I recently paid a homage visit to the IWC Museum in Schaffhausen and fell in love with the Ref 5500 pocket watch. Can anyone tell me where I can find some details about the piece. I know only 100 were made and I guess they don't come up for resale very often but I wanted to research the piece anyway.
Many thanks
David
The following article, while not exactly on point, surveys all the more "recent" IWC pocket watches:
www.iwcforum.com/Articles/PocketWatches/text.html
Are you sure about the exact reference number? I received the list, which I used in the article, from IWC.
Hi,
I have see the iwc ref 5500 it´s a pocket watch with anual calendar and moonphase, only 100 was made in gold 18k. year production is about 1978
If you try find in internacional watchs sites you il find one to sell, I make a research and find.
Best regards
You see the occasional 5500 in the wild.
In the "picky picky" department it's not an annual calendar, but rather a regular calendar, that needs changing every month less than 31 days.
Hello
With all respect to the "PICKY PICKY" Department, Michael you have reason, it´s a FULL CALENDAR WITH MOONPHASE not a anual calendar
IWC REF 5500 Is a 18K gold limited edition openface full calendar keyless lever watch with phases of the moon.
Cal. C.9721 finely hand-engraved gilt-finished lever movement, 32 jewels, glazed dust cover, the silvered dial with Roman numerals, aperture for phases of the moon combined with lunar calendar, three subsidiary dials indicating day, date and month combined with constant seconds, in plain circular case with hinged back.
My best Regards
MF is correct (and I wouldn't dream of disagreeing with him in the pocket watch department). On 1 October, I had to move the date forward. It may not be an annual calendar but you can't argue with the logic of how the date is displayed.
I've never got round to taking any proper photos of this watch. By the way, it keeps very good time and was signed off by the Managing Director on 28 November 1977.
A bit of Photoshop on this one ...
Hello David,
Some facts and definitions.
You are right about the reference number.
Ref. 5500 is the watch depicted in this thread.
Only 100 watches were made. After 1980 ref. 5500 was no longer offered but the same watch in silver , ref.5503 was produced much longer.Of this 1000 pieces were produced.
Here are some data on the 5500 :
18 kt gold case, 17 ligne gilded brass movement caliber 9721 with engraved bridges and cocks, lever escapement , 19 Jewels plus 12 Jewels in the calender mechanism, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, fine adjustment, Incabloc shock absorbers and monometallic Glycydur balance with compensation screws and 2 eccentrics for regulation on the balance arms.
The calender is called a simple calender or complete calender ( in German language "Vollkalender"), not a perpetual calender. It means that nearly every month ( unless the month has 31 days), one has to correct the calender. This can only be done during certain hours in order not to disregulate the calender mechanism. The same watch was delivered as a skeletonised version : ref. 5501. Of this limited edition 500 were made. The price of ref. 5501 in 1984 was 79.000 German Marks , the equivalent of 3 years average salary during those days.
Several pieces of the Ref. 5500 are currently offered on the internet.
Kind regards,
Adrian,
(alwaysiwc).
Great table shot Ralph! Must have been quite the GTG ;-)
Thank you Adrian and everyone for your detailed responses. Really very helpful.
I shall keep researching and looking!
David
