While I was in Schaffhausen earlier this month I received a copy of a new IWC book, about the history of IWC and its museum. For the avid collector, and certainly for the historical fan, this book is a must have.
Only problem is that I don't know how to get it –other than buying it at the Museum. It does have an ISBN number of 978-3-9523898-1-2 for the edition in English and has a price of 39 Euro. It also has an IWC inventory number of IWA57568, so if anyone figures out how to get their hands on one, please let us know.
It appears to be a special edition of IWC's great book “Engineering Time Since 1868” --but above the same title are the words “Historical Selection”. It's equally sized, but not nearly as thick:
There's 64 pages of beautifully illustrated images, and informative text –even though hard-core fans will of course want even more.
When the reader first opens the cover, amateur historians will realize they're getting something special;
And the inside cover may give the “real” title to the book, IWC Museum A Journey Through History
The book then chronicles IWC's history, with stunning examples from the IWC Museum collection, as these sample pages show:
And then transitions to wristwatches, as these pages reflect:
The book then discusses production, and gives a printed tour of the factory, from case manufacturing to finishing to movement production, All the photos are outstanding, and there's little bits of information that even the expert collector will gather. The last two pages consist of a watchmaking guide , defining common watch terms.
Other than traveling to Schaffhausen, I'm not sure how to get this book. But get it –even if you have to travel ;)
