IWC Schaffhausen

IWC is a Swiss company founded by an American. Florentine Ariosto Jones, a Boston watchmaker, arrived in Switzerland in 1868 intending to combine American industrial machinery with Swiss hand skill. He found the western cantons uninterested and settled instead in Schaffhausen, in the German-speaking north, where the Rhine could drive his machinery. The location remains unusual: IWC is essentially the only significant manufacture in the region.

The house built its reputation on robust, legible watches with an engineering bias rather than decorative complication. The Portugieser began in 1939 as a wristwatch large enough to house a pocket-watch calibre, ordered by two Portuguese merchants who wanted marine-chronometer accuracy on the wrist; its proportions look contemporary to this day.

The Mark 11, supplied to the RAF from 1948, set the standard for military navigation watches with its soft-iron anti-magnetic cage. The pilot's line still descends from it. The Ingenieur of 1955 pushed anti-magnetism further, and Gérald Genta's 1976 SL redesign gave it the integrated-bracelet form revived in recent years.

IWC's more idiosyncratic contributions include the Da Vinci perpetual calendar of 1985, designed by Kurt Klaus to be adjusted entirely through the crown, and the Aquatimer and Portofino families. Richemont acquired the company in 2000.

IWC Schaffhausen holds 1 model, from £8,850 to £8,850. Half cost less than £8,850, and a quarter less than £8,850. 1 of 1 is automatic. 1 is stocked by more than one retailer, giving 3 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

1868

Florentine Ariosto Jones founds IWC in Schaffhausen.

1939

The Portugieser debuts with a pocket-watch calibre.

1948

The Mark 11 enters RAF service.

1955

The anti-magnetic Ingenieur launches.

1985

Kurt Klaus's Da Vinci perpetual calendar is released.