IWC watches?

[Dee*Jay]

The happy hubby and I went to a party at my jeweler''s tonight and HH was mesmorized by the IWC watches. (I was mesmorized by a 4+ ct ruby with step cut traps, but that is a whole ''nother story...)

Anyway, does anyone know about IWC? Are they good quality? (They seemed to be to me, but what do I know?) Right now he has a Rolex (the standard stainless and gold oyster perpetual datejust--at least that''s what I think it''s called) and he''s looking for something a little different. He liked both the IWC all stainless version with a matte finish band and another that was yellow gold with a leather (I think maybe aligator or crocodile?) band, but that one was (literally) five times as much.

I was so excited to see him interested in ANYTHING (he never wants a damn thing, and it drives me CRAZY) that I was thinking I could get him one of these for our anniversary, which is on Jan. 1, because we never do anything big for our anniversary since it''s so close to Christmas and that way he would be really surprised.

So, (1) what do you think of these watches, and (2) do you think one of them would make a good anniversary gift?

 

[roppongi]

Dee Jay....as the wife of a watch enthusiast (he has over 20 time pieces), IWC is a fantastic watch. In fact, my wedding gift to him was an IWC and to this day, it is his favorite watch. The mechanics of the watch are superb and not every Tom, Dick and Harry will know what it is. One caveat is that it is extremely expensive to maintain - $1200 a pop and you are without it for at least 4 - 6 months while it is Switzerland.

Fantastic Choice!

Roppongi

 

[Dee*Jay]

I will go back and look at them again, maybe this weekend, but most likely not until after we get back from our Thanksgiving trip. There was another one that he liked but I can''t remember the brand; it was something French (?). If I figure out what the other one was I''ll post the name so you can give me an opinion on that too. How convenient taht your husband is a watch enthusiast!

As for the maintenance... geez, I know. I actually broke the crystal on my Rolex one time and it was five hundred bucks to get that replaced...

 

[codex57]

I'm sort of a watch fanatic. If I ever won the lottery, these are the three brands of watches I'd look into as a present to myself: Patek Phillipe, A Lange & Sohne, and IWC. Dancing Fire has an A Lange & Sohn that I LOVE!

Rolex makes very good watches (better lately), but if you know their history, they're too much marketing instead of actual substance. As such, I can't help but compare them to the stereo company Bose. No audiophile would touch Bose with a 10 foot pole. Too much stigma attached as marketing with no substance (even tho they're not bad). It's just that the uninformed public sees all the marketing and assumes Bose is the best. Same goes for Rolex. The general public thinks Rolex is the end all and be all for a high end watch when it's not. Rolex, though, is still considered one of the real high end watch makers by watch fanatics unlike Bose which has a pretty crappy rep among those who are into that stuff.

There are other well respected marks, it's just that the three I mentioned match my personal tastes. I can assure you that IWC is not some fly-by-night operation. Its watches justify their high price tags, beyond the pure cost of the materials in that watch (like the rubies used).

Is the french named one Jaeger LeCoultre? That's another high end watch brand. You can loosely associate Jaeger as Lamborghini to Patek as a Ferrari.