IWC
www.iwc.com

An American, Florentine Ariosto Jones, founded IWC (International Watch Company) at Schaffhausen in 1868. It was one of the only watchmaking companies to produce watches in the German-speaking region of Switzerland, since at that time all the watchmakers were concentrated in Geneva and in the entire semi-circle of the Jura. The reason was that Mr Jones decided to use the hydraulic power of the Rhine to industrialize the manufacture of his watches. Since then, IWC has presented legendary models such as what is probably the most famous, the Portuguese, created in 1939, and one of these models housing the famous 5000 movement, put on the market in 2000, with a pawl winding system invented by Albert Pellaton. The Engineer model was created in 1954. The pilot’s watches, with their movement enclosed in a second anti-magnetic case in soft iron, are also outstanding achievements, like the first titanium chronograph presented in 1980 under the joint venture with the designer F.A. Porsche, or the Da Vinci which came out in 1985 as the first chronograph watch with a perpetual calendar programmed for the next 500 years.