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The First IWC Collectors Meeting in Schaffhausen
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3 4 While I've had the good fortune to attend a number of watch factory tours, I'm sure that the IWC Collectors Meeting was the first time a company organized an event of this magnitude. Approximately 50 IWC fans from all over the world, some from as far away as Japan and Australia, gathered in Schaffhausen for two full days in Horology Heaven. The event started off with a reception in the court-yard of a mid-evil monastery. There IWC CEO Georges Kern held a short speech during which he introduced us to several of the staff-members who would be accompanying us the coming days. I occasionally visit product presentations and seminars and always hate sticking on those little paper name tags they give you when you register. But I was more than happy to wear the one IWC had prepared non-stop for the coming two days. The absolutely neat idea to make them out of the same metal plates that grace the boxes of their limited editions was just the first of many surprises IWC had in store for us. On a side note: I was delighted when I noticed that the event's opener was being catered by one of my favorite restaurants in the world, the Fischerzunft in Schaffhausen. The chef Andre Jaeger is one of the founders of the Euro-Asian cuisine and the dishes served are as pleasing to the palette as they are to the eye. I've celebrated a couple of significant events, e.g. the completion of my mandatory Swiss army duty, in this restaurant. So I can highly recommend to include lunch or dinner there in your itenary should you ever pass by Schaffhausen. A group of Collectors Meeting participants had a grand time there on Saturday evening. It's rumored that the merry group of roughly ten people owned a whopping 168 IWCs between them !
We then moved on to a cozy restaurant in the center of Schaffhausen for some good food, lots of wine and the chance to get to know all the participants of the event. I've been a fan of the brand for many years and was wearing my first IWC - the Ocean 2000 - and my latest acquisition - the titanium Aquatimer. Now these are by all standards some pretty nice watches but I still did feel just a slightly bit "underdressed" when I saw what my table-mates were sporting on their wrists. Portugieser minute repeaters, Grosse Fliegeruhren, Mark X's, tons of Doppelchronos, original Portugiesers from the 40's, GST Perpetuals etc, etc, etc ... I don't think a single significant model of the brand was missing in that room. Needless to say we all had a ball exchanging stories and passing around the watches and drooling over them. My apologies to Alberto for only showing his watch ...
One of the great joys of the event was to again see Michael Friedberg, the moderator of the English IWC Forum. Michael and I met for the first time in April of 1998 and the occasion was - can you believe it - a tour of the IWC factory ! Back then we wrote a little report on our visit which you can find here: The Group of Five tour IWC No little girlie watches for MF: The newly acquired Portofino Moonphase Ref. 5251 on the left and his most envied Grosse Fliegeruhr on the right. An article on the 46mm Portofino co-written by MF can be viewed by clicking here. We all stayed until the restaurant closed
and then made our way back to our hotels to get some rest for the big day that was to
follow. Another surprise was waiting for us on the bedside table of our rooms. A
mysterious little box wrapped in black paper ... alas it didn't contain a
special Collectors Meetings Grande Complication but some equally welcome sweets
from a local bakery. A very nice and appreciated touch from the IWC staff who
just went out of their way the whole time to accommodate us.
My group (English language participants) then moved on to a beautiful hall in a local guild house where several presentations were to take place.
On the sides of the room, showcases
full of watches had been built up ...
... and some recently found and restored ledgers from the 19th century were presented on tables. Except for the very first watches whose records were lost, the history of every single IWC ever produced can be traced in one of these ledgers ...
... all details of a watch are meticulously recorded. Quite a few of the dealers I saw noted on the pages from the year 1906 are still customers of IWC to this day ...
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