Geneva, Nov 04, 2023

LOT 28

IWC, SILVER TRIPLE DATE, MOON PHASES, POCKET WATCH

CHF 3,000 - 6,000

EUR 3,200 - 6,400 / USD 3,400 - 6,700 / HKD 26,000 - 52,000

TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE

Sold: CHF 2,750

A fine, limited to 1000 pieces, manual wind silver triple date pocket watch with moon phase


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Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good

Case: 2-8

Very good

Slightly scratched

Movement: 2*

Very good

Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense

Dial: 2-01

Very good

HANDS Original

Brand IWC, Switzerland

Reference 5502

Year Circa 1980

Movement No. 2332364

Case No. 2272207

Material Silver

Diameter 56 mm.

Caliber 9721, 32 jewels

Signature Dial, case and movement

Notes

With a beautiful hand engraved movement, these complications pocket watches by IWC were all made in a limited edition of 1000 pieces.
At the time IWC had said about their line of pocket watches:
“Today, IWC’s watchmakers are proud of the fact that they are able to integrate all the complications mentioned in watches from Schaffhausen. The history of complicated watches from IWC is a very special one. Before the advent of the quartz watch, IWC had specialized in precise, high-quality watches without any complicated modules.

As interest in mechanical watches dwindled in the 1970s, IWC decided to focus on a small group of watch devotees and customers who had not abandoned their love of mechanical watches. In effect, IWC launched a counter-revolution against the quartz revolution that had taken place in the watch industry. Most manufacturers in the watch industry – even in the luxury sector – had either neglected and forgotten the art of watchmaking or had been forced into receivership. Not IWC. Bucking the trend, the company’s Executive Board charged watchmakers, Kurt Klaus among them, with the development of several small series of complicated pocket watches. It was a bold step, and one from which IWC was to reap enormous benefit in the long term.

The first fruit of such efforts was the Reference 5500, a Lépine open-face pocket watch with calendar and moon phase. Unveiled at the 1977 Swiss Watch Show in Basel, it was limited to 100 pieces and sold out in a trice to lovers of classic, mechanical timepieces. In the following years, Kurt Klaus devoted himself to other haute horlogerie projects. The complications were featured not only in pocket watches but also in wristwatches. The designs and mechanisms consolidated IWC’s reputation as an manufacturer of high-quality, complicated watch movements.”