IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Ref. 3761

Pallweber. Pallweber was the name given to watches that displayed the hours and minutes using numerals, while the seconds were shown in analogue form with a hand. IWC has been producing Pallweber watches since 1884. 

This year IWC is releasing a reinterpretation of this classic design. Instead of displaying hour and minutes using numerals, IWC has created a perpetual calendar watch which will display the  date and month in a pair of apertures located at just above the 3 and 9 o'clock positions. It is not original, and I have seen similar designs in the past. But a every perpetual calendar watch is always interesting.

Perpetual Calendars. Different people have varied opinions on what is the ultimate complication. For me, it has always been the perpetual calendar. How somebody conceived of putting together a mechanical device which designed to complete one full cycle in 12 hours, and another in 24, to be able to have triggers on 28th, 30th or 31st day of the month, and once every four years, to move the trigger from the 28th to the 29th of a month is beyond me. A perpetual calendar is truly a mechanical computer. It would be a true privilege to one day own a timepiece like this.

This watch actually also houses a second complication. It also Flyback chronograph into the perpetual calendar movement.

IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month Ref. 3761. The watch has a 44 mm rose gold case and is presented in a brown leather strap. It is not a limited edition, but given that it is bound to be a very expensive watch, I can imagine not many will be produced.

About IWC. IWC or the the "International Watch Co. Schaffhausen" was founded by an American engineer from Boston, Florentine Ariosto Jones, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in the year 1868. IWC Schaffhausen is notable for being the only major Swiss watch factory located in eastern Switzerland, as the majority of the well-known Swiss watch manufacturers are located in western Switzerland.