IWC Schaffhausen

Interesting topic,Dick! I find that I really have to love something on the front end to even put down the capital to purchase a watch. In other words, its a major commitment from which I haven't had any buyer's remorse thus far. My only bit of "if only" I've experienced, was buying the original VC Ingenieur (which I still lovel) and then seeing Laureus model of the same Ingenieur issued at a later date. I covet that blue dial!

Best regards,
Jim

"We are the other people, we are the other people...you're the other people too!"
Frank Zappa

Yes!

I am trying to keep my collection to a modest size - so every year my new resolution is to sell one, if I buy another.. lol

Great post. I too recently purchased the 3878. At times it blows me away, while at others it "underwhelms" me as well. The one thing that bugs me is the raised numbers. I wish the numbers were more like those on the Big Pilot. The raised numbers make it look a little cartoonish at certain angles. Nevertheless, I enjoy wearing it and don't regret the purchase at all. Interestingly the 5001 was one of my earliest and despite making several IWC purchases since it seems to be the most balanced and aesthetically pleasing to me some 7 years on. I agree that the 3878 seems to be missing something albeit ever so slightly.

WD

I think you have fallen in lust. :)

clepsydra
ad fontes...

You brought me an idea. Maybe the boutiques should have, like the perfumes stores, some kind of testers, for their valuable customers ? Try to wear one for a week or two and see, if the passion is there... ;o)

MARIAN42 Wrote:You brought me an idea. Maybe the boutiques should have, like the perfumes stores, some kind of testers, for their valuable customers ? Try to wear one for a week or two and see, if the passion is there... ;o)

If only .........

Mind you when I want to buy I spend so long in the dealer that it probably feels like two weeks to the person assisting me - they are SO polite :-)

Last edited: 19 May, 2013 - 07:03

Hi Dick, a most interesting topic you've raised. As a relatively 'young' and new IWC collector I've enjoyed the few GTGs I've had with much more seasoned collectors and I've found you're not the first veteran collector to be having such thoughts. I think Richard has hit it on the nail, that after many years of successfully hunting - perhaps the thrill lies in a certain something 'else'.

One of our esteemed collectors (not mentioning any names here) has expressed thoughts to me about selling his entire IWC collection - to then acquire/keep only 2 or 3 truly *spectacular* pieces.

So again my own observation is that you are certainly not the only one with such thoughts, and I think it may even be... a natural change and evolution of the refined collector.

Regards,
Thang

iwcforummer@outlook.com

Last edited: 21 April, 2013 - 08:55

Maybe perfection kills the emotion. I too think the new Spitfire Chrono is an amazingly nice watch, and I like mine a lot. I also like my Portuguese Perpetual Calendar. I like almost all my watches, of course, or I would not have bought them. Love and watches: there are two or three that come near.







Why? To me they have something endearing, they are not awesome, they are somehow me, they fit me so well I am often just amazed about them when I look at them. Should this mean I should sell all the watches I don't love, but only like? No way! Those "like" watches are special too, and fill a functional gap, if you like. There is no need at all to get the maximum emotionally all the time.

Kind regards,
Paul

What you do may not be so important, but it is very important that you do it well. (my variation of a saying by Gandhi)

Hello Dick:

This post really grabbed my attention. You see, the 3878 was the watch that I fell in love with the minute I saw the release pic's last year. I jumped the minute my AD called and said he was holding one he got in but I had to act fast as there was a waiting list of interest for it.

I literally flew down the freeway to get there and when my AD saw me come through the door no words were exchanged. He just turned around, went in the back room and came out holding the outer box and said, "go ahead be my guest."

I couldn't unpack it fast enough. I strapped it on, walked over to a full length mirror and said to myself, "I love this watch". As you said Dick, everything about it was what I like ( with the exception of the triple date, but I admit it does look best on the 3878 ). So for a good 1 1/2 hours I looked like a chicken with it's head cut off running to every mirror in the place checking out all the angles of how it looked on me.

I kept telling myself, this is a awesome watch...Ardoise dial, finally a Ardoise dial to add to my collection and with a steel case...PERFECT !

"Wrap it up" I said to my AD with a big smile. That night after settling down from my long exhausting watch buying day, I once again strapped that Spitfire on, sat back and gave it a long stare. As time passed, my excitement and love of this watch started to shift to a more "like" feeling. I couldn't put my finger on it why the love was waning. After many many thoughts it turned out that while I liked everything about this model, the fit, the height, the fact that it wears much bigger than it's true diameter was just not right for me. Also, as much as I thought the dial layout was well balanced, something was missing. No matter how much I wanted to love this watch, it just wasn't going to happen.

So Dick, as you can see from the responses so far, you are not alone by any means. I don't have the answers to this scenario, I only wanted to share my experience with everyone as an example that it happens and probably happens more than most of us would admit to.

BTW, first thing the next day I called my AD. I explained my feelings. He said not to worry, it's something that I see more than you may think. It's goes with the territory.

Thanks Dick for bringing this out in the open.

Andy