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Company no. 849 239 017

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Registered Office Address: le siège social est sis 10 Cité du Retiro – 75008 Paris France
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IWC

Established 1868

Since its inception in 1868, IWC has been cementing its motto of 'Probus Scafusia', meaning 'good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen'. Modern IWC watches undergo rigorous development and extensive testing, using advanced electric discharge machines, to ensure these standards are still adhered to over a century later. Read more

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IWC

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  1. IWC
IWC Certified Service Centre
Certified Service Centre
Pilot's Watches Watches 35065 Pilot's Watches Watches 35878 Pilot's Watches Watches 43074 Pilot's Watches Watches 22358
Pilot's Watches Watches 35878 Pilot's Watches Watches 43074 Pilot's Watches Watches 22358
Pilot's Watches [91]
Portugieser Watches 2028 Portugieser Watches 2034 Portugieser Watches 8621 Portugieser Watches 22741
Portugieser Watches 2034 Portugieser Watches 8621 Portugieser Watches 22741
Portugieser [50]
Aquatimer Watches 26014 Aquatimer Watches 14876 Aquatimer Watches 32472 Aquatimer Watches 26807
Aquatimer Watches 14876 Aquatimer Watches 32472 Aquatimer Watches 26807
Aquatimer [26]
Portofino Watches 24078 Portofino Watches 44543 Portofino Watches 31085 Portofino Watches 31072
Portofino Watches 44543 Portofino Watches 31085 Portofino Watches 31072
Portofino [25]
Ingenieur Watches 26384 Ingenieur Watches 27206 Ingenieur Watches 27201 Ingenieur Watches 29185
Ingenieur Watches 27206 Ingenieur Watches 27201 Ingenieur Watches 29185
Ingenieur [23]
Da Vinci Watches 6145 Da Vinci Watches 43124 Da Vinci Watches 6146 Da Vinci Watches 30154
Da Vinci Watches 43124 Da Vinci Watches 6146 Da Vinci Watches 30154
Da Vinci [8]
Vintage Collection Watches 8657 Vintage Collection Watches 8658 Vintage Collection Watches 8653
Vintage Collection Watches 8658 Vintage Collection Watches 8653
Vintage Collection [3]
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New Arrivals

IWC Pilot’s Chrono Antoine de St Exupéry IW395003
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IWC
Pilot’s Chrono Antoine de St Exupéry
IW395003
23 995 €
Box: Yes Papers: Yes
Year: 2020
Limited Edition
IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar IW392104
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IWC
Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar
IW392104
50 395 €
Box: Yes Papers: Yes
Year: 2020
Limited Edition
IWC Portofino Automatic IW356502
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IWC
Portofino Automatic
IW356502
3 540 €
Box: Yes Papers: No
Year: Approx. 2017
IWC Aquatimer IW329005
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IWC
Aquatimer
IW329005
5 340 €
Box: Yes Papers: Yes
Year: 2021
Manufacturer's Warranty
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IWC History

Some watch brands have a certain inimitable style, and the International Watch Company is one of them. Distinguished by striking designs and unmatchable quality, IWC watches have held a special place in the hearts of watch enthusiasts since the company’s inception in 1868.

Fresh from his directorship at the American watch company E. Howard and Co., engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones set about opening a factory in Switzerland with the intention of combining American engineering with Swiss precision. It would be the basis of his new company, IWC. He immediately hit a snag when the watchmakers in the French-speaking areas of Switzerland—who traditionally worked from home—opposed his decision to open a factory.

White coal pioneer Johann Heinrich Moser began discussions with Florentine to open the factory in the German-speaking area of Switzerland instead, specifically in Schaffhausen. Johann had brought industrialisation to Schaffhausen with his hydro-electric plant, and the power it produced was perfect for the machines Florentine needed to make watches. In 1868, under the power of the River Rhine, IWC was born.

The company came on to the watchmaking scene with a bang, introducing the world’s first digital mechanical pocket watches in 1885. The Pallweber had windows cut into the dial, through which rotating discs displayed the hours and minutes. The public began to take notice of the watchmaker immediately.

The brand continued developing pocket watch movements to make them smaller and more compact for use in ladies’ pocket watches. These movements ended up in the first IWC watches that could be worn on the wrist, produced towards the end of the 19th century. The in-house Calibre 64 movement was particularly favoured for its crown and sub-seconds arrangement.

It wasn’t until 1944 that the next significant advancement occurred at the company, when Albert Pellaton started his career as Technical Director. The first of his developments was a soft iron core in the case of the brand’s pilots’ watch, which protected the movement from magnetic fields. Next came the Pellaton automatic winding system, an ingenious pawl-operated design that allowed a movement to be wound in both directions while simultaneously providing exceptional shock resistance. It remains a patented feature in the company’s watches to this day.

But it’s not just the final product that demonstrates the brand’s level of quality: it’s the journey it takes to get there. Modern IWC watches undergo rigorous development and testing using advanced electric discharge machines and computer-aided design. The manufacture’s parts can be made with tolerances as little as 0.001 millimetres—one hundredth the width of a human hair. This applies to all of the brand’s models: the Pilots’ Watches, the Portofino, the Ingenieur, the Aquatimer, the Da Vinci and the Portuguese included.

It would be safe to assume that components manufactured to this level of detail would be delicate, but IWC watches refuse to obey the laws of physics. Each development watch undergoes a rigorous set of tests, one of which being the ‘chapuis extreme’, a test that involves the watch being shaken 264,000 times in a box at forces of up 500 G.

It is therefore fitting for the brand, whose quality and technology are unmatched by others, to have the motto ‘Probus Scafusia’—meaning ‘good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen’. Perhaps that is an understatement.

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Watchfinder France
Company no. 849 239 017  |  vat no FR35849239017
Registered Office Address: le siège social est sis 10 Cité du Retiro – 75008 Paris France
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