IWC Montre d’Aviateur Remontage Manuel IW325401

It all started more than140years ago in Boston where the talented and enterprising watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones was looking for an opportunity to set up on his own and do things much differently and better than his colleagues in the flourishing American watch industry. As the director of F. Howard Watch & Cie at that time, he had of course heard of the little country of Switzerland and its outstanding watchmakers.

He was fired up by the information that workers in the Swiss watch industry produced their watches for amazingly low wages and in the main with old machines. Wages in Switzerland were then still really low, something that may seem surprising today. And so a compelling business idea came to F.A.Jones: Why not manufacture quality watches in Switzerland under more favourable conditions, but with new and better machines, for the North American market? His idea was conceived, planned and carried out: in New York Jones set up a sales organization with two business partners where pocket watch movements manufactured in Switzerland were to be put in cases and then sold throughout North America.The company was given a grand-sounding name: International Watch Company. Jones set off by boat to Europe with his watchmaker friend Louis Kidder. Along with a whole host of ideas, the two men also took with them machines for the mass production of parts and finished design drawings for the first Swiss-manufactured watches.

Initial surprise: in the watchmaking centres of western Switzerland where Jones had intended setting up his business the innovator was given the cold shoulder. The locals, who mainly produced watch parts in their homes, feared the modern machines and the concept of mass production even if it did have the indisputable advantage of consistent quality.

This is where the story could have ended. But in western Switzerland Jones met Heinrich Moser, a versatile industrialist from Schaffhausen. He made the American an offer that was tempting even if not completely altruistic: he could start immediately in Schaffhausen, a small town in northern Switzerland the American had certainly never heard of until then – in industrial buildings Moser owned. What persuaded him was that a source of energy was already available there for the machines – electricity was not even a consideration then.Ahydrostation built byMoser brought the power required for the machines directly into the factory using shafts and long transmission cables. So in1868 Jones arrived in Schaffhausen – and Schaffhausen, a long way from western Switzerland, got a watch factory. Jones was, therefore, able to realize his bold ideas. Even his principle of manufacturing highquality watches with consistent tolerances worked – and this was the beginning of the reputation now enjoyed by Schaffhausen watches throughout the world.

What had been a promising start in watchmaking with the first “Jones calibres”, named after the company’s founder, ended in difficulties commercially for Jones when America did not lower the 25 percent war duty imposed in 1864 – contrary to what was announced. The advantage of lower Swiss wages vanished. Jones returned to Boston and the “American watch factory” passed into Swiss hands. However, the founder did leave behind his particular aspiration for sophisticated, ever-better technical solutions. Despite the initial difficulties the manufacturer became one of the most renowned producers of sturdy and durable pocket watches.

And it was there right from the start at the turning point in watchmaking history when the wrist-watch came into favour around1900. The battle about how to wear a watch was decided for good by the1930s and1940s. The onset of this period of technical innovation brought some of the most exciting IWC watches, still much sought-after by collectors today. Some of them even wrote watch history.

Six watches – six founding legends of today’s IWC watch families Six of these milestones have been brought back as vintage models from the company’s proud history into the modern day for the manufacturer’s140thanniversary – even if it is not a “round” one. Not as copies, something that IWC has never done, but as new interpretations of good old friends. Some with ultra-modern, up-to-date automatic IWC movements, which are also used in the current collection. In other cases, where historical accuracy demands, they have been ments based on the 98-calibre, the most famous IWC calibre and the one that has been produced for the longest, but they have also been expanded, incorporating some of the elements of the earliest Jones movements. And, to the extent that their predecessors had not already appeared in the IWC extra-large format, the case of some of the models in the current Vintage Collection has increased in size on its journey through time, which on first sight makes them distinguishable from the originals. But in this way they have also taken on completely new watch personalities. They illustrate how, for example, a 1955 Ingenieur would have looked if its case had had a 42.5 mm diameter rather than 37.5mm.

The six watches, which are available in unlimited numbers in stainless steel with a black dial and in limited numbers in platinum with a silver-plated dial, are more than just a “Best of” the wristwatch era at IWC. Each one of them essentially embodies the founding legends of the manufacturer’s current watch families. The first 140vintage watches in platinum have, though, in a way already been reserved: as a special offer they are available as a unique numbered set in an ornate leather case.

Pilot’s Watch Hand-Wound

The first Pilot’s Watch of1936 starts things off. As the first special watch for the still young, gruelling form of transport it already had almost all the important features on board: for example a black dial with strong, luminescent hands and numerals that was the model for the development of the classical cockpit design, and later sometimes also a movement with antimagnetic parts of the escapement. And the first of a long series of professional pilot’s watches also had a rotating ring with a luminous triangle which helped with roughly calculating the flight time and thus fuel consumption. The modern interpretation of this mother of all IWC pilot’s watches has the dial of the original, increased in size to that of the 44mm case, a small seconds hand and a bidirectional adjustable rotating ring with the luminous triangle fitted from the inside. Instead of the 83-calibre, which was used in1936, the Pilot’s Watch Hand-Wound is equipped with a special watchmaking gem – the 98300-calibre: a hand-wound pocket watch movement, a balance frequency of 2.5Hz, large screw balance and Breguet balance spring. The 98-calibre family, the design of which dates from the1930s, is one of the IWC watch movements that has been series-produced over the longest time. Where it is used in the new vintage watches, based on the technical style of the first Jones calibres of 1868 it has the nickel-plated and decorative three-quarter plate made from nickel silver and the elongated index for easier precision adjustment of the active length of the balance spring, which was characteristic of all Jones calibres. The founder has thus left his mark here, something that will naturally catch the eye. For it is not only the actual “window” to the dial that is made of sapphire glass but also the transparent back cover. In addition, the sapphire glass over the dial is coated.