Michael Friedberg has been a fixture in the IWC Universe for decades. From his role in establishing the IWC Collectors Forum to his work for the Journal, Michael is a wellspring of brand knowledge. For this article, we turn the mic around to (re)introduce you to Michael as he explains his love of watches and IWC.

An engineer’s watch

It all started in 1993 when he saw an IWC ad in the Wall Street Journal for a free catalog, then grew to become one of his passions. Whether you’re a collector or not, Michael Friedberg is a name that you’ve probably seen or heard, especially here on the Journal. In the wide world of watches, Michael explained to us why he chose IWC.

“The first thing is that I was impressed by the engineering. I was impressed by the movement engineering. I was impressed by the case engineering. I was impressed that the watch was an engineer’s watch of sorts even though I’m not an engineer”.

“The second thing was a sense of heritage. All of the models are related historically to the company’s development at the time. And also the styling was very clean and that’s me. [... I like the looks of a clean design, well-cased, in a movement that works well”

The Journal spoke with Michael to learn more about what he likes in a watch, what to think about when you start collecting, and his views on how IWC has changed throughout the years.

Listen to the interview below