A rare vintage IWC from Afghanistan

Greetings,

A collector recently sent me photos a Ref. 802A from his collection. It is a nice "ordinary" cal. 8541 with a black dial, which itself is special, but what really is intriquing is the engraving on the back.

This engraving shows that it was owned by king Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan. I believe that there have been reports that the stylized Arabic engraving is his name. Reportedly, the King gave IWC watches away to special visitors to his court. Previously a Cal. 89 model was reported on this forum.

IWC's records show a first sale of this watch to ASTCO, Kabul on 20 August 1970. ASTCO is not a word in Pashto or Dari, the main languages of Afghanistan. A Pashto friend of the watch's owner suggested ASTCO may mean, Afghan Swiss Trading Company. The king was deposed in 1973, returned to Afghanistan in 2002 if I recall and died in 2007. This watch was found by the current owner in a bazaar in Kabul.

Regards,
Michael

A good story

thanks for sharing Michael

Best regards
Argiris

Great Find !..Interesting Post...Thanks, MF

I heard

that you could find most things in a bazaar in Afghanistan but I hadnt thought about rare IWC watches.

A charming story and a real pity that a gift from the King was not able to have a more gracious life to for its original owner for all its life time.
But a lucky new owner is a great side-effect.

Andrew

MF, thanks for a great history lesson!!! nt

nt

Michael, I think we have to start...

frequenting more pawnshops, bazaars and flea markets to pick up some of these unappreciated treasures.

Interesting-Thanks Michael! nt.

A rare vintage IWC from Afghanistan

Good story, Thanks for posting. Now how come when I was browsing through all the stall in the bazaars in Kabul , I never found that IWC! Only cheap copy watches. What an awesome find!!!!!! Very nice vintage IWC.

very nice

i tried to read the engraving by enlarging the picture but it was getting too blurry ;0(

nice story Michael .!
Tony