In the 21st installment of the “Rethinking Vintage Watches” series, we will take a look at the Japan limited edition IWC Mark X.II selected by Hiroo Makino, owner of After.
The charm of “post-vintage watches”
IWC’s vintage watches are known by watch enthusiasts as the “Old Inter”. There are many popular watches, including the antimagnetic watch “Ingenieur” and the 36mm diameter military pilot’s watch “Mark X.I”.
The Mark X.II, unveiled at Baselworld in 1994, was developed entirely as a civilian model, as opposed to the Mark X.I, which had been delivered to the military (with some exceptions).
IWC Mark XII.
Ref. 3241 (manufactured in 1993), automatic (caliber.884), stainless steel case, diameter 36mm, ¥1,380,000
Including fine details, the design is simple and robust reminiscent of the “Mark X.I”. As for the movement, it has been changed from the in-house hand-wound movement Cal. 89 to the automatic movement Caliber 884 made by Jaeger-LeCoultre. The fact that the case diameter is 36mm also seems to be from the 1990s.
This model was released in the Japan market in 1993 earlier than the announcement by Baselworld. One of the features of the limited edition model is that “AUTOMATIC” is written in the same Mincho font as the brand name at 6 o’clock on the dial.
The notation “AUTOMATIC” at 12 o’clock also proves that it is a Japan limited model. In the case of a regular model, the model name is written in addition to “AUTOMATIC”.
Not only IWC, but also Japan limited edition models were developed in the world of luxury watches, which had a lot to do with the market at that time. For Switzerland, which has been advocating for the revival of mechanical watches since the 1980s, Japan is the world’s second largest market and cannot be ignored. Therefore, I have heard that it was very easy to get the opinion of the sales side through.
The mechanical watches of the 1990s, which were too young to be called vintage, spoke to the period of change for Switzerland and Japan. There are other interesting products lying around, so why not check them out?
inquiry
Afthah http://after.llc/
■What is the series “Rethinking Vintage Watches”?
With the spread of the Internet and SNS, watches from all eras have become easily available. Even so, it is not easy to determine the quality of vintage watches, where the integrity and authenticity of parts are questioned. In this series of articles, we will reconsider the appeal of vintage and explain the points that should be evaluated from various angles.
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