Iwc

[faust]

IWC is the ****. It's the one brand that I may one day consider buying a watch from (other stuff I love, like Breguet is simply and will always be out of my league). Like others suggested, stay away from lower models with quartz movement, get an automatic. It's a classicly designed, masculine watch. A lot of them are on the larger side.

 

[Quirk]

I like the overall look of the watch, but I'm always disappointed in designs where the '12' and/or '6' are cut off by other design elements on the face. That spoils it for me. It seems to be quite common in luxury watches, though, so I guess it's just an aesthetic that a Bulova-wearing dolt is unable to appreciate.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Quirk

I like the overall look of the watch, but I'm always disappointed in designs where the '12' and/or '6' are cut off by other design elements on the face. That spoils it for me. It seems to be quite common in luxury watches, though, so I guess it's just an aesthetic that a Bulova-wearing dolt is unable to appreciate.

In a watch that uses a Valjoux cal. 7750 chronograph movement you are almost always going to lose part of the 12, 6 and oftentimes (not on this particular IWC) 9. Whereas on a watch that uses a Tricompax-choronograph dial design such as one which uses a Piguet cal. 1185, you tend to lose part of the 3,6, and 9 indicators. It’s the price you pay for complications; they invariably take up dial real estate space. Example of a BP with a cal. 1185:

Jon.

 

[poorsod]

Originally Posted by romafan

I know nothing about watches and am perfectly content to wear a nice (to me) plain Seiko dress watch my dad gave me for my 21st birthday many moons ago. A quick doltish question - what are the two smaller 'internal' circles/faces? The bottom one looks like it might be a second counter, but the watch appears to have a second hand....

Big second hand is for the stopwatch function. Upper small face I think is the minutes for the stopwatch. Lower small face is the second hand.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

In a watch that uses a Valjoux cal. 7750 chronograph movement you are almost always going to lose part of the 12, 6 and oftentimes (not on this particular IWC) 9. Whereas on a watch that uses a Tricompax-choronograph dial design such as one which uses a Piguet cal. 1185, you tend to lose part of the 3,6, and 9 indicators. It’s the price you pay for complications; they invariably take up dial real estate space.

Example of a BP with a cal. 1185:

Jon.

Yeah, I get you. It's just that if I were having a watch custom-designed, for example, I would prefer to either scale down all the numerals to minimize obstruction, or eliminate the numerals that would otherwise be obstructed, especially when the obstruction would be as extensive as it is on the '6' in your picture!

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by Quirk

Yeah, I get you. It's just that if I were having a watch custom-designed, for example, I would prefer to either scale down all the numerals to minimize obstruction, or eliminate the numerals that would otherwise be obstructed, especially when the obstruction would be as extensive as it is on the '6' in your picture!

Yeah, but you have to realize that only SO Much is possible, especially since you can't really get a bespoke movement, thus you are oftentimes stuck between: what size do you want the watch to be? What complications do you want it to have? How big do you want the dial to be? What kind of numerals? Etc... you have to find a compromise because getting a small watchmaker (read: 1 guy who probably belongs to the AHCI) to make everything exactly how you would like it to be is nearly impossible.

Jon.

 

[Violinist]

unless you have some ungodly sum to give to Dufour, getting a bespoke watch is pretty impossible.

About cut off numbers, trust me, when you look at the entire face, you totally forget about it. It no longer matters. That BP is exquisite.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by Violinist

unless you have some ungodly sum to give to Dufour, getting a bespoke watch is pretty impossible.

About cut off numbers, trust me, when you look at the entire face, you totally forget about it. It no longer matters. That BP is exquisite.

It's just a matter of personal preference, that's all.

 

[scnupe7]

I wear a 3706 and absolutely love it!

 

[A Y]

Try to see a 3714 in person before getting it. I thought it looked incongrously cheap considering its design aspirations. I really didn't like the stamped numerals even though I understand that's an historically accurate detail. I'd rather get the big Portugieser. Either way, I don't think you can go wrong with an IWC. I have an S/S 3706 on bracelet that's my favorite watch and is worn almost every day.

--Andre

 

[drizzt3117]

I have a couple IWC watches, and they are quite nice. The one in question is certainly a great watch IMO.

 

[Mute]

It's a classic. I could think of much worse choices in chronographs.

 

[norcaltransplant]

Make sure you see the Port in person, especially with that dial combination. The watch actually measures 40.9mm, but wears significantly larger, like a 42-44mm due to non-existent bezel. Although IWC receives considerable flack for using reworked ETA movements, the 7750 is a great match for that particular dial configuration. I'm also planning to be an owner of the 3706 with a Spitfire dial in the very near future--I'm going to opt for a strap rather than a bracelet.

 

[Violinist]

Originally Posted by faust

IWC is the ****. It's the one brand that I may one day consider buying a watch from (other stuff I love, like Breguet is simply and will always be out of my league). Like others suggested, stay away from lower models with quartz movement, get an automatic. It's a classicly designed, masculine watch. A lot of them are on the larger side.

The Breguet pilot watch isn't out of your range.

 

[pinchi22]

I´ll second (or third) the IWC. I bought a (used) 3706 after much research, and I couldn´t be happier. While investigating watches, I thought I might get a bad case of watch acquisition disorder, but I´m so satisfied with my IWC´s precision and looks that I haven´t bought any other watch.