International Watch Company, commonly known as IWC, have always made nice watches from their conception back in 1868. This is no exception. If you are ever near Schaffhausen please do visit their museum, as it is very good.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
The serial number on the case back matches the original guarantee certificate (from top jewellers Christ), and this allows us to accurately date this watch to being sold in April 1984.
CONDITION
This watch would have defined what a good watch was in 1984. The fashion was slim, quartz and a bit of gold, and this has all of that with a good quality bracelet too. A lot of 1984 watches were not high quality – Swatch launched their watches for the first time in 1983, and a lot of the competing watchmakers chased the price down to try and compete, and quality suffered. Happily IWC didn’t do this, and even launched the 18k Portofino range in 1984. The bezel on this watch is likely to be 18k gold, as it was a material that IWC used a lot of, and there are a couple of small marks that do not reveal any base metal underneath plating. The crown is signed with the IWC fish, to indicate that the watch was also waterproof. The golden dial does have some patina that can be seen in the photos and video, and the case has a dink on the non crown side. The bracelet is long, and has been cleaned in our ultrasonic bath. The hidden section of the clasp does show some marks – this is unsigned, and could be replaced if needed. The seven jewel movement is signed, and even has Côtes de Genève striped decoration. It will have a new battery fitted before being sent out, and it is working perfectly. This is model reference 3801.
This watch will be supplied with the original papers and our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please see the HD video for more detail. All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned. We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.
SIZE
Width with crown 31.6 mm
Width without crown 30.1 mm
Lug to lug length 36.0 mm
Case Thickness 5.4 mm
Bracelet will fit a maximum wrist size of 204 mm
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us. Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.
