SINGAPORE (Apr 30): IWC Schaffhausen celebrates its 150th anniversary by bringing the best of its engineering and design excellence to Singapore with a collection of timepieces and movements from both the past and present.
On May 1, watch enthusiasts and members of the public will have the rare opportunity to retrace the adventurous footsteps of young Boston watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones, who, in 1868, first sailed across the Atlantic from America to Switzerland to establish the International Watch Co on the bank of Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen. The exhibition will be delivered in the industrial style of the IWC manufacture in its early days, and casts the spotlight on 10 of the luxury brand’s most iconic watches.
Among the masterpieces that have travelled from IWC’s storied archives in Schaffhausen is the Yacht Club Automatic Ref 811 (1967), one of IWC’s first watches to be adorned with a blue dial. Reemerging from the Pallweber manufacturing era of 1885 to 1887 is the Lepine Pallweber III pocket watch (1886), which featured IWC’s first-ever jumping numerals display.
Those who missed IWC’s unveiling of its Jubilee collection at January’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva will also be able to enjoy an encore of its highlights at the upcoming exhibition.
These include the limited edition Tribute to Pallweber Edition “150 Years” pocket watch (main image), the first model to be manufactured by IWC with a digital hours and minutes display since the Pallweber range was discontinued in 1890.
Portugieser Constant-Force Tourbillon Edition “150 Years” (right) is also an SIHH 2018 highlight not to be missed. For the first time in IWC history, a constant-force tourbillion has been combined with a simple moon phase display to result in one of the most technically sophisticated watches in the Portugieser line. Available in just 15 pieces, its simple moon phase display needs to be adjusted by only a day after 577.5 years, while the patented constant-force mechanism and tourbillion together ensure an exceptionally high level of precision.
Another highly talked-about model is the Da Vinci Automatic Moon Phase 36 Edition “150 Years” (left), a nod to the company’s late-1980s and 1990s style of elaborately decorated jewellery watches. Its case and moving lugs are paved with 206 pure diamonds amounting to 2.26 carats.
Stanislas Rambaud, managing director of IWC Southeast Asia, says these juxtapositions of IWC’s most iconic historical pieces against the new Jubilee collection make for a compelling story — one that best showcases 150 years of the brand’s heritage.
IWC 150th Anniversary Exhibition
Date: May 1 to 13, 2018
Venue: Level 1 Atrium, ION Orchard
This article appeared in Issue 828 (Apr 30) of The Edge Singapore.
