At the end of March 2017, on a cold and rainy night I was scouring the web
looking to see if there were any interesting IWC vintage timepieces out there,
to add to my collection.
Of course, searching for the term vintage and IWC turns up a myriad of
watches, and many of those are not even IWC timepieces. So for instance a
search would bring up many ILLINOIS WATCH COMPANY timepieces as well as
other manufacturer's watches. These, all to often advertised as Genuine,
Rare, International Watch Company... by unscrupulous sellers trying to
trick unaware and novice Collectors into buying their watch. Of course, these
pieces are not of interest to me as an IWC Collector, and I generally skip
past them with just a shortest of a glance.
And so it was that I skimmed past this watch - listed as an IWC but clearly a
Gubelin.
The audacity of the seller to list this as an IWC !
After all, IWC does not do these things - I mean ;
- Firstly the tournou shape of the watch (which is meant to be a pocket
watch), simply is not IWC. While IWC have done a few octagonal cased
pocketwatches in the past, certainly we have never see a tournou shaped one.
- _ Then it's listed as being yellow and white gold - I mean, come on
everyone knows that IWC never did white gold pocket watches.
- It 's flat - very flat! ...and every collector worth his salt knows that
IWC heritage dictates relativly thick movements. We see H5, H6 movement height
designators often found back on the IWC movements._
And then there is this.....
[list]
[*]We all know that IWC movements bear the Probus Scafusia stamp - and besides
for the " SS & Co." stamped movements produced for Stauffer, Son & Co. in the
UK, IWC never produced movements for other manufactures...or did they? (edit:
see fantastic post by Adrian below).
[/list]
So I am about to click to the next page/watch, when a thought hits me. This
movement certainly looks like an IWC Cal. 95... even if the finish on the
movement appears to be of a higher level than on other Cal. 95's in my
collection.
So I start to study the details of the movement, like serial number and
individual bridge shapes. And then... there it is!
tucked away in the corner of the bridge - just two little tiny but important
letters I.W. - missing the C, but still 2 out of three is not bad right?
Checking the serial number, the utility lists it as "The movement is a Lep.
calibre 95, dating from the year 1927."
OK - now, I am beginning to slighly believe the seller. But still, I'm
nervous. Tournou shape, white gold, and then it seems like some "rough repair"
has been realised on the watch case. Seems like the bezel had been broken in a
rather poor attempt to remove it from the watch and that instead of silver
solderting it back together, had brutely used screws !
But maybe just maybe if I can secure it, and be able to pay via PayPal and it
then turns out to not be genuine, and also not actualy gold, I could then
possibly get my monies back.
My head is screaming "Buy the Seller not the Watch" and "If it looks to good
to be True, it's probabaly not True". Walk away - Walk away!
But, the more I look at that movement I am convinced it's a Cal.95 and
ubervirus is now kicking in strongly too. I want this watch..... actually no,
I dont want it ..... I need it.
And so it was that I entered a fairly high bid.... I simply had to secure this
auction.
And so it was, that later and when monitoring the bids I was able to see that
some other folk out there also believed that it may be a genuine IWC, becuase
there was quiet some bidding last minutes, and I needed to up my bid. But win
it I did.
I had the seller ship the watch to our good friend Bill Barker as he was
heading out this way a few month later for the 2017 BBAMSGTG event, and would
ensure safe delivery. When the watch arrived, Bill kindly took some photo's
and confirmed those ugly screw repair. He also said, that the case back had
fallen off the watch.
Time passes and then we are all in Amsterdam and Bill sitting at the top end
of the long table, asks the guys to pass the watch down to the other side
where I am sitting. Hand over hand it goes, but then stops at Jeroen (our
friendly IWC certified watchmaker who is also attending the event) - and
Jeroen would not be Jeroen if he does not pull out his loupe and start to
investigate. All to soon, he is standing next to Walter and I saying "watch
is genuine, glass is not original, a replacement glass fitted which is far to
thick and badly fitting (hence all that dirt on the dial), and more importanly
that I was wrong - that the bezel is not broken but rather designed that way.
Designed that way? How could this be? Watch this, says Jeroen...
..it's a fold out stand !
Turning the very flat pocket watch into a magnificent night table clock.
Armed with the confirmed serial numbers, our museum curator dived into the
archives and Dr. David Seyffer returned with the offical findings. Case and
movement serial numbers check out and the watch was sold by IWC Schaffhuasen
to Gubelin in August of 1928. David further confirms that the movement is
nickel plated, and that the archives list a case of "mixte Or" being 18K
white and yellow gold and that there is a descripion of the fold out stand.
However, prior to seeing the actual watch it had not been clear as to what
exactly that that description in the sales book actually meant.
NOW WE SIMPLY HAD TO RESTORE THIS UNIQUE TIMEPIECE BACK TO IT 'S FORMER
GLORY
Working in close co-operation with Mechtilde (Service Ops) and Elvira
(heritage watch service dept), with inputs from David Seyffer we commenced the
resoration project. Other than a full SPA service, the restoration involved a
full dial restore, the custom grinding of a bespoke new and correct fitting,
super thin glass as well as the hand making of a new balance staff for the
movement.
For the lodgistics on this side here in the Netherlands I need to thank both
Jeroen my watchmaker as well as [color=#1f497d]Rafael Nuesink of the IWC
Amsterdam Service Platform[/color] who ensured direct and safe transport of
the watch to and from Amsterdam to Schaffhausen and back.
The results of the restoration speak for themselves.
Schaffhausen listening at the dinner table to one of your great stories. It represents it all : the origin, the history, the discovery, the attempt to snatch it and the restoration into its former glory. Well done and congratulations!
