IWC Vintage Watch Sale at Sotheby’s

Luxury Swiss watchmakers IWC (International Watch Company) have recently announced that Sotheby’s in Geneva will be auctioning an exclusive selection of their vintage and contemporary Ingenieur watches next month. The watches will be sold as part of a much larger sale of modern and vintage wrist watches featuring a number of major luxury watch brands. There will be up to 30 watches from IWC; some of including timepieces dating back to the 1960’s and 70’s alongside some of their more contemporary watch models.

The Ingenieur brand itself dates back to 1955 when the very first model went on the market. The watch featured an automatic movement with a bidirectional winding which had been developed by the company’s then technical director Albert Pellaton. As part of the watches design it was built to withstand magnetic fields allowing the company to market the watches specifically to those who came into contact with magnetic fields on a regular basis. This in turn gave the Ingenieur its distinctive name which means engineers in German.

IWC was founded in Switzerland in 1868 by 27 year old American engineer and watchmaker Florentine Aristo Jones. His plan was to transform the way in which watches were made in Switzerland by combining Swiss craftsmanship with modern engineering technology to manufacture Swiss watches specifically for the American market.

Amongst the IWC watches there will also be rare and one off watches such as a very rare 1958 Patek Philippe offered for sale by a descendent of the original owner. Or a unique version of the Rolex Daytona from 1980 with the Sultan of Oman’s coat of arms printed on the dial. Other watches in the sale include a 1944 Da Vinci tourbillion ‘Four Seasons’ and Destriero Scafusia with hand engraved inscriptions and decorations on the case.

More modern watches will include the a limited edition tourbillion in pink gold by Greubel Forsey and a tourbillion chronograph in pink gold by Richard Mille.

Sotheby’s auction house has been offering collectors and watch enthusiasts the chance to see the watches before they go on sale in May. The latest preview has been taking place at their auction house in London this week before moving to Zurich on May 2nd to 3rd then finally on to Geneva where they will be on show on both the 9th and 10th May before going under the gavel on the 11th May giving both collectors and watch enthusiasts alike the chance to see the collection before it goes under the hammer in Switzerland in May.