Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...

Geneva, Mar 29, 2009

LOT 316

"Yellow Gold Da Vinci" International Watch Co., Schaffhausen, "Da Vinci", case No 2437889, Ref. 3750. Made in the early 1990s. Very fine, astronomic, self-winding, water-resistant, 18K yellow gold wristwatch with round button chronograph, registers, secular perpetual calendar, moon phases and an 18K yellow gold IWC buckle. Accompanied by a fitted box.

CHF 8,000 - 12,000

USD 6,800 - 10,000 / EUR 5,500 - 8,000

Sold: CHF 9,600

C. Two-body, solid, polished and brushed, rounded stepped bezel, screwed-down winding crown, snap-on case back, hooded mobile lugs. D. White with applied yellow gold faceted baton indexes and luminous dots, subsidiary dials for the seconds, the 12-hour and 30-minute registers, days of the month, of the week, apertures for the moon phases and for the year display with 4 digits until 2499. Luminous gold baton hands. M. Cal. 79061, gilt brass, 36 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, monometallic balance, adjusted five positions, shock absorber, self compensating flat balance spring, micrometer regulator, hack mechanism. Dial, case and movement signed. Diam. 39 mm. Thickness 15 mm.


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good

Case: 2

Very good

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Notes

IWC
In the 1870's, American-born Florentine Ariosto Jones, who had been appointed director of the E. Howard & Co. watchmaking factory in Boston at the age of 27, decided to manufacture highquality movements and watch parts for the American market using American technology and skilled labor from Switzerland, where wages were comparatively low. In 1868, Jones created the International Watch Company. Schaffhausen had long been a watchmaking town, with a clockmaker's guild since 1583. The town was also home to the famous Habrecht family of clockmakers, who built the impressive astronomical clock for the Strasburg cathedral. Jones was both an entrepreneur and a talented watchmaker. The first pocket watches produced in Schaffhausen with the Jones caliber had a wealth of advanced technical features. A year after its foundation, the "American" watch factory passed into Swiss hands, but its philosophy - "Probus Scafusia" (good, solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen) - has remained unchanged. In recent years, IWC have enlarged their horological scope by a close cooperation not only with Jaeger LeCoultre, but also with A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.