IWC Calatrava cal.83 / Gay Frères Bracelet, Antimagnetic Balance

— IWC's finest manual movement: Cal.83 —

The Cal.83 is called the best of IWC's manual-wind movements.

Beautiful bevelling with Côtes de Genève finishing.

It has a record of use in military watches including the Mark X, yet it is a breathtakingly beautiful calibre — indispensable to any account of what makes IWC itself, a house that pursued aesthetics to the limit even where nobody would see.

From the start of production in 1930 to the end in 1947, it served for eighteen years as the firm's mainstay.

— Antimagnetic specification —

To maintain stable accuracy even in environments where magnetism is a risk, the balance itself uses an antimagnetic material — a rare design for the time.

It speaks proudly for the engineering of the 1940s.

— What the lume and the dial give off —

The radium lume on the hands and indexes has aged evenly, wearing the soft character particular to vintage.

The black dial carries a dotted minute circle, with the small seconds set low.

A composed, highly legible design very much in IWC's manner.

— The refined presence of 31mm —

At 31mm it could hardly sit badly on the wrist.

It is precisely because the size is restrained that it adds a definite individuality and a refined bearing at the wrist.

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