It doesn’t really get any more appropriate than that… A proper tool watch in the middle of diving instruments.īorn in 1999, the Deep One measures 42.8mm in diameter 14.75mm in height. The truth is actually far more interesting, but let’s get the specs out of the way first. When you take a first look at the IWC Deep One, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were looking at some kind of chronograph. The IWC Deep One Reference IW3527 – The basics Following the company’s ethos, the engineers reasoned that there was no need for a helium escape valve if the watch was designed so well that helium didn’t enter in the first place (take that, Rolex!). What’s even more impressive is that the substantial water-resistance was achieved without the use of a helium escape valve and within a thin, compact case. This was a radical watch – crafted entirely in titanium, with an integrated bracelet to match and water resistance of 2,000 meters – the Ocean 2000 was an engineering feat. With the dawn of the Porsche Design era in IWC’s history and more solid financial footing, IWC developed the Reference 3500, the Ocean 2000. 812 AD of 1967 it was water-resistant to 200 meters with an inner rotating timing bezel and a supercompressor-style double crown case. The company’s first true dive watch was the Aquatimer ref. Without spending any time on the debate of which of these watches came first, suffice to say that IWC was late to the party.
The archetypal dive watch was born in 1953, with the arrival of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the Rolex Submariner and the Zodiac Seawolf. In 2001, additional complications were added, namely the rattrapante chronograph and the perpetual calendar, before the collection was renamed the “Aquatimer” in 2004, a development that also saw all complications but the chronograph disappear from the line-up. The GST line spanned chronographs, alarm watches, and the GST Aquatimer, the only model in the collection with an external rotating bezel. Announced to the public in September 1997, the collection was named after “gold, steel, titanium”, the three case metals in which the collection would be offered. Along with the bread-and-butter quartz and base mechanical models that enabled IWC’s financial viability, the GST served as a launchpad for several halo efforts such as the 1980 Titan Chronograph, the world’s first production titanium wristwatch, and the 1982 Ocean 2000, a record-breaking dive watch that was so robust it was also commissioned by the German navy.Īfter IWC’s 20-year collaboration with Porsche Design came to a close in 1997, it was clear the company needed something to fill the gap in its product portfolio. Starting with the Compass Watch, an avant-garde integrated bracelet watch made entirely of aluminium, the watches in the Porsche Design collection cemented IWC’s stature as an innovator in the watch space, particularly when it came to using sci-fi materials. IWC’s collaboration with Porsche Design was its saving grace after the onset of the quartz crisis.
Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000 – image by Sotheby’s
0 kommentar(er)
