IWC collectors know that the rare vintage Portuguese wristwatch is a “reference 325”. Therefore it came as some surprise when a collector wrote me, asking about a watch he was about to buy.
The watch looked identical to a “classic” Portugieser –in fact it appears the same as my 1944 watch that was sold to Rodriques in Lisbon. The watch correctly had an IWC cal. 98 pocket watch movement. I then looked up the case number –and the watch is “on the list” of known Portuguese production. All systems were “go” –except for one minor detail.
The owner insisted the watch was a “ref. 228”. Presumably the 228 was stamped on the inside caseback –and more importantly he had an extract from IWC to “prove” this was a ref. 228. Something appeared wrong here –after all, we all known that the correct number for a true vintage Portuguese watch is Ref. 325.
Could the watch be a marriage? Could the extract be a forgery? Both the owner and I contacted IWC.
We learned something highly unusual. IWC’s historian, Jürgen King, was consulted, and said that the watch actually is a Ref. 325 but the model number is 228. He said that “228” indicates details about the material and the colour of the dial, and similar characteristics. I was told that this is like today, where IWC has a main reference number (such as Ref. 5001) and then a model no. (Ref. 500106), which shows the version for this reference.
We don’t know all the variations for the original Portuguese, but as collectors have seen they came with varying dials and hands. The classic one might actually be Ref. 325-228.
3,881 Discussions and CommentsMember since Aug. 22, 2001
Very interesting Michael, but also...
...'strange' in the sense that you would expect this to be common knowledge in IWC?! On the other hand, the watch is so rare that you can't speak about 'common' I guess?!
The watch looked identical to a “classic” Portugieser –in fact it appears the same as my 1944 watch that was sold to Rodriques in Lisbon. The watch correctly had an IWC cal. 98 pocket watch movement. I then looked up the case number –and the watch is “on the list” of known Portuguese production. All systems were “go” –except for one minor detail.
The owner insisted the watch was a “ref. 228”. Presumably the 228 was stamped on the inside caseback –and more importantly he had an extract from IWC to “prove” this was a ref. 228. Something appeared wrong here –after all, we all known that the correct number for a true vintage Portuguese watch is Ref. 325.
Could the watch be a marriage? Could the extract be a forgery? Both the owner and I contacted IWC.
We learned something highly unusual. IWC’s historian, Jürgen King, was consulted, and said that the watch actually is a Ref. 325 but the model number is 228. He said that “228” indicates details about the material and the colour of the dial, and similar characteristics. I was told that this is like today, where IWC has a main reference number (such as Ref. 5001) and then a model no. (Ref. 500106), which shows the version for this reference.
We don’t know all the variations for the original Portuguese, but as collectors have seen they came with varying dials and hands. The classic one might actually be Ref. 325-228.
Interesting stuff, at least to me.
Regards,
Michael
Regards, Michael
mfriedberg@iwcforum.com
Last edited: 5 April, 2012 - 19:53
Last edited: 2 March, 2011 - 18:26
It is really amazing that still new facts and data are discovered about the vintage watches...
Great story.
Adrian.
...'strange' in the sense that you would expect this to be common knowledge in IWC?! On the other hand, the watch is so rare that you can't speak about 'common' I guess?!
Thanks for the info!
Regards,
Bob
b.bunnik <u>at</u> zonnet.nl
Last edited: 27 August, 2011 - 21:53
It's always nice to expand ones knowledge especially about this great and classic timepiece.
Regards
Norbert
You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf - Jon Kabat-Zinn
Last edited: 9 July, 2011 - 10:40
and thanks for the post, never knew that there was a ref. 325-228 !
Best regards,
Stefan
Last edited: 4 March, 2012 - 12:14
Andrew
andrew.thomas1@mac.com
Last edited: 1 January, 2012 - 02:03
Last edited: 23 May, 2011 - 21:19
special watches. What will we see next??
Last edited: 15 February, 2011 - 20:21