As some of you know, I am collecting pocketwatches, IWC only.
Far from saying that my collection is a museum collection but I am proud to
have found some nice and rare pieces over time.
Some of the pocketwatches are common, easy to find on the market, sometimes in
better condition than mine, but some I have are gems.
So in these crazy times, as the museum in Schaffhausen is closed, why not open
one here on the forum.
As long as the museum is closed, I will post here daily a pocketwatch from my
collection.
I hope I don't run out of pieces before the virus is beaten. Fingers crossed
for all of us.
I will post them in a random order, with some comments, feel free to join.
Keep safe all.
DAY 98, final day, cal 71 Fishtail
For the last and final day of the virtual pocketwatch museum, I really planned
the very early Jones I showed yesterday. But during the time I was posting
this series, something else came in…
I tried to collect IWC pocketwatches to have a nice overview of all the
important calibres made during the history of IWC.
During the hunt for these, I spent a lot of time with my nose in the books
about the history of IWC, spent a lot of time behind the computer, searching
the internet for special IWC pieces, sometimes cursing myself to be to late to
bid, sometimes being to late to see one for sale that already was sold.
But also with a lot of joy and excitement when I found what I was looking for,
or in many cases discovered that what I found was even rarer then I had
thought when bidding.
I am proud of what my collection represents, and was also proud to be able to
share this collection here on the forum in our virtual pocketwatch museum.
When I started, I never thought it would keep running for so long, but pleased
to have posted most of the collection. There are still a few not shown here,
but maybe this is for another occasion.
So when I started, I knew already a lot about my watches, but… during these 3
months I learned a lot and got a lot of extra information about my collection
and saw some others posting their watches in comparison or in addition to what
I showed. Thank you all for that, it was a real pleasure to see all these
collectors post. I hope that the interest in pocketwatches got a little boost
by making the virtual museum because these are special little marvels of
technology and design.
I knew at the start of the series that there was one calibre that was not in
my collection, and even, the most beautiful movement ever made by IWC ( for
most of the IWC collectors ), the cal 71.
My friend collector Clepsydra rubbed it in by posting his wonderful cal 71 for
the Royal Navy.
But as with many collectors, the hunt mode is always on.
I knew where there was a cal 71 located, already for a few years, but the
price was not realistic.
A fellow accomplice in the virtual museum called me one day last month, saying
that he had contact with the seller and that he was planning on buying a
Seeland from him. "Maybe we could make a deal with the Cal 71 and Seeland
together in a package deal".
It turned out to be a successful move and both watches were sent to Holland…
The reason I started the virtual pocketwatch museum was the closure of the
real museum in Schaffhausen. Not only the museum was closed, also the borders,
and more specific and painful, the border between Belgium and Holland too was
closed. I couldn't get to my watch, sending it over would maybe be too risky
and maybe taking too much time.
And the clock was ticking, the end of the virtual museum case closer by the
day and I still hadn't my cal 71 here. Posting it with pictures not taken by
myself and not holding it in my hands would have been a bummer for sure.
So the moment the borders were open, a field trip to Holland was in order to
collect the cal 71.
With respect of social distancing.
some special boxes on the table
So here I am super excited to present my Fishtail cal 71, civilian from 1904
in a 14K gold case.
As many of you know, the cal 71 is a rare movement. Only 300 were made in 1904
and again 300 in 1917.
There were a lot ( I saw somewhere a number of 237 ) converted to central
seconds and delivered to the Royal Navy.
I also remember a text that said that there were 12 extra made with more
jewels, but I can't remember who wrote it and where I found this information,
so I am hoping the author will jump in here.
I did some research about the cal 71 and was amazed that there were so many
variations on a calibre that was only was produced in such low numbers.
There were variations in type of regulators, in case finishing, differences in
quality, in markings on the movement. I really have no clue why this was,
again maybe one of the specialist can help out here.
I made a little overview with the differences, and made some compilations of
pictures I found posted by Th. Koenig, by H-G Aberle, by R. Ehrismann.
The
These 5 deck
