast the two watches. This enables us to
spot some interesting commonalities but also to highlight some striking
differences which makes on the one hand the Ocean a very nice vintage watch
and on the other hand the GST AT 3536 a timeless masterpiece.

IWC could manufacture again today the 3536 without making any changes and it
would no doubt be a hit. This would not be possible with the Ocean.

I actually would be extremely interested to hear from the IWC sales team on
why they never re-issued the 3536. A complete mystery to me…

@HEBE has written:

Congratulations on the AT. And some more
information about the former model OCEAN. The OCEAN was designed by Porsche
Design. After the cooperation between IWC and Porsche Design has ended, IWC
can not use the Porsche Design for their watches anymore. The AT is
technically very similar to the Ocean, only the design has been changed.
The
weight has therefore changed. Some photos for comparison.

Congratulations on acquiring what I also believe to be an absolute corker; I
love my 01 and also my 03.

Congrats on the AT. It's a classic with a good home.

Congratulations, this is an awesome watch. Enjoy and wear it in good health.

Kind regards,

Clemens

A
few more
pictures -

I thought I would repost these interesting pictures:

- an ad from the late 90s

- the technical specs of the movement

Question: can we travel without our newly acquired GST AT 3536?

Answer: no.

3536 in The Grand Canyon

More than merely a diving watch, a flying watch!

Happy Friday!

The GST Aquatimer is one of my all time favourites from IWC. Each of the three
variants was already in my collection and each was fantastic in its own right.
But my favourite is the reference 3536-003.

Cheers,

Sascha

It's great to
see the 3536 continues to have hard core fans out there. Nowadays everybody
has the Sea Dweller or the Submariner (even very honorable fellows such as
f.e. a postman on my neighborhood or a barman I recently met in Italy) but who
has the 3536? I was told in a respectable watch shop in Milan that the first
question people buying Rolex ask is how much can I resell it? Really?

Anyway my 3536 likes Bellagio!

Maybe a tad off topic: as we have seen the forefather of the 3536 let's see
one of the offsprings here: the 3719, reaching back to the roots of the very
first Aquatimer from 1967 with the underglass turning bezel - the 3719 being
the ETA-Valjoux based day-date chronograph version in the steel execution, one
of my favourite watches ever, the possible "exit watch" if it would ever
happen. Same size and case design as the 3536, 120 m WR - that is more than
enough for most. A fantastic piece. Hopefully we'll see some time a reissue
with the 69xxx movement inside, without steroids resulting a larger case and
with an improved clasp with quick-micro-adjust feature of today's IWC clasps.
I love this watch!