IWC Pocket Watch 568502 14 Karat White Dial Manual Watch
View Similar Items
IWC Pocket Watch 568502 14 Karat White Dial Manual Watch
About the Item
IWC
One of Switzerland’s major luxury watch companies was started by an American who saw the potential of bringing Switzerland’s superb watchmaking into the modern age through industrialized manufacturing and high-precision interchangeable parts. The New Hampshire–born watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916), who founded International Watch Company — known today as simply IWC — in 1868, was interested in “combining all the excellence of the American system of mechanism with the more skillful hand labor of the Swiss.”
Setting up the company with another American watchmaker, Charles Kidder, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, Jones used hydropower from the River Rhine for his plant’s machinery. Rethinking watch design would lead to one of IWC’s early successes: the Pallweber pocket watch. Based on an 1883 patent by Austrian watchmaker Josef Pallweber, the watch employed numbered disks for jumping hour and minute displays, making it a pioneer in digital timekeeping.
After Johann Rauschenbach-Vogel took over the watch manufacturer in 1880, four generations of his family led IWC into the 20th century. In 1905, Ernst Jakob Homberger and his brother-in-law Carl Jung — the famed Swiss psychiatrist — acquired IWC. Homberger bought out Jung’s holdings in 1929, and in the 1930s, the company introduced pilot watches, which were particularly robust and aimed solely at the civil aviation industry. These durable wristwatches were designed specifically to remain operational during extreme temperature shifts. (As blue watch dials are particularly hot right now, IWC's blue-dial Big Pilot is having a moment.)
The company still operates alongside the river where it was founded, having gained an international reputation over the past 150 years for its elegant designs and expert craftsmanship. Vintage IWC watches are prized by collectors — of whom there are many these days — and while the company continues to guard its attention to detail and quality, it has pushed its classic designs forward with modern innovation intended to stand the test of time.
IWC’s 2013 Ingenieur watch collection, with its precision based on an inventive constant-force mechanism, looked back to a 1955 Ingenieur model that featured a durable soft-iron inner cage as well as a 1976 update by leading Swiss watch designer Gérald Genta that encased its mechanism in a sleek steel case. IWC has also had a recent push toward sustainability, designing watches that are made to last a lifetime and beyond and earning the highest environmental ranking of any Swiss watch company in a 2018 report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature Switzerland (WWF).
Find vintage IWC wristwatches, Art Deco–style pocket watches and more on 1stDibs.
- Antique IWC Pocket Watch Hunter 14 Karat GoldBy IWCLocated in Berlin, DESolid, heavy IWC Pocket Watch Hunter 14 Karat Gold. Pocket watch can be wound and works. Including certificate of authenticity.Category
20th Century Swiss Pocket Watches
Materials14k Gold, Yellow Gold, Gold
- Rockford Pocket Watch 14k Yellow Gold White Porcelain Dial Case ManualLocated in Surfside, FLLadies Rockford Hunter Case pocket watch, 17 jewels enamel dial and spade and whip hands in 14k yellow gold. Keystone case with a beautiful sunburst design. Manual with sub-seconds. 33mm. Circa 1913. Fine Pre-owned Rockford Watch. Certified preowned Vintage Rockford pocket watch...Category
Vintage 1910s Pocket Watches
MaterialsYellow Gold
- Waltham Pocket Watch 14k Yellow Gold White Porcelain Dial Case ManualBy WalthamLocated in Surfside, FLWaltham hunter case pocket watch, 15 jewels, porcelain dial and spade hands in 14k yellow gold with beautiful engraving case. Manual with sub-seconds 34...Category
Antique Early 1900s Pocket Watches
MaterialsYellow Gold
- Elgin 563174 Pocket Watch 14k Yellow Gold White Dial Case ManualBy ElginLocated in Surfside, FLLadies Elgin multi color gold hunter case pocket watch "6 size" in 14k. 15 jewels. Elaborate floral design case. Manual wind. Circa 1890s. Fine Pre-owned Elgin Watch. Certified preowned Vintage Elgin...Category
Vintage 1980s Pocket Watches
MaterialsYellow Gold
- Rockford Pocket Watch 7125385 Gold Fill White Dial ManualLocated in Surfside, FLRockford hunter case pocket watch 11 jewels, porcelain dial and spade hands in gold filled case. Dust cover back features lovely flower design. Front features same gorgeous design with a monogram. Manual with sub-seconds.41 mm. Circa 1880's. Fine Pre-owned Rockford Watch. Certified preowned Vintage Rockford pocket watch...Category
Antique 1880s Pocket Watches
MaterialsGold-filled
- Waltham Pocket Watch 14k Yellow, Rose and Green Gold White Dial Case ManualBy WalthamLocated in Surfside, FLWaltham hunter case pocket watch in 14k yellow, rose and green gold. Decorative high relief pink and yellow floral embellishments on both sides of the c...Category
Antique Early 1900s Pocket Watches
MaterialsGold, Yellow Gold