Vintage IWC Aquatimer

Compared to Rolex and other watch brands, IWC Schaffhausen is a historic manufacture packed with technological innovations and attractive models for diver's watches.

Let's take a look back at IWC's milestone diver's watches.

Made for the German Bundeswehr, the Ocean 2000 is made of titanium and is water resistant to a depth of 2,000 meters (not to mention a top-secret anti-magnetic version for minesweeping divers).

The GST Aquatimer has a simple design reminiscent of the German Bauhaus, and features a bezel that will not rotate unless pressed and held down.

The Aquatimer Deep I and Deep II, which are equipped with a depth gauge, are extremely rare and beautiful watches.

Even more surprising is that IWC was a late enthusiast when it came to diving watches, releasing its first Aquatimer in 1967, but by the 1980s it had become a major player on the market.

Recently, I came across a rare watch that was the originator of IWC's diver's watch series.

This is the Aquatimer 1812 model from the late 1960s.

The two crowns form an inner bezel and the watch is presented on an intricately linked steel bracelet.

The movement it contained was also special.

It is powered by IWC's in-house caliber 8542, equipped with the company's prized Pellaton automatic winding system, and is the same movement used in contemporary Ingenieur models.

We were able to acquire it in almost exactly the same condition as when it was made in Schaffhausen over 40 years ago.

It's rare for such a rare model to come up for sale, let alone in such good condition.

A few years ago, IWC released a reissue of the original Aquatimer as part of its vintage collection.

Fans and collectors of the original Aquatimer quickly snapped them up and are still searching for ones for sale today, making them just as hard to come by as the original models were.

Ironically, the newer version is less water resistant, only 12m compared to the 1967 version's 200m.

However, there are some improvements, such as a transparent case back that allows you to see the beautiful movement.