Vintage watch experience 古董手錶: Vintage IWC ref R881AD (1811)Yacht club with green marble dail

I have been rather quiet lately due to work. Last night, I have finally managed to find a special vintage IWC yacht club with green marble dial from Sofia, Bulgaria. I have previously found an IWC ref 815A using Cal 8541 with special blue marble dial in Feb, 2020.

For a collector, having at least one of the vintage IWC Yacht Club is a must. It is one of the last representatives of the golden age of mechanical wrist watches right before the quartz crisis. The design of this watch is like Omega’s C-line case, which does not get caught on the shirt, and it has a unique luster and “sex appeal”. The crown has a fish-marked crown, indicating the water-resistant case of the time. The IWC yacht club is slightly thicker and looks bigger and more robust then the IWC ref 815A. It is well suited for a formal occasion as well as casual.

The most distinctive feature of this watch is the green marble dial which is a rather rare dial. In addition to the green marble, there is also a blue one. There is a little bit of military like camo pattern, but the design is not too assertive, including the indexes giving it a subtle look. It is interesting that the calendar date disc has the same color deign finishing as well. There is no documentation of such marble dials, but I suspect these are made specially for the Japan market as there are several Japanese websites who has sold these watches.

Besides having green marble dial and blue marble dial, there are also blue dial, black dial, silver and gold dial and gray dial. There are also some marble dial in other IWC automatc 815A models (non Yacht club series) I simply love these unique design dial like the Jaeger Lecoulte memovox lapis dial.

The movement is Cal.8541B with automatic winding. It is the improved version of Cal.8541 that added the date display based on Cal.854. The Pellaton movement is also very reliable because it winds the spring efficiently and has few failures among the vintage models. The Pellaton system is a self-winding mechanism developed in the 1950s by Albert Pellaton, a watchmaker who was the head of IWC’s design department. It is the final form of a perfected mechanical system, so perfected that the basic design is the same from the first cal. 85 to the final cal. 854.

I am hunting for an old IWC bracelet for this watch as well as hunt for an IWC blue marble Yacht Club.

- Finally a post for this duo IWC Yacht Club with special dial (watchprosite.com)

Watchprosite - Official WatchProSite Reviews of luxury Wristwatches for Collectors & buyers

Similar watches can be found :

https://timeanagram.com/en/products/7495

https://timeanagram.com/en/collections/iwc/products/15620

https://timeanagram.com/en/collections/iwc/products/7678

https://www.phillips.com/detail/iwc/CH080121/45

Most importantly, these watches appeared in Philips Auction Geneva 8-9 May 2021

Manufacturer: IWC
Year: 1970
Reference No: 1811
Movement No: 1’918’624
Case No: 1’929’159
Model Name: Yacht Club
Material: Stainless steel
Calibre: Automatic, cal. 8542, 25 jewels
Bracelet/Strap: Leather strap
Clasp/Buckle: Stainless steel pin buckle
Dimensions: 36.5mm. Diameter
Signed: Case, dial and movement signed
Accessories: Accompanied by IWC Extract from the Archives confirming production of the present watch and its subsequent sale on September 22, 1970
Catalogue Essay
In 1967, IWC launched the “Yacht Club” model. The classical dress watches and military timepieces for pilots the brand was best known for at the time, the model wanted to offer a casual chic proposition. The name says in fact it all: it is a watch that can be worn in the suave atmosphere of a yacht club while sipping champagne and admiring a Sardinian sunset, but robust and reliable enough to be worn during the preceding regatta.

This philosophy was in fact light years ahead of its time, and it has more than one shared trait with the mindset that brought to life - less than a decade later - the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and the Patek Philippe Nautilus.

The present timepiece is a unique specimen of this landmark watch: in depth research discloses that it was sold in Hong Kong in September 1970. Unfortunately, IWC archives do not provide detail on watch dials, but accurate examination of both sides of the dial and the fact that even the date ring has been realized in the same particular tonality prompted us to believe in the absolute originality of the timepieces. In order to dispel any possible doubt, the watch - together with its blue sibling (preceding lot) - was physically sent to IWC. After in depth examination, they concluded that the dial is a 100% original IWC product, and was most probably originally fitted on this timepiece. While the absence of a dial record prevented IWC from mentioning the dial on the Extract, David Seyffer - Heritage director of IWC - was kind enough to provide this comment:

"The two dials are highly rare; They are a design experiment from IWCs dial supplier. Only a few dials of the two variants exist. They were available in green and blue. Additionally, there was the corresponding date disc in the same colour. Officially, Yacht Club watches with these dials were never advertised. This makes the two pieces really very special.”