Horological Meandering

hoseachandra
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Two Watch Collection – Part 5 – A beauty and a (little) beast

Small watch? Vintage? Timeless design? I hear you. These 2 watches have those traits, and some more. IWC Ingenieur SL 3521 and Cartier Tank Louis Cartier (lets say Tank LC).



The original IWC Ingenieur ref 1832 was one of the trio masterpieces designed by Gerald Genta for Patek Philipe, Audemars Piguet, and IWC. The concept of steel integrated bracelet sport watch with luxury price can be considered of a “revolution” in watch design. Unfortunately, the Ingenieur, somehow was not a great success, overshadowed by large margin by the Nautilus and Royal Oak. I don’t know why, maybe the thickness is about 2 mm more. Or something else. But clearly not because of the movement, because Ingenieur is built with one purpose : an engineer watch with high magnetic resistance. After few years, IWC tried again with Ingenieur SL ref 3505,3506,3508, using ETA 2892-based movement heavily modified by IWC. Smaller and thinner (34 x 9 mm), with variations of steel and bi-metal, IWC seemed want to compete with Datejust, rather than the other 2 juggernauts. It is a little beast, because although small, it punched a lot : anti magnetic inner case with 1000 gauss, special shock absorption, beautiful and robust integrated bracelet with flip lock. Water resist to 120 meter with screw down crown. The special reference 3508 even had 5000 gauss (5 times than Rolex Milgauss). Later model like this ref 3521 (year 1993 – 2000) , has JLC caliber 889 with platinum rotor, a truly haute horology movement. Still, it was not a great seller for IWC. Until now, IWC had tried many models with no significant sales. Rumor has it that this year IWC will come up with new Ingenieur , i do hope this time Ingenieur get the success it deserves.



Cartier LC. A pure distillation of Cartier. Unmistakable. Worn by many great persons on earth. One of the most iconic watch in history. Full solid Gold case, guilloche dial, hand wound in house Cartier 8971 (based on Piaget ultra slim caliber). Super elegant on any wrist. Man or woman. Large or small wrist. It just can’t get any better than this. There was a time when me and my wife attended an exclusive party with many wifes wearing Rolexes. In the sea of datejusts and day-dates, it refreshingly stood out. Got many compliments for WIS and curiosity from non-WIS. Nobody talked about Rolex at that time. This is the most expensive watch in my collection, but worthed every penny. I would happily chose it over a colorful Oyster perpetual , and still left with significant cash 





If you are comfortable with smallish watch, classic and timeless design, one is tough like nail, one is eternal beauty, and don’t care about the hype, these are perfect 2-watch collection.

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