SchaffhausennIn the 1870's, American-born FlorentineAriosto Jones, who had been appointeddirector of the E. Howard & Co. watchmak-ingfactory in Boston at the early age of 27,decided to manufacture high-quality move-mentsand watch parts for the Americanmarket using American technology and skilledlabor from Switzerland, where wages were com-parativelylow. However, the skilled workers in theGeneva region and in the remote valleys of the Juramountains resisted the plans of a man they considered anintruder, and it was not until Jones teamed up with JohannHeinrich Moser from Schaffhausen that his plan could be real-ized.Moser had built a hydrostation in Schaffhausen, powered bywater from the Rhine, which generated low-cost energy. In 1868, Jones set-tledon the banks of the Rhine, creating the International Watch Company.Schaffhausen had long been a watchmaking town, with a clockmaker's guild existing there since 1583.The town was also home to the famous Halbrecht family of clockmakers, who built the impressive astro-nomicalclock for the Strasburg cathedral. However, Jones' arrival marked a new era in time measurement, forhe was not only an entrepreneur but a talented watchmaker. The first pocket watches produced in Schaffhausenwith the Jones caliber had a wealth of advanced technical features. A year after its foundation, the "American" watchfactory passed into Swiss hands, but its philosophy-"Probus Scafusia" (good, solid craftsmanship from Scaffhausen)-hasremained unchanged. By the late 1930's, IWC's reputation was so good that its watches were considered "the poor man'sPatek Philippe". In recent years, IWC enlarged their horological scope by a close cooperation not only with Jaeger LeCoultre, butalso with A. Lange & Söhne in Glashütte.