Vintage IWC purchase, Advice.

Hello All.

I'm a vintage mechanical watches fan and have been admiring the IWC's for a while... I am now in the process of becoming a mew owner. Unfortunately, there are lots of vintage IWC watches in the market and It's a little complicated to distinguish the good ones from not so good ones.

The one I'm interested is a 1972's (based on its serial number)gold plated caliber 8541B and appears to be in original unrestored condition(which I'm after), including tang buckle, and -maybe- genuine leather wristband.

Could anyone advise me if this watch is the real deal and I can proceed with the purchase? I'm waiting for higher resolution pics from the seller to see the serial number of the movement to see if the date coincides with the case...

Thanks in advance!

Hi there FerrariP4
The watch looks really nice in most respects but it's missing the date window.
If you can live with this, that's OK but will require a new dial from IWC to return it to specification.

My advice is to look for and start with something perfect.

Hi Mark.

Thanks very much for your advice!

I finally took less of a chance and purchased a less vintage (early 90's) Portofino "military dial", completely different from the before, but still IMO very nice.

I will wait to get to know more about vintage IWC's to make the plunge...

Hi,
3513-012? If so, a rare bird. Congratulations.

Yes, I haven´t seen it before - very nice! I didn´t know that the classy Portofino also had a "military dial" similar to the Mark line. Looks fantastic!
Best,
-Christian

Thanks all!

Yes, a 3513-012, from 1990/91 according to the case S/N. I bought it because it looked unusual, but I did not know it was rare... I just liked the look very much!

I guess it was a good buy!

will post some more photos when I receive it next week. It's original (including tang buckle) except for a nice custom J Perrin strap...

www.bracelet-perrin.com/en/boutique/bracelet

Regards.

Chanh

That's very nice.
Good Choice!

Just received my Portofino 3513-012. Looks great IMO.

I normally wear a 1970 Rolex GMT Master I, so I have to get used to the smaller size of the Portofino...

But I believe it will be a great dress and casual watch.

The watch band is a custom and unusual sharkskin J Perrin. I think it looks great with this unusual dial...

Cheers!

Some detailed pictures of the watch....

Serial number 2468936 indicates the watch was made between 1990 and 1993. Probably in 1991...

Looks very good. Wear it in good health and welcome to the forum !!

Thanks David. Happy to join as an IWC newbie! My godfather has a Portuguese Chronograph that I admired and always wanted to get an IWC for myself...

I've posted the below in the "Made after 1985 forum", but maybe some of you in the vintage forum could answer my questions?? Thanks in advance.

"I've done a bit of research on my watch and based on the papers and information found in the internet, it's a model 3513 with a "Mark XI black T" made around 1991/92. I also found somewhere that this model is available in these variations:

steel-case / black Mark-dial / brown strap = ref. 3513-012 or IW351312
steel-case / black Mark-dial / steel bracelet = ref. 3513-015 or IW351315
steel-case / black Mark-dial / black croco strap = ref. 3513-022 or IW351322
steel-case / black Mark-dial / black strap = ref. 3513-026 or IW351326

Since my watch does not have its original strap, but has its original tang buckle, it's either a 012, 022 or 026.

A question to the forum. Is the reference engraved somewhere on the watch (has to be in the internals i'd guess)??

Also in the IWC papers that came with this watch it's said that the Portofino is antimagnetic, but I've read somewhere else that it is not. Can anyone give a definite answer on this?

Thanks in advance for your help!!"