Reply With QuoteThat looks simply elegant, nice to find one again.
How long will it run on a full wind?
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Of all the many watches I have sold, the IWC F A Jones was the biggest mistake. The one that got away. It is a classic Portugeiser, 43.5mm and with an ultra simple dial in porcelain colour.
It was a batch of 3000 made in 2005 to commemorate the founder of IWC, an American. Bit of a rogue actually, but we won't go into that.
Anyway, it features a big pocket watch movement, based on the original F A Jones design. A nice steady 18000 hour beat and manual wind, which feels like butter.
You can see the long swan neck regulator, which was a feature of the original design. Very attractive decoration too.
For the last couple of years I looked for another to replace the one I foolishly sold. Then a friend told me that a watchmaker ten miles up the road , had one for sale. That was Allnuts and Sons, in leafy Midhurst on the Downs in West Sussex. They specialise in vintage stuff and employ four qualified watchmakers. Amazing. This is what they were selling, in mint condition.
Complete with original box and special book on the history of F A Jones. £5000, which was what I sold my last one for. Fine with that so bought it. But you already knew that....
At 43mm it's a bit big, but at least the Portugeiser has an authentic reason...to leave room for a pocket watch movement.
My Rolex Daytona C goes today, so it's all change.
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That looks simply elegant, nice to find one again.
How long will it run on a full wind?
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I can see why you bought another that is very nice.
Funny I was reading the history of IWC timeline the other day no mention of him being a rogue,as if there would be of course.
Edit for a link
https://www.iwc.com/en/company/history.html
Stupidly, I don't know how long the power reserve is, because when using it, i wind every day. Now you have mentioned it, I will check. As for F A Jones, he fled Switzerland, leaving plenty of bills and a factory full of part built watches. But all is forgiven, indeed, erased from the official memory. A horological saint , not a talented chancer.
Given as 46 hours here: https://www.iwc.com/forum/en/discussion/62683/Originally Posted by Arcam
Some history on the movement here: http://www.watchalyzer.com/education...or-innovation/ - scroll down to "The 98000 Caliber Family"
Last edited by Der Amf; 13th November 2017 at 14:48.
That's a lovely looking thing, congratulations on the pick up, what a result finding one so close to home.
I was browsing IWC at the weekend and I'd love to add some sort of Portugieser to the collection.
Lovely. I'm an IWC fan and that is one of my favourites
That watch looks pure class!
The chrono with white dial and blue hands has to be seen, the photos are good but in real life it’s astonishingly good.
Beautiful classic watch pity more iwc don't follow this design cue
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Very nice, thanks for sharing it. I can imagine it is a lovely thing to wear and handle.
One question, are you sure that is a swan neck regulator? I thought they had a curved (swan necked) sprung assembly. Sorry if that's a daft question.
It's not daft; I thought it was a Swan neck, but that could be my bad memory. Another thing I will have to look up.
Later, it is apparently known as a 'Jones finger'....and later designs gravitated to a Swan Neck, you live and learn. Well spotted
Last edited by paskinner; 13th November 2017 at 19:16.
Very nice acquisition, Peter. Looks equally good from both the front and the back.
Cheers
Foggy
Many thanks, I appreciate the information and I know a bit more about Jones as well now. It's certainly a very elegant regulator.
Nice capture! So, Many Happy Returns!
Congratulations ! It’s a lovely watch. I found mine on a holiday trip to Seville, Spain.
JK
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So that's two of us. Anyone else got one?
I love the looks of this watch. I wish they would have released something similar in 36-37mm.
?
F.T.F.A.
But then it wouldn't be a Portugeiser, which is meant to be large. Still, i know what you mean. We could do with more simple, elegant watches. But presumably they don't sell .
They would sell, but only to people with taste who don't want to wear a plate on their wrist and who don't want a stranger's signature scrawled over the dial.
Like these ...
When even Patek has upsized their basic three hander and added crown guards, it's pretty clear the market isn't making watches for people like me.
A small wrist and traditional taste make new watches almost completely unacceptable for me.
The mechanism part not the watch!
Instead of going around the internet telling folk how silly big watches look on their wrists, perhaps accept you’re just kidding yourself. Perhaps find another interest?
A simple design for the dial, clear and uncluttered. A nicely decorated movement, but not overly so. Simply stunning in my book, wear it in health.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Perhaps you can learn to deal with differing opinions.
I hate to be blunt but I really dislike that an awful lot. From the dial font, to the very generic looking case, to the detailing on the movement which looks to be very simplistically engraved. Add in the size and just doesn't appeal to me personally at all.
Tudor and IWC [at least] have have added smaller watches to their collections that look traditional to me?
That's fine. There is no such thing as a watch that appeals to everyone. Although descriptions such as 'simplistic' could equally be termed 'elegant.' And 'generic looking case' could equally be termed 'classic.' It's all a matter of choice, and language.
If I was looking for ugly watches, I'd hardly know where to start....the list seems endless. But all have customers, who must love them.
They're the ones! A veritable bevy of elegance.Like these ...
Dornbluth have a smaller sized version of their watches, Tourby have introduced a 40mm version of their watches. The datejust and 11600 are still there. There are plenty of options out there.
I've seen this up close. It's not something I'd buy, all bar one of my watches are sports watches. Doesn't mean I can't appreciate that it's a lovely looking thing, and the movement is plain and simply, a nice thing to look at.
The size is non issue for me. It would look too big on some wrists, perfect on others. A colleague tried my 40mm oris 65 on yesterday, certainly not a big watch (imo), but it looked ridiculous on his dainty wrists.
Yes I suppose the points I made could be interpreted differently by different individuals; ourselves included :-) Whatever I think, I'm glad you like it so much, as that's really all that matters.
A shame that IWC stopped production of the 98000 a few years back, a lovely lazy pocket watch based movement and the essence of the original Portugieser, the 8 day 98235 is impressive but i prefer the historical link with this older movement.
Probably too big for me but glad you managed to rectify the mistake in letting the first one go!!
Yes, 'lazy' is exactly the right word for this movement, it eases along with a relaxed 'tick tock' beat. Quite distinct from the more hurried and buzzy modern movements. My Zenith El Primero ran at double the rate, and sounded it.
It's probably a bit less accurate, but who cares. It just sounds right. Tick, tock, tick tock....music to my ears.
A real beauty, glad you managed to reacquire one mate.
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