Dial imperfections?

Hello,

I have noticed some common imperfections on many IWC watches. I can see them on my IWC and I also noticed them at some ADs with brand new IWC watches.

Example below:

SWISS MADE writing is not perfectly centered, the gap between the last S in SWISS and the 6 o'clock marker is slightly larger than the gap between the same marker and the M in MADE. Is this normal? Also the 15 minute marker "hangs" a tiny fraction lower than the 3 o'clock marker, again they are not perfectly aligned.

On some other watches I have seen the 30 minute marker misaligned under the 6 o'clock index and this woudl disturb me a lot.

Are such imperfections part of the IWC beauty? Is it difficult to avoid them even in 2023? How do they happen? Would be happy to see your opinion on it.

Cheers

mattam

Being a luxury brand, I'm sure IWC wants to reach perfection in every possible aspect, especially on the dial as it is what the customer looks at most.

I can see the details you're pointing out. You also ask wether they were difficult to avoid in 2023. Well, this model was produced between 2006 and 2012. Nowadays the quality control is probably stronger? At least the dials of my modern IWC-watches are all flawless.

Well, as I said in my initial post: even the BRAND NEW watches from this year's production show such slight imperfections. Some are barely noticable, so maybe you have not discovered them on your watches (yet)? Some are visible under the lupe only. All cheap mass and machine produced watches from Japan are perfect in the details, show no such imperfections. But some high-end Swiss watches do show them. Almost as if it were the effect of some parts still being assembled by hand here. Or as if these imperfections were done on purpose (to fingerprint each and every watch???).

Here an example of dial imperfections even visible on the current IWC website:

www.iwc.com/en/watch-collections/pilot-watches/iw503605-big-pilots-watch-perpetual-calendar.html

This watch costs 36000 €. Would not anybody expect total perfection for this price?

But zoom in in the picture below. The word MADE is closer to the 6 o'clock marker than the word SWISS. Also the 12 o'clock triangle is not perfect, one of the corners is thinner than the other two. And this is not caused just by shadow, which would be obvious, it is visible even if one accounts for the shadow. Then the 3 o'clock index is misaligned, it is not perfectly centered between the other minute markers left and right. I could probably discover more but I think it's enough.

What do you say to that? Is IWC so sloppy in the quality control that it even puts such watches on their website? I can't believe that. It looks to me that there is a good reason behind those imperfections and I'm wondering what it could be.

Hi Mattam

Firstly, the image you refer to is a graphical representation of the Watch, it is not a photograph of the actual model. IWC uses CGI in the advertising brochures as the images are easier to manipulate and the colours are more accurate than they would be in photographs.

Secondly, when photographing a watch, the shadows and parallax errors are multiplied, not giving a true version of the 3 dimensional object.

do you have other physical photographs that show errors?

I knew that shadow and paralax errors or optical distortions causing all this would come as a possible explanation but - with all respect - I don't buy it. I work in IT and digital imaging and know what can be caused by optical distortions and these erors are not caused by that. Again: I have seen these errors IN PERSON multiple times at different authorized dealers. I examinded these watches myself and can confidently say that these erros are not rare. Add to that that I own a watch with such a minor imperfection (however it does not bother me personally).

But to answer your question: yes, there are plenty examples all over the internet. Here is an example on Hodinkee: www.hodinkee.com/articles/the-iwc-pilots-watch-automatic-spitfire

It shows clearly the typical SWISS MADE misalignemnt.

I do believe the SWISS MADE, is aligned to the 27 and 33 second markers, leaving an uneven space at 30.

If the lettering would be aligned with 30, the end spaces would be uneven ..... because the words are of different length....

SWISS

MADE

Yes, that's a valid point, it could be the reason.

Let's examine another watch, this time yours. I found this one on your Instagram. By the way, you have a fine colelction of watches, I'm very impressed, I like especially the vintage models, Omega Constellations and the IWC Tribute to Mark XI. But I digress... ;-)

Here is your watch: www.instagram.com/p/CryTuUmrPVx/

Can you please verify whether the 29- and 31-minute markers are the same distance from the 30 minute one? It's probably something you have never noticed. It's so minor it would never bother me. But it's there.

Some more real world examples:

www.ricardo.ch/fr/a/iwc-spitfire-chronograph-1219951574/

SWISS MADE misaligned, and not aligned to the 28 and 32 seconds markers, not aligned to the central 6 o'clock marker either.

cdn2.chrono24.com/images/uhren/29590774-pl67g1sgq4jtfnh3aq49nxn5-ExtraLarge.jpg

SWISS MADE misaligned, not aligned to the 27 and 33 seconds markers. This time aligned to the 29 and 31 seconds markers. Looks cleaner to me. You have argued that the Spitfire before was aligned to the 27 and 33 seconds markers. But here is an example of a different Spitfire where the opposite is true. Why? Why is it not consistent?

www.chrono24.com/iwc/iwc-spitfire-double-chrono-dopplegraph--id28650784.htm

Here different styles of the SWISS MADE writing depending on the model. This seems to be by design:

And here an example of how the SWISS MADE has been applied on the new Mark XX: www.watchvault.com.au/archive-5/iwc-pilots-watch-mark-xx-blue-dial-iw328203-2022. It looks very clean and harmonious. Why it has been applied so badly on the Spitfire above, is beyond me.

The watch that's linked costs CHF 35'000 (price in € might be slightly higher) but not € 166'000.

www.iwc.com/en/watch-collections/pilot-watches/iw503605-big-pilots-watch-perpetual-calendar.html

Hello Tilo,

Thank you for pointing this out. Must have been a caching error on the IWC website. I refreshed it and the price corrected to €36000. I updated my initial post.

Cheers

Here another bad example of the SWISS MADE misalignement: lugsandlume.com/the-iwc-mark-xvi-spitfire-one-of-the-more-unique-fliegers-out-there/. This time it cannot be discussed away with the argument that it was done on purpose or by design because "SWISS" is longer than "MADE". Look at it, everyhting is misaligned, the writing , the 6 o'clock index and the 30 seconds marker. How did that leave quality control at IWC?

There are many different ways of looking at the same object.

If "consistency" were to be the only desired objective, then everyone would be driving a Honda and wearing a Seiko.

But ... a Ford Mustang is a bad car if evaulated by tick-list criteria. Even so, I still desire a Mustang Dark Horse because it has something that is outside the tick list.

Similarly I desire IWC watches because of the heritage, styling, presence, "Not Rolex", and a warm fuzzy feeling.

Having a dial with slightly odd spacing will not change that.