IWC Leonardo da Vinci Watch

International Watch Company is a prestigious watch manufacture located in the small town of Schaffhausen. In 1583 there was registered a watch guild. The Habrecht dynasty that created a number of famous watches was in the head of the guild.

IWC was founded three centuries later, in 1868. Florentine Ariosto Jones, a 27-year-old American, came to Schaffhausen. He wanted to open a big watch company to be called International Watch Company. He wanted old Swiss craftsmen share the secrets of their mastery with him. He also was confident that his American colleagues would support him with most progressive technologies.

But Jones was mistaken: Swiss watch craftsmen did not want to share their secrets. He was ready to return to America when he met a person who was the "right guy" in the circle of Swiss watchmakers. His name was Johann Heinrich Moser and he was not only a watch maker but a pioneer and industrialist.

Jones and Moser formed an alliance - they founded International Watch Company and started producing watches. (Of course Schaffhausen watch specialists could not refuse to help Moser). So they created top quality watches offered at reasonable prices. Their timepieces soon became highly demanded.

It is still possible to find golden pocket watches made in the end of XIX century by International Watch Company in some antique shops. But their price is enormous. The 1980-s marked the period when IWC mechanics flourished. In 1985 IWC presented a new revolutionary watch called Da Vinci - a chronograph with the function of perpetual calendar. Da Vinci proved the fact that complicated watches could be worn on a daily basis.

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest individuals in the history of mankind, a very gifted inventor. It was not easy for IWC to create a watch to pay tribute to the genius. All calendar functions of the Da Vinci watch must be corrected with help of a winding crown.

IWC Schaffhausen watches are meant for a particular circle of people. They are first of all meant for those who sincerely love high mechanics but do not want to keep an expensive watch in a closet but instead wear it on the wrist. IWC watches are distinguished due to the combination of sports and classic features, every day wear and eternity.

IWC Schaffhausen watches have never broken the "form follows function" rule - and it does not matter whether you take IWC Pilot watches, complicated Portuguese ones, laconic Portofino, sports Aquatimer or Ingenieur, or elegant Da Vinci.


Enjoy looking through the selection of fine IWC watches: