Brand

Used IWC Schaffhausen watches

IWC has an unusual start for a Swiss house. An American watchmaker, Florentine Ariosto Jones, founded it in 1868 in Schaffhausen, and it's been there ever since. For used buyers, the years from the late 1930s to the 1970s are the ones to hunt. That's when IWC built the Mark XI for the RAF around its hand-wound cal. 89, introduced Albert Pellaton's efficient automatic winding in 1950 and put it in the anti-magnetic Ingenieur, the Yacht Club and the first Aquatimer, and made the rare original Portugieser from a pocket-watch movement. These are watches known for their engineering more than their flash. The movement, the dial and any military or archive paperwork decide what one is worth, so look closely at all of them.

5 references we cover.