VIRTUAL POCKET WATCH MUSEUM DAY 77, cal 52, 1898

Cal. 52 - the Workhorse

When considering which watch to share with yourselves today to compliment
Tonny's C.52 I at first though that this one was going to be an easy choice
for me. This, as the C.52 was indeed the Calibre that set the mark for IWC in
terms of volume production and reliability and for that reason, the majority
of IWC pocket watches that come up for sale are listed as Calibre 52's.

It is also then the reasond why most collectors would have more than one Cal.
52 based pocket watch in their collection. Same here - and this is then when
the small dilemma started here today. Should I show my grandest Cal.52 ? Or
maybe a Cal.52 with a nice story / rich legacy assosiated with it? Then of
course, I realised that over the last 75 plus days I have already shown some
of those C.52 based pieces in my collections - for example the Schutzenuhr's
had by and large Caibre 52 movements.

The Watch

Then, I decided to rather play into Tonny's theme of "an early Cal. 52".

This watch turned up for sale (advertised with this picture) and I was
intrigued.

Despite the really interesting swirl to the digits 2, 3 and 5 on the dial
which appealed to me, somehow I would have expected the watch which has a low
serial number to have had Roman numericals on the dial.

The case back, of this 0.800 German silver case, is atypical of the period and
carries besides the guiloche patterning, a cartouche in the centre for
engraving. It was never engraved - I'm considering to add the letters A B to
it - as a tribute to our modertator.

When one looks towards the movement, it's certainly one of the earlier Cal.
52's (what's in a name - it maybe labelled diffferfently after this by Adrian
or one of our other experts).

Note the delicate engraving on the balance cock too.

A side by side comparison with Tonnys movement (here below) - My movement is
on the right hand side.

But this is where you really need to take the time to find the differences
in these two movements (other than the engraving on the balance cock)

The serial number of this watch dates it to be +/- 120,000 units earlier than
Tonnys and to the year 1892.

To help our experts I will quote the serial number of this movement as #
66479.

What say thee wise men ? Calling on Adrian, Thomas , Ralph....

Tonny, my guess is that the case is much younger, as it was made for you :
'A.B' (Anthony Berteloot).

So I would estimate it between 35-40 years old !

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).

Well, this again is a watch originally sold to the Italian railroad company
Strade Ferrate del Mediterranea, which served as watch of the chief or train,
which after decommissioning (therefore the worn crown) was converted in to a
private one. The case No. should be in the range from 206,751 to 207.050.

Hopefully it had a decent second life and for sure enjoys know a relaxed life
as part of Tonny's collection.

Regards

Th. Koenig

This is absolutely stunning information Thomas. So here we see again a very
nicely decorated pocket watch from Tonny's collection which is into it's
second life and has had cosmetic work done to it to make it more appealing and
giving it a second use outside of the railways.

Very interesting to know - and makes somehow my Italian Railway pocket watches
a little bit more interesting to have in my collection.

I'm just loving this series...another informative post!

Mark, your question can be answered in a scientic or in a practical way.

I would suggest the latter as not every collector wants to make a study of the
many variable cal. 52/53 and fore runners

Many use the ledger from the book of Toelke and King or on line 'date your
IWC' in which at least the production year is mentioned correctly.

OK, you see the watch for the frst time :

1. It is a Lepine ( open face).

2. The movement shows the MOST SIGNIFICANT part of the design : the balance
wheel is visible in a semi-circular cut out of the three quarter plate and NOT
the other possibility : the smoothly curved 'S' shape to be seen in your
images as well

3. That said, the next thing is to look how the crown wheel and the rachet
wheels are fixed. That are the 2 biggest wheels in steel that you see. Both
have been fixed with one big screw.

4. Now the movement number : it is from 1891 In the ledger is found ; c.
'IWC' tr. (cal.52). In the new classification this is wrong. It is certainly
NOT cal. 52 but belongs to the fore runners and c.'IWC'tr. is the OLD name.
Better is to call it according to the new classification : cal. 49.

There are more small details in the movement but they are not easy to see,
certainly when a whatch is offered on line and you cannot study it by a loupe.

Collectors might be wondered : why a new classification? Well, IWC made the
confusion itself. They have used over time different names and types for their
cal. 52/53 and fore runners and only in 1923 they published a new
classification. But the 1923 classification did not correct all the different
names for the very early watches. It is the study and work of Ralph Ehrismann
to make an end to the confusion.

Adrian,

(alwausiwc).

Adrian Good morning,

Thank you for picking up on my post (as I knew you would). I had this down in
my records as a Cal. IWC and of course knew it's no C.52.

However, whilst I made that determination on the basis of the main plate
balance wheel cutout being the hard half round I was loath to classify as a
Cal. 49.

Look at the change of position of the round spring recess for the actual
ratchet mechanism on the large rachet wheel. On the Cal. 52 below left, it
sits above the actual ratchet lever.

In my movement on the right, that round spring recess slot is sitting not
above but around the ratchet itself.

Is that typical for a Cal. 49 ?

Mark, it is one of the technical differences. Another is the location of the
case screws and the way the escape wheel is fixed. In your older cal. 49 model
it is fheld by an asymmetric cock, in Tonny's cal. 52 it is fixed on a
symmetric bridge.

It is a pitty that we just can study what IWC changed over time but not why
they did it. It was a mixture of improving quality, easier production, costs
and of course fashion. The younger the cal.52/53, the slimmer they become.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).

Sorry, I made a mistake. The fixing of the escape wheel is the same : a short
cock. I meant the fixing of the pallet fork or lever.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc)

A special cal.52

Very special.

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).