Hi there!
First post on this site so please excuse my lack of knowledge on this watch! I
buy and sell and can identify most watches easily however this one
I'm.struggling with.
Black dial, monocoque case, unusual bezel and measures 35mm
I have enquired on other forums too and they also were not sure so recommended
asking you guys.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance!
HH
Strange lot Harry (how did you remove the caseback from a mono case?), it
almost looks like somebody transformed a 1205 into an auto and added a chased
bezel...what's puzzling is the dial is showing all the signs of being re-
done...would be intresting to have it lifted and see if the feet marry to the
movement.
Hi Hairspringharry,
the Movement of your watch is a IWC Calibre 852 produced in 1952. Cal 852 is
an Pellaton automatic movement of 29mm diameter, was produced in 49200 pcs and
was produced from 1952 to 1958. Your movement has a pretty low serialnumber
for a Cal. 852, the first serial Number used for 852 movements is 127401 that
means it comes from the fourth batch of 600pcs produced.
The dial on your watch doesnt show the Automatic designation, which should be
there, that most probably means that the dial has been replaced by one that
was intended to be used for a manual wind center second movement like Calibre
89. The Cal. 89 and the Cal. 85x family share the same position of the dial
feet, which makes the dials interchangeable.
From the pictures you show, the case is not a monocoque but a normal case
witha a middle part where the movement is mounted and a case back which can be
removed. All monocoque cases come with a split crown assembly.
Nice early automatic watch anyhow,
-br
Cromagnonman
P.s. take care on your hairsprings - Harry
Thank you very much, super informative answer. I think I will sell it as it is
and simply describe the case, movement and dial as well as I can. Looks like
it's made up of a few different watches. At least it's all IWC!
And yes I'm always careful with my hairspring!
Cheers
HH
The missing 'auto' is not an indicator to a repaint (@ points in time if you
were ordering an 18kt heavilly priced lot then you were allowed a say in how
much writing you desired on a dial)...the rest of the dial is. It's certainly
very synonymous in design to offerings that topped 401 movements.
Oh right good point I didn't consider that expensive watches could be somewhat
customised by the customer. I'll have a look at the ones using cal 401. I
still can't find anything with that bezel, could that have been added somehow
at some point?
It is extremely uncommon harry but it's been noted before, even with models
(untouched)
with no interchangable dial type.
So turns out after closer inspection with a macro lens the dial does state
'automatic' it's just faded and partially missing.
Could this mean the dial is original to the movement and it's just the case
which is a bit of a mystery?
Photo
attached.
Automatic in script is not normally something that is seen from
schaffhausen...could you close-up pic the IWC signature please?
Here is a close up of the IWC
signature.
Hi Hairspringharry,
dont worry about the authenticity of the wach case. The watch shown in your
pictures is a Ref. 509A. I found it in the IWC legacy reference List, see
picture below.
Okay that's a relief! I think we have a decent idea of what is now then.
Doesn't seem to be many of these around, judging from a quick Google search.
Good find cromagnonman
The dial is extremely poor qualty harry, out of centre and slightly out of
period for it's type...the style did'nt really come to market till '58 at the
earliest..though because the watch style is obtuse it could have been stalled
awaiting the right customer.
Is the seconds hand really so short in the flesh?
Maybe I'll try and sort out the dial then and yes the second hand is way too
short. Maybe I can find a dial or have it redone to match the dial in the pic
above.
Thanks again for all the help guys, much appreciated!!
The watch may have owned a chaptered dial originally harry.