Some legends are born, some are made, and others are pieced together in a premiere watchmaker’s manufactory. The IWC Ingenieur timepiece is a story of a legend - a watchmaking one. In the late 1800's, with the advent of electricity, the growing number of magnetic field sources in everyday objects became an increasing concern among watch wearers, especially in the armed forces and air force. Like the stuff of heroic ballads, IWC came to the rescue of the British Royal Air Force with its anti-magnetic Professional Pilot's watch that carried parts encased in soft iron. The pilot's watch became the ancestors of IWC's Ingenieur wrist watches. Since 1955, generations of Ingenieurs have continually evolved from elegantly simple and functional pieces, to even more outstanding and innovative designs sporting shock resistance, exclusive in-house automatic movement, and remarkable three-part case. Like good ole legends, the Ingenieur story just never dies. Be a part of the long-time saga of excellence. 

 

Check out IWC's Ingenieur watches at Shreve & Co. in Portland, Oregon - authorized dealers for IWC.

 

 

Reference: http://www.iwc.com/en/experiences/ingenieur-the-story-of-a-legend/

International Watch Co. (IWC) Schaffhausen, Swiss manufacturer of fine timepieces since 1868, reaches out to the community in partnership with Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The foundation stands on its belief in the power of sports to melt down barriers and bring social transformation. It goes around the world seeking to inspire and motivate children of different nations through sports as a vehicle of hope and positive change. As one in the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, IWC published a beautifully illustrated book entitled "Let the Children Play" in which renowned authors and photographers documented ten projects supported by the sports foundation. Since 2006, the Swiss watch maker also released several limited edition watches in honor of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. The latest of these is the Portofino Chronograph Laureus Edition, which is especially engraved in the back with a Laureus child's artwork depicting how the project inspired and affected him. IWC donates to the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation from sales of the special edition. IWC Schaffhausen also played an important part in bringing the foundation alive in Switzerland. IWC watches, including the Laureus special edition pieces, are available at Shreve & Co. in Palo Alto.

 

 

Reference: http://www.iwc.com/en/about/partnerships/laureus-sport/

Dani Wyss is a two-time winner of the Race Across America (RAAM), a 3,000 mile non-stop cycling challenge from the East to the West Coast. He is also the holder of various world records in ultracycling. In admiration of this passionate athlete, IWC is curious about the biggest challenges that Dani faces. According to the cyclist, the greatest challenge in training is finding enough time to hone his skills while working and living a proper family life. Despite the difficulties, he is driven to succeed and give the sport his very best. He aims for the perfect race. IWC, maker of world-class timepieces, shares Dani’s passion for perfection. In its Challenge sports watch collection, IWC celebrates the daring spirit of athletes as they brave the challenges of their chosen sport. It also commemorates IWC’s own challenges which it had surpassed and triumphed over in the past years. Celebrate your own victories with one of IWC’s Challenge watches, available from Shreve & Co. Palo Alto – authorized dealer for IWC.

 

 

Reference: http://www.iwc.com/en/challenge/

The International Watch Company (IWC) is named the International Watch Company for a reason. And that reason is that they make some of the best darn watches in the world. When luxury watches is the game, IWC is a superstar that connoisseurs and enthusiasts recognize. In 1986, Florentine Ariosto Jones, the American engineer and watchmaker, founded the International Watch Company. Recognizing the Swiss leadership in craftsmanship and the American leadership in modern technology, he mixed the best of both worlds and ended up as one of the leading innovators in the industry. To this day, IWC is a historical brand. It remains the only watch factory in East Switzerland that is operational to this day. IWC has maintained its vision to create few watches for small numbers of discerning people that value quality more than anything else. This is the same reason that IWC watches last for decades. IWC items continue to be rare pieces of mechanisms that are only fetched by true connoisseurs throughout the planet. To add an IWC piece to your collection visit Shreve & Co. – authorized dealer for IWC.

 

 

Reference: http://www.iwc.com/en/history/

The Swiss are known for their expert craftsmanship and tradition. Few rival Swiss manufacturers and watchmakers in creating the most durable, complicated and beautiful watches in the planet. Mix this technical and aesthetical pedigree to the marvelous efficiency of the latest US technology you will have the International Watch Company. Engineer-watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones dreamed up IWC with the intentions of these two cultures to create parts and movements projected for the American market. With his friend and partner J.H. Moser, they founded the IWC in north-eastern Switzerland and became well-known for the being the only major Swiss watch manufacturers located in the region. With the company’s admiration for the polymath from a little village in Itali, Leonardo Da Vinci, IWC created a line that’s just like the man; ahead of their time. It was introduced in 1985 as the masterpiece of Haute Horlogerie. The mechanical Da Vinci sports a perpetual calendar showing the year in four digits. This line was expanded as editions continue to come out of the factory like the Da Vinci in a hi-tech case of colored ceramic—certainly the first in the world. Other notable collections are the Pilot’s watches, Aquatimer, Portofino Family and the Ingenieur Family. For these are other collections, visit Shreve & Co., your trusted authorized dealer for IWC. 

 

 

References: http://www.iwc.com/en/collection/pilots/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Watch_Company

http://www.foxsgemshop.com/seattle/watches/11-about-iwc-watch-company.html

The Industrial Age was sweeping across Europe and North America. For the first time, time-consuming but quality traditional craftsmanship that had survived through generations came across new technologies that promised to speed up production, and the result was cross-bred brands that had looked back to their artistic past but had also moved forward to new exciting features. The International Watch Company or IWC of Switzerland is one case. In 1868, an American engineer founded the company in Switzerland seeking to merge state-of-the-art technologies with unmatched watchmaking mastery of complications that create precise movement. When Swiss met American, it was a marriage of innovation that easily built a name for IWC, the sole watchmaker on Switzerland’s east side at that time—other watchmakers were on the west. Across time, the march of newer technologies, such as miniature batteries and transistor circuits, transformed IWC from purely mechanical complication to a hybrid of precision mechanics and electronics. Likewise, the brand is a pioneer of haute horlogerie, the art of timepiece design and science of watch movement, producing memorable IWC watches that exude precision engineering with a fashionable flair. Today, IWC Collections run from trendy robust watches to professional sports pieces, whether for undersea performance (Aquatimer) or timepiece for aviators (Pilot’s Watches).

 

Shreve is an authorized dealer for IWC.

 

 

Image: IWC 3717-01 Wrist Watch

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Watch_Company

http://www.iwc.com/en/