Which IWCs Exceeded Your Expectations? (Or Disappointed You?)

If you live in a city without an IWC Boutique (as I do), you might occasionally special order a watch from an AD based on promotional material or pictures available on the Internet. Sometimes the watch can be a disappointment, but other times the watch can completely exceed your expectations. For me, the one that most exceeded my expectations was the IWC white gold vintage series pilot watch (IW325404). IMHO, It is so much better looking in person than its promotional images suggested. The white gold has a shine to it that is clearly superior to steel (though not apparent in photos) - and the metallic grey dial Is so much better looking than I expected.

Interesting footnote: Ironically, the watch that most disappointed me in comparison to its promotional material (although I fortunately never ordered it) was the very same watch in pink gold (which I saw recently while travelling).

I've included a few photos that still don't do the WG vintage series pilot justice (due to my limited photography skills), but I think that these images better represent it's true appearance than the ones I saw before buying it.

Which watch most exceeded your expectations (or disappointed you the most)?

[](s736.photobucket.com/user/WhistlerBC1/media/1_zpsal10plhn.jpg.html)

[](s736.photobucket.com/user/WhistlerBC1/media/3_zps5hmetxig.jpg.html)

[](s736.photobucket.com/user/WhistlerBC1/media/2_zpsao11ud9t.jpg.html)

Apologies for the technical difficulties posting the photos!

Follow this method to post photos:

Thanks! I forgot to convert to 800x 600 - fixed now.

Beautiful watch and that dial is just gorgeous! I haven't seen one in person, only the catalog images, and it definitely looks better in your photos where you capture some of the details quite nicely.

Interestingly I have a watch that exceeded my expectations on some points while disappointed me on others:
This is the Aquatimer Cousteau Chronograph ref. 376706:
Exceeded my expectations on:
- the beautiful, dominantly slate-grey dial has a shine to it that I never stop to admire (IMHO the very first steel-cased modern IWC with slate-gray dial)
- despite the enormous size (43.5 mm case and 45.5 mm bezel diameter for my 6.75" wrist) the watch "head" wears very comfy, mainly because of the moderate height (15.4 mm) and the steep lugs
- fantastic, never experienced "feel" of quality throughout
- excellent legibility of chronograph subdials (second only a tad to a central minute counter), mainly because of the thick marking lines on the subdials and the special hands design (both polished steel- and white surfaces, polished surfaces in two angles)

Disappointments on certain points are huge - these points all go to the straps:
- the steel bracelet (I wear the watch 95-98% of the time on the bracelet) does not have the ingenious IWC-system of quick micro adjust clasp, while more and more other models do have. The off-spring model, the 3768 still does not have this clasp either, though the watch is even more heavy than the 3767. I'm convinced, that among all the sporty IWC watches the AT Chrono is the watch that needs/deserves this clasp the most: heavy watch that you wear on the beach too, etc. etc. and while many times a loose fit is required, e. g. for swimming a tight fit is much better. Here the possibility of taking out / re-inserting a piece of bracelet is too clumsy and ceremonious. I have a different brand watch with quick-micro-adjust clasp and just one touch and you have your fit tight-or-loose. If I could sing the difference I could have surely been Pavarotti or similar... and most competing brands do have such clasps in their sortiment nowadays.
- The rubber straps do not have a folding clasp and IWC neither has this size of clasp for upgrade... here again: putting on / pulling off / adjusting the watch is clumsy, ceremonious and can even be dangerous for the watch if dropping while these things are done. The Yacht Club Chrono rubber strap has a folding clasp, the Aquatimer Chrono rubber strap does not. Even the offspring model, the 3768 does not have a folding clasp for the rubber strap, why? No-one knows the answer. Boucledor could easily and happily produce the folding clasp in the required size for IWC... And the rubber straps could have (beyond the already mentioned advantages) a longer life, thus less environmental disposal, customers could save later money on frequent strap investments by investing more in a folding clasp earlier. All the competing brands offer folding clasps to their sporty chronograph watches on rubber straps. Taking more than one strap to the beach and replacing straps every now and than is not a real option for many, including me. (Some might say that for swimming and sports there is the Velcro, that's why I stress this.)
- Velcro strap very useful and comfy, but with its 19 mm width looks way too thin for a 45.5 mm bezel size watch. The end piece design could have been made to take 22 mm velcro instead of 20 mm... or if kept 20 mm the Velcro band could have been 20 mm and not 19 mm... here the 3768 offers more because the owner can use any kind of 22 mm Velcro strap with the no-spring-springbars.
- there is no leather strap option from factory. I know that the AT Chrono is not predominantly a leather strap watch style but sometimes it is good to wear the watch on a nice gator or croco strap. I have one croco made aftermarket to fit the Velcro end pieces but I do not like this version very much. And I have let a real beautiful gator be made for my 3767, but the manufacture used the IWC rubber strap for the base so again, I had to pay the price for the gator AND the IWC rubber, and there was an environmental hazard when a good part of the rubber was disposed during the manufacturing process. If you see the combined rubber/alligator leather inlay strap of the limited red gold Aquatimer Chrono Perpetual Calendar ref. 3794 (at least on the original intro pictures: www.iwc.com/en/news/high-art-of-watchmaking-takes-to-the-depths/) you can see that there is a good solution to this problem - unfortunately again a folding clasp should be at hand...

My reply is long but hopefully useful, even for IWC for further strap developments - if someone reads it. (For example I'm ready to buy the 3768 as soon as it will have the micro-adjust clasp for the bracelet and a folding clasp for the rubber...) All in all: if IWC wants to use these very useful upgrades, every single skill needed for these is already "under their own roof", so only decision-making is required. It is not good to loose the "chronograph race" against competing brands because of the straps...

Regards and HNY to all!
Robert

Very unique WG vintage pilot that is seldom seen. Congrats!

This is my biggest disappointment after waited so long for a PC in steel. Pale moonphase & orange hands.

FLEEKK, I had the same reaction when I saw it in person. I had always liked the single-moon WG Perpetual Calendar Portugieser with the ardoise dial, but I just found it just too hard to read against the grey/ardoise background. Not enough contrast. For that reason, I had been looking forward to seeing the steel version with white dial; but when I saw it on my wrist, the aesthetics of it really didn't work for me at all. (Compare it to the look of the Grande Complication in platinum to see how great looking this watch could have been). On a more positive note, on that same day I tried on the 75th Anniversary Digital Date Month Perpetual Calendar Portugieser in red gold with black dial and it had the opposite effect on me. I found it much better looking (and more comfortable) in person than I had expected. I left the boutique thinking about it and I ended up buying it in another city shortly thereafter.

That is a beautiful watch with an amazing dial, Robert. I have to agree with you that I also would love to see the micro-adjustment feature added to the AT bracelets and deployant clasps available for the rubber straps. I would also love to hear you sing like Pavarotti.

Thanks for your kind words! I bet you'll earlier see the micro-adjust clasp and the folding one on the rubber than hear me singing like Pavarotti! :) (Excuse me for beiing a tad "off" and didn't want to steal the thread, just told pros and cons about my beautiful Cousteau Chrono ref. 376706.
Best,
Robert

The watch that exceeded my expectations most was the Ingenieur Automatic Ltd Edition for Laureus. Its perfect for ever occasion I find myself in and particularly great sporty and robust watch.

The one that disappointed me most with the Porsche Ocean Bund. I found the titanium bracelet very uncomfortable and its one only three vintage IWC watches I every sold from my collection. The watch looked great. But for me it just didnt work out - although I wore it a lot for around 4 years.

I try very hard to prevent disappointments: there is a lot of money involved concerning a superfluous item (I have several watches), and I hate throwing money out of the window, that is, with no positive emotional compensation in sight.

I see four moments for assessment: the first acquaintance, after a few months, at the AD potentially buying the watch and after a few months or years of wearing it. I hardly ever succumb to an impulse buy.

Because of this, I own no watches that dissappoint me. But there are positive surprises. My best experience is with the Pilot Worldtimer. At first acquaintance I was quite negative about the watch, I just didn't like it: crowded bezel, small hands. But after a while I got interested in it, it had some innate beauty, and the worldtimer complication was very interesting. At the AD I found it surprisingly beautiful, and it sat, although being big, very nice on my wrist. It was an instant buy. I have worn it quite often, it is one of the few watches I got a positive remark about by some colleagues. I still like it a lot, it has quite some wrist presence, difficult to catch in a picture.

I once had a disappointment, but that was at the AD. On pictures I really liked the Portuguese Chrono Classic with the white dial. At the AD it did nothing for me, so I didn't buy. Later I really liked the same watch with the ardoise dial, but it had to compete with the new Yacht Club with ardoise dial, which I liked more. But I didn't buy: you just cannot buy everything you like, there must be a kind of love affair.

Kind regards,
Paul

This one has exceeded my expectations and been a disappointment. When I received it, it was even more beautiful on my wrist than I had imagined. But then the disappointment set in; This watch is a complete wrist hog! It simply will not allow me full enjoyment of any of my other watches!