Hello everyone,
Slowly but steadily I,ve become more and more interested in classic Portuguese
watches from before 2004. One of my favorites that I`ve been lucky enough to
collect is the magnificent 5441 Pisa.
I´ve been looking at classic IWC pieces before. For example the Original
Portofino or the 866 Ingenieur.
After time , I`ve come to the conclusion that rare Portuguese watches tickle
my fancy most regarding collecting IWC. One example that has been on my list
for a while too is the 3712 platinum. Fantastic watch.
When researching such classic pieces you obviuously get attracted by the holy
mother of all Portuguese . The ref 325. While browsing forums, auction
catalogues and seeing some during collectors meeting, I`ve got a bit of a
sense of the rarity and dial variations out there. This being said, the ones
that I coem across are almost always ref 325 1st and 2nd series.
When it comes to the 3rd series, I am a bit in the dark. For what I now 57
pieces were made between 1977 and 1981 and they used the cal 982. Primarily
sold in Germany ( Frankfurt?) hence the nickname " german edition". Now for
what I see are basically two dial variations. One with the even numbers
displayed, and one example which is the same exaple, both seen with Louis 14
hands aswell as leaf hands. Now from what I understand the leave hands were
later added by collectors because they disliked the Louis 14 style hands. I
honestly have no clue what came first and even if they were originally
delivered with both options or if there are more 3rd series dial variations
out there.
both the ref 325 3rd series and the 3712 are pieces that are in my realistic
dreams so to say ( seeing what a 3rd series ref 325 fetched not to long ago at
Phillips) , but the 325 3rd series is a piece I don't know all the ins and
outs from. Can anyone give me more information regarding this specific gem?
Thanks in advance !
Koen Simon
