10 Interesting Facts You Must Know Before Buying an IWC Watch

Founded in 1868, IWC is a leading manufacturer of Swiss-made luxury watches. It has been acclaimed worldwide for its meticulously crafted classic wristwatches and well-built professional timepieces, especially the IWC Pilot watches. Its flagship collections are: the Pilot’s Watches, Portugieser, Ingenieur, Aquatimer, Da Vinci and Portofino.

The brand is an inheritor of distinguished horological traditions seamlessly combined with visionary entrepreneurship. It is a revered company in the global watchmaking arena, and you can discover several fascinating details while exploring its rich heritage and extensive expertise. In this article, we highlight ten interesting facts related to the company. 

(1) Location of the Manufacture

Most Swiss manufactures are stationed in the French speaking region of Switzerland whereas IWC is based at Schaffhausen, a historical town in the German speaking part of the country. Only two watch Maisons operate from Schaffhausen: IWC and H. Moser & Cie. Since its founding in 1868, the brand has been operating on the banks of Rhine River, which originates in Switzerland. This isolated geographical location makes IWC unique among the leading luxury Swiss watch brands.

(2) Association with Great Watchmakers

Since its establishment, IWC Schaffhausen has benefitted tremendously from the contributions of outstanding watchmakers and talented craftsmen. Among them, the most prominent names are Albert Pellaton and Kurt Klaus.

Albert Pellaton (1898 – 1966) was a Swiss watchmaker and inventor. In 1944, he became technical director at International Watch Company. One of his great contributions is the development of a highly efficient mechanical winding system for IWC’s self-winding wristwatches. In 1946, he developed the Pellaton winding system with a modified ratchet mechanism for double-sided winding of automatic wristwatches. Patented in the 1950s, this exceptional mechanism provides IWC automatic watches longer power reserves, ranging up to seven days.

Kurt Klaus is a talented master-watchmaker. He joined IWC in 1957. During his illustrious career, he was involved in numerous projects, including perpetual calendars, minute repeaters, tourbillons, and grand complications. Among his several achievements, the most notable is the development of the “IWC Da Vinci” perpetual calendar chronograph. 

(3) The American Connection

The United States of America is the birthplace of several iconic watch companies. Many of them went to oblivion, and a few are still active. Interestingly, most of the surviving brands are presently operating under watchmaking conglomerates based in other countries. However, IWC’s American connection is completely different from the above.

Firstly, the company was founded by the visionary American entrepreneur Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868, and since its establishment, it remained a Swiss brand. Before founding the International Watch Company, F.A. Jones had been working with the E. Howard Watch and Clock Co. in Boston, then a leading American watchmaker. The place he selected for manufacturing Swiss pocket watches for the US market was Schaffhausen, a medieval town near the German border. Moreover, IWC was the first Swiss watch company to adopt the American system of watchmaking. 

(4) Pioneer in Modern Materials

IWC Schaffhausen is the first Swiss watch brand to manufacture a titanium wristwatch. In 1980, the company launched IWC Porsche Design Titanchronograph (Ref. 3700) – the world’s first titanium chronograph.

In 1986, the company introduced its first wristwatch made of ceramic (zirconium oxide). Since then, IWC has created several timepieces made of technical ceramics. In 2019, the brand launched an IWC Pilot watch with a sand-coloured ceramic case.

For their Bronze timepieces, IWC uses aluminum bronze, which is harder than the standard bronze. The brand also makes timepieces featuring precious materials like gold and platinum. The company has recently developed a particular variant of 5N gold. Known as Armor Gold®, this new type of gold is considerably harder and more wear-resistant. In 2019, the brand unveiled the first pilot watch made of Ceratanium®. Developed by IWC Schaffhausen, this patented alloy combines the distinctive characteristics of titanium and ceramic. 

The innovative materials used in the construction of IWC Ingenieur watches make them one of the best antimagnetic watches ever made.

(5) In-house Movements

IWC Schaffhausen has an impressive lineup of in-house mechanical calibers, ranging from basic time-only movements to extremely complex grand complications. Presently, IWC has 10 caliber families. Among these, seven are automatic and three are hand-wound. Some IWC automatic-winding calibers offer power reserve up to 7 days. Hand-wound movements in the 59000-calibre family provides up to 8 days power reserve. 

(6) Leader in Military Aviation Watches

IWC is a leading producer of military aviation watches. The history of their pilot’s watches dates back to the early days of aviation. It is the only Swiss watchmaker to have been awarded a license to develop pilot wristwatches for US Navy squadrons. Moreover, the IWC Top Gun collection takes its name from the U.S. Navy’s legendary Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN). To survive the tremendous stresses of naval aviation, IWC Top Gun watches are made of exceptionally robust, corrosion-resistant materials like titanium and ceramic. The brand’s aviator watch series like Pilot, IWC Big Pilot and Top Gun are much adored by aviation professionals, members of military forces and enthusiasts. 

(7) Master of Complication Watches

IWC has mastered on a multitude of extremely complex timepieces, featuring complications like Chronograph, Calendar, Minute Repeater, Tourbillon and Multiple time zones. IWC also crafts Grande Complication watches. Introduced in 1990, the IWC “Grande Complication” was the first automatic wristwatch to combine four complications: chronograph, perpetual calendar, minute repeater and moon-phase. Launched in 1993, the Destriero Scafusia grand complication watch incorporates the perpetual calendar, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph and flying tourbillon. The IWC Portugiese Grande Complication watch is the most recent addition to this exclusive club.

(8) Probus Scafusia

IWC’s motto is Probus Scafusia. Formulated in 1903, it refers to a Latin phrase meaning “good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen.” The Probus Scafusia seal is a guarantee of exceptional qualities of IWC Schaffhausen timepieces. This seal is engraved on the crown or rotor of every IWC watch. 

(9) Santoni Straps

Some of the brand’s timepieces are fitted with high-quality leather straps crafted by Santoni, the world-renowned luxury shoes and leather-goods Maison based in Italy. 

(10) Leader in Sustainable Luxury Watchmaking

Since a long time, the Schaffhausen based manufacture has been internationally recognized for their responsible business practices. In 2018, IWC became the first Swiss luxury watch brand to publish a sustainability report utilizing the global best-practice standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It is also the first luxury watch brand to meet the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)’s revised 2019 Code of Practices standards.