Watchbi

Switzerland · Founded 1868

IWC Schaffhausen

The psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung was a co-owner of IWC until 1929.

IWC Schaffhausen was founded by an American, Florentine Ariosto Jones, in 1868 in Schaffhausen, far from the Jura watchmaking centres, and has belonged to Richemont since 2000. It is known for pilot's watches, the Portugieser, the Ingenieur, perpetual calendars by Kurt Klaus and early titanium and ceramic cases. Most new watches list between about €5,000 and €15,000.

History

Florentine Ariosto Jones, an American watchmaker who had been a director of E. Howard & Co. in Boston, founded the International Watch Company in 1868 to combine Swiss labour with American machinery for the US market. Rebuffed in French-speaking Switzerland, he found support in Schaffhausen from industrialist Heinrich Moser, whose hydroelectric plant on the Rhine could power a factory. Jones rented space from Moser in 1869, and a purpose-built factory by the river was completed in 1875. Tariffs, financing and machinery problems followed, and Jones returned to America that year.

Johann Rauschenbach-Vogel, a Schaffhausen machine manufacturer and shareholder, bought the company in 1880, and his family owned it for four generations. From 1884 IWC made Pallweber pocket watches with digital hour and minute displays, and in 1899 it sold its first wristwatches. After 1905 the firm belonged to Rauschenbach's heirs, whose husbands included Ernst Jakob Homberger and the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung. Homberger bought Jung's share in 1929 and became sole owner. The Special Pilot's Watch followed in 1936, the Portugieser in 1939 and the Big Pilot's Watch in 1940.

In the Second World War IWC supplied observation watches to the German Luftwaffe as well as watches to the British War Office. The Mark 11 of 1948, built for British military service, protected its calibre 89 with a soft-iron inner cage against magnetism. Albert Pellaton's pawl-based automatic winding appeared in 1950, the Ingenieur in 1955 and the Aquatimer in 1967. VDO Adolf Schindling took a majority stake in 1978. Under Günter Blümlein, IWC made titanium watches with Porsche Design from 1980 and launched Kurt Klaus's Da Vinci perpetual calendar in 1985.

In 1991 Blümlein placed IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Söhne in the LMH holding, which Richemont bought in 2000 for CHF 2.8 billion. The seven-day Calibre 5000 appeared that year, the 46 mm Big Pilot's Watch returned in 2002 and the in-house 52000 calibre family followed in 2015. In 2018, its 150th year, IWC opened a Manufakturzentrum that brought movement and case production together. The Portugieser Eternal Calendar, a secular perpetual calendar, won the Aiguille d'Or at the 2024 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.

Founders

Florentine Ariosto Jones
Founder · 1841–1916
American watchmaker and former director of E. Howard & Co. in Boston. He founded IWC in Schaffhausen in 1868 to pair Swiss craftsmanship with American production methods, but returned to the United States in 1875.

Milestones

  1. 1868

    International Watch Company founded

    Florentine Ariosto Jones sets up in Schaffhausen to build watches for the American market.

  2. 1875

    Factory on the Rhine

    IWC's headquarters building by the Rhine is completed; it is still the company's main building.

  3. 1880

    Rauschenbach family takes over

    Johann Rauschenbach-Vogel buys the company, beginning four generations of family ownership.

  4. 1884

    Pallweber digital pocket watches

    IWC produces pocket watches with jumping digital displays for hours and minutes under the Pallweber patent.

  5. 1936

    Special Pilot's Watch

    IWC's first pilot's watch has a rotating bezel to track take-off time and an anti-magnetic escapement.

  6. 1939

    Portugieser

    Two Portuguese importers order a series of large wristwatches with precise pocket-watch movements.

  7. 1948

    Mark 11

    A 36 mm navigator's watch with a soft-iron inner cage and calibre 89 is made for British military service.

  8. 1955

    Ingenieur

    The Ingenieur debuts with the automatic calibre 85 and protection against magnetic fields.

  9. 1985

    Da Vinci perpetual calendar

    Kurt Klaus's user-friendly perpetual calendar premieres in Basel in the Da Vinci chronograph.

  10. 2000

    Richemont acquires IWC

    Richemont buys the LMH group, including IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Söhne, for CHF 2.8 billion.

Three things collectors know

Carl Jung in the boardroom

Carl Gustav Jung married Emma Rauschenbach, daughter of IWC's owner, and was one of the heirs' partners from 1905. His brother-in-law Ernst Jakob Homberger bought him out in 1929.

Records for every watch since 1885

IWC has logged calibre, case and materials for each watch since 1885. Owners of watches at least ten years old can request an archive extract for a fee.

One day in 45 million years

The 2024 Portugieser Eternal Calendar follows the Gregorian rule that skips leap years in three of four century years, and its moon phase is calculated to drift by one day only after 45 million years.

Signature models

  • Large wristwatch ordered by two Portuguese importers and fitted with a pocket-watch calibre.

  • Calibre 52 T.S.C. observation watch with an oversized crown for gloved hands; about 1,000 made, revived at 46 mm in 2002.

  • Anti-magnetic automatic; Gérald Genta's Ingenieur SL ref. 1832 of 1976 shaped the 2023 Ingenieur Automatic 40.

  • IWC's dive watch line, launched in 1967.

  • Round, slim dress watch and IWC's most classical collection.

Questions

Who owns IWC Schaffhausen?
Richemont, since 2000, when it bought the LMH group that also held Jaeger-LeCoultre and A. Lange & Söhne. Before that IWC belonged to VDO Adolf Schindling from 1978 and, from 1880, to the Rauschenbach and Homberger family.
What does IWC stand for?
International Watch Company. The American founder Florentine Ariosto Jones chose the name in 1868 because he planned to sell watches made in Switzerland to the United States.
Where are IWC watches made?
In Schaffhausen, in German-speaking northern Switzerland. The headquarters has stood on the Rhine since 1875, and a manufacturing centre opened in 2018 combines movement and case production.
Does IWC make in-house movements?
Yes, for much of the range. IWC manufactures calibre families such as the 52000, 82000, 69000 and 32000. Some entry models use the calibre 35111, based on a Sellita movement that IWC modifies.

Sources

  1. IWC History – a chronology of craftsmanship (IWC)
  2. Timeline (IWC press)
  3. History of IWC Pilot's Watches (IWC Journal)
  4. IWC Schaffhausen – Wikipedia
  5. The IWC Portofino collection from 1984 until today (Robb Report Singapore)
  6. History (Richemont)

Most listed references

All references