IWC Ingenieur
IWC Ingenieur
IWC Ingenieur International Watch Company otherwise known as IWC is a high end Swiss watch manufacturer. The IWC Ingenieur company is located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland along the river Rhine. IWC Ingenieur official motto established in 1903 is Probus Scafusia literally meaning “good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen”. The history of IWC Ingenieur is rich in innovation, master craftsmanship, precision, inventing timeless classics that can be worn regardless from what era they were created. In fact there is a huge market for collectables of the IWC Ingenieur brand of watches due to the pure artisanship. To truly appreciate the IWC Ingenieur genius a few historical facts will give you a general background to why the IWC Ingenieur company produce such revolutionary watches.
In 1868, an American engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones founded the International Watch Company (IWC Ingenieur) with the intention of combining the craftsmanship of the Swiss with the modern engineering technology from the U.S. to manufacture movements and watch parts for the American market. Wages during this time in Switzerland were relatively low although there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labour but this was mainly carried out by people in their homes. Jones encountered opposition to his plans because people feared for their jobs and the work they did at home because Jones wanted to open a factory. Fast-forward two years later and the town of Schaffhausen were in serious danger of being left behind in the industrial age. It was at this stage that watch manufacturer and industrialist Johann Heinrich Moser met F.A. Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his IWC Ingenieur plans.
Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturers in north-eastern Switzerland: The International Watch Company IWC Ingenieur in Schaffhausen. Throughout this era the company was fraught with danger being accidentally bombed by the United States Army Air force. IWC Ingenieur were also in the forefront of employee privilege’s setting up social institutions and modern pension funds from there the IWC Ingenieur Watch Company Welfare Foundation was derived. The history behind IWC Ingenieur allows a look into the journey of this outstanding piece of ingenuity. It's been over 50 years since IWC first introduced the ICW Ingenieur and IWC's first automatic, antimagnetic watch IWC Ingenieur still inspires collectors to sing its praises and search the far corners of the globe in pursuit of a mint or undiscovered piece of IWC Ingenieur. As more collectors come under the IWC Ingenieur spell, the mystique grows. The ICW Ingenieur is not about complications like multiple hands, sub dials or moon phases. Rather, the simple function of accuracy of telling time in a robust and classic design providing the key to the IWC Ingenieur attraction. The design of the IWC Ingenieur itself is timeless --classic and sporty all at once.
The ICW Ingenieur genesis dates from 1944 when IWC hired a new technical director, Albert Pellaton. He was responsible for the creation of IWC's first automatic watch, the calibre 81 (subseconds at 6) and the calibre 85 (central seconds, flat overcoil) in 1950. The next generation, the calibre 852 (central seconds, Breguet overcoil) was the first automatic movement encased under a soft-iron core with the Ingenieur name.The ICW Ingenieur was viewed by IWC as the automatic and civilian version of the famous Mark XI, a hand-wound antimagnetic classic whose fame and following grew as a modern pilot's watch. The IWC Ingenieur is not a spectacular or glamorous watch. Like the Mark XI, the IWC Ingenieur is about function and the name translates literally to "engineer." However, because it was produced for the civilian market, the IWC Ingenieur was offered in a variety of relatively elegant dial styles, as well as in 18kt and mixed (steel and gold) cases. Today the timeless design of the watch puts it in the "classic" category and is testimony that its appeal has outlasted its long reign as the flagship of the IWC Ingenieur line.
