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A surge of luxury – a luxury pseudo-diver from IWC
Each of us, especially at the beginning of our adventure with watches, begins to dream about watches whose brands are high in the rankings of various prestige pyramids. The pyramids that can be found on the Internet are just like politics – each proposal ends with a discussion, and the discussion begins to turn into quarrels – especially in a beautiful country on the Wisla River. As always, the saying “how many heads, so many sentences” works. One truth that cannot be argued with is the high position of IWC Schaffchausen. The company was founded by the American entrepreneur Florentin A. Jones in 1868. There have been many studies on the IWC company, so I will not write about historical topics, although I would like to point out that the company has been producing high-quality watches from the very beginning.
The Aquatimer line, to which this watch belongs, was created in 1967 and it was met with general enthusiasm. This enthusiasm was so strong that the company continues to manufacture watches from this line to this day. The IW3767-01 model – because it will be discussed in the review – had its premiere in 2009. From that moment, the model with a highly contrasting bezel, in black and yellow, entered the canon of diving watches, becoming a distinctive and, over time, iconic watch. I noticed it on the day of its premiere, but it was only six months ago that I managed to buy a version with a chronograph.
I present you IW3767-01.
Case:
The width of the case without pushers and crown is 44 mm, which makes the watch one of the “big” ones. As we know, not only the width of the watch case affects the visual perception of size. An important element is also the lug to lug dimension, here amounting to 51mm, which is not good news for the “weak-armed”. If we add 15.5 mm to this, we can be sure that the watch will look good on wrists with a circumference of more than 18 cm. The lugs are well contoured, so the watch “sticks” to the wrist.
The sides of the case have been given a vertical cut, which is broken by the interestingly polished edges of the lugs, pushers and a bezel protruding beyond the profile of the case. It must be admitted that the cuts and polished surfaces are of a very high standard, and their combination and fractures give the seemingly boring case its character.
The steel bezel, as I mentioned earlier, protrudes slightly beyond the case, which makes it easier to handle. The bezel is 60-click and … it’s the best-working bezel I’ve ever dealt with. His work is extremely comfortable and precise. There is no looseness or shortcomings here. Like the case, its surface is a combination of polishing and brushing.
Bezel has a Superluminowa Dark Yellow coated quarter insert. The Luma shines fine, though not as great as the C3. The remaining indices on the bezel are filled with BGW-9 Superluminowa, which creates a very interesting effect in the dark. The whole is closed under sapphire glass, which makes the bezel resistant to possible scratching.
On the right side of the case there are chronograph pushers and a screwed, signed crown. After unscrewing it, we will not feel the slightest slack, and we see an extremely thick winding shaft.
From the bottom part, the case is closed with a screwed case back, on which we can find quite modest information about the model name, company name and serial number. Interestingly, we won’t find information about the watch’s water resistance, which is only 120M.
Dial:
We look at the dial through a thick, slightly doomed sapphire glass, which has been covered on both sides with an anti-reflective layer, which gives a blue glow when changing the angle of light.
The dial has a fine sand structure, and in strong light it seems as if it is covered with oil. Yes! There is no laxity in this statement. The dial is greasy, oily, and the oily effect in full sun is amazing. This is first time I see such an effect, and I wore about 100 watches on my wrist.
The outer side of the dial is decorated with applied indices, filled with Superluminowa BGW-9. Twelve o’clock was distinguished by two such indices, so reading the hour at night should not be a problem.
Quite a lot happens on the dial, which is sometimes accused by watch purists. Fortunately, I do not belong to them and a small baroque is always welcome with me. Above and below the axis of the hands, there are pearly colored subdials. The subdials are round milled which adds to their charm. The graduation is quite modest and only the vertical indices are written in full. In my opinion, this is a good procedure, because even in the Baroque period you need to know moderation so that it does not become Rococo.
At 9 o’clock there is a subdial of the seconds display, with a hand completely covered with yellow luminescence mass and ended with a arrowhead.
At 3 o’clock there is a double date window that shares the brand name IWC Schaffhausen with its presence.
Sword type hands refer to the indices and the colors on the bezel. The minute hand was filled with yellow, and the hour hand was filled with blue superluminova. The entire composition, including the bezel, makes a really great impression, and the polished index frames and the rims of the hands only deepen this effect. Looking at the watch through a magnifying glass does not change it. It is quite the opposite. Namely, by looking at it approximately, we find out that we are dealing with a premium brand watch, with no room for understatement.
Movement:
The movement of the watch is the IWC Caliber 79320. Sounds puzzling, right? It turns out that it is nothing more than the well-known and well-liked workhorse Valjoux 7750 in the chronometer version, subjected to a cosmetic modification consisting in replacing the escapement and ornaments on the rotor. I will not describe this mechanism in detail, because every watch lover knows this movement very well.
Bracelet:
We come to the most interesting bracelet that I have met in my watch life so far. Thanks to the cooperation with Cartier (both companies belong to one Richemont concern), a system was used here, which is extremely convenient. The first element that affects this is the ability to adjust the length of the bracelet using a button on the inside of the link. The set includes two simple tools that can be easily replaced with toothpicks if necessary. Press the button with one of them, and push out the pin connecting the cells with the other.
The second element, which makes it very easy – this time – to change the bracelet to a belt, is the button under the endlinks. After pressing the pawl, the bracelet unfastens instantly and putting it back on is not a problem. The only downside of such a system is the need to purchase original straps and bracelets, which entails considerable costs, counted in thousands of PLN.
The outer links of the bracelet are brushed and the middle ones have been polished, which refers to the combination used in the case. The buckle is fastened on one side and its internal elements have been pearled.
Without a doubt, it is the best made bracelet I have dealt with.
Summary:
The watch has basically no flaws, although a little more water resistance would be needed. Besides, there is nothing to complain about.
The watch on the day of its premiere cost $ 6,600, which was a considerable sum. In fact, this amount is impressive to this day, but if we take into account the company’s prestige, quality, uniqueness and functionality, the amount that had to be paid for it turns out to be justified. Often friends, completely unrelated to the subject of watches, pay attention to it due to the contrast of colors that we deal with in this model. The watch will probably stay with me for a longer time, although I admit that I am drawn to the IWC Ingenieur model, but I have not yet enjoyed my fake diver;)
Thank you for bringing me to the end of the review of the watch, which so far reigns in my collection. I remember having it was once my dream, not as distant as it turned out. And I wish you your watch dreams come true and more, because whatever they are, they often come true 🙂
Love it