The big deal

Señor Arturo has been supplying spare parts to the watch industry for too many years to count. As with every other dealer, his stock of genuine parts is now dilapidated. To keep his customers in business, he expanded to alternative suppliers. Chinese, for the most. When dealing with señor Arturo, one has to ask the right questions. Like: "Is this a genuine Swiss part?" More often than not, the answer is a jovial "Yes, like Swiss, but better!"   "Like Swiss, but better" means take it or leave it. Like Swiss, but better is a profound way of saying that life is complex, and rarely as it seems. And that "better" is an elusive quantity. NH Mark 1 watch is exactly that: like Swiss, but better. Yet for an Australian watch lover, Mark 1 is not just a better deal, it is a great deal. It is testimony that hard work does pay off, and that 'genuinely Australian' means Australian, genuinely. To all Mark 1 ambassadors: thank you.

NH1 Mark 1, steel on leather strap, 40mm case. Automatic, date. $2,800.

From San Francisco to Sydney: The voyage that inspired the IWC Plastiki

8300 nautical miles
129 days
3083 hours on sea

What an amazing journey! Inspired by the great voyage of Kon Tiki, David de Rothschild and his team crossed the Pacific ocean in March 2010. sailing on a catamaran made of 12,500 plastic soda bottles!

While the design and build of the boat - made out of recycled plastic - presented a great engineering challenge in itself, this group of enthusiastic ecologists wanted to bring the attention of the world to a serious issue: the world's oceans are in serious threat from pollution, particularly from plastic waste.

The Pacific Ocean alone is polluted with 100 million tons of floating man-made trash, mostly plastic. The PLASTIKI message is simple: not just recycle, but rethink!

The official sponsor of the Plastiki project was IWC. To their credit, IWC is one of few Swiss watch manufacturers who are serious about the environment (Make sure to visit the IWC website for more details!).

With project Plastiki, IWC decided to take the partnership opportunity to produce a very unique, truly limited watch: the Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition “Adventure Ecology” in platinum. Total production run: 1 piece! IWC has donated the entire proceeds of the highest bid - 30,800 Euros - to “Sculpt the Future Foundation” as a way of paying tribute to the successful Plastiki expedition.

For the rest of us, IWC produced a limited run Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Edition of 1000 pieces.

The "Plastiki" is an impressive well-built, smart looking watch. Make no mistake: this is not a watch built for a Tom Cruise size man! It is built for a sportsman who enjoys quality engineering and precision "packed" in an admirable sized case. The strong and eye-catching colour scheme (navy-blue / orange) makes this IWC Ingenieur a perfect tool-watch at both sea, land and in the office!

The IWC Ingenieur is a 'must have in Sydney' watch - the obvious connection to Plastiki project and its San Francisco-Sydney voyage is just another great reason to add it to your collection.

What a great conversation piece: take it off your wrist and tell its story: while your guest may envy the size of your yacht, they'll surely admire your new-found love for the environment too :-) Our own Plastiki Ref IW3236-03 is fitted with original IWC bracelet (special order to IWC by it's previous owner. For more details, see clockmaker.com.au/w/k3316.html

[Image source: ThePlastiki.com]

IWC Pilot's Ref. 3254-01 The Jubilee Fliegeruhr

IWC Schaffhausen Fliegeruhr Ref.3254
The Fliegeruhr vintage Pilot's Reference IW3254-01 is one of the 6 models produced to celebrate 140 years of the IWC Company, formed in 1886. The very first IW3524 hit the market towards the end of 2008 and came in two versions: a standard stainless steel model 3254-01; and limited and numbered platinum model 3254-05 of 500 pcs run. Interestingly, the limited set of all six legendary Jubilee models in platinum were also available for a mere $241,000.

The Fliegeruhr is the re-make of the 1938 ‘military pilots’ issue in a 44mm steel case with a bi-directional pilot bezel. The function of the bezel is rather utilitarian and simplified to basic 'time marker' purposes. The accent is purposely directed to the black matte 'military' dial with luminescent Arabic numerals and matching hands.

The sapphire crystal with antireflective coating is almost flat – making telling the time under bright light easy. This is one detail where IWC effortlessly combines a vintage feel and look with modern technology.

For a watchmaker -as well as a passionate watch enthusiast - the feast for eyes comes from the 'under' side: the finely finished in-house movement Cal 98300 looks, feels and performs just as one would expect form IWC. The 18 Jewels manual wind movement is adjusted to 5 positions. The low beat movement [18,000 bph] is robust and reliable yet loaded with details to impress: extended regulator for precision time adjustment, an elegant ratchet click spring and "a turtle neck' click for very smooth winding and rubies encapsulated in gold setting - just to mention a few.



To their credit, unlike other Swiss makers, IWC correctly rates water resistance in bars, not in meters. While the pilots watches are not really designed to be submerged, a 6 bar rating is plenty to keep the moister, rain and splashes out of the movement.
There is hardly anything not to like with the IW3254-01. However, if I am allowed to be overly picky, I would like to see another set of casing clamps which would hold the case ring firmly in position. This function is currently performed by the case back itself.
"You are now the owner of a beautiful new example of IWC tradition" is IWC’s message to the Pilot's owner. And I can't agree more - combining an historical look and importance with the new in-house approach, featuring the best qualities of the brand, is something worth celebrating.
Whether you are a professional pilot looking for a retro look, or someone who wears a suit all day long or who even someone who wears jeans and a shirt, IW3254-01 is one of those rare pieces which would blend equally well with your attire. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Sixty-three Golden Years of IWC Caliber 89

The year was 1946. The economies of Europe and Japan were in ruins, and people around the world struggled to recover from the deadliest war in human history. Quietly and seemingly unaffected from issues pressing the rest of world, Swiss watchmaker Ing. Pellaton was working on his new project. The International Watch Company needed a new movement: a rugged and reliable, yet finely finished and refined movement to be fitted in modern, post-war watch.

Calibre 89 was a success - it was a simple, robust and time only movement with "an air of elegance" in its design and execution that makes it stand out from the more common movements of its time.

Sixty-three years later, many IWC watches fitted with Calibre 89 not only continue to keep accurate time, but their accuracy is better than many other modern Swiss watches manufactured today! I have no doubt that in the years to come, appreciation for this little mechanical miracle will continue to grow.

Yesterday, I had the privilege to overhaul yet another Cal 89. The gold-cased IWC watch was worn constantly for nearly 40 years, then it was put to rest in the late 1980s.

Today it is the pride and joy of its new guardian.





The last photo shows performance after the final adjustment:
timekeeping error of 0.00 seconds/day and beat error of 0.0 m/s while effortlessly maintaining healthy amplitude of 325 degrees.



To put things in perspective, only 3% of brand new Swiss watches manufactured today are capable of keeping time within a daily rate of minus 4 to plus 6 seconds a day!