IWC

Forty years ago, IWC introduced one of its most influential modern creations: the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar, powered by Kurt Klaus’s groundbreaking perpetual calendar mechanism built atop an automatic chronograph. Launched in 1985 as the ref. IW3750, the watch arrived at a moment when the quartz crisis had flooded the market with inexpensive timepieces. Klaus’s goal was to reaffirm the relevance of mechanical haute horlogerie with a complication that was both technically ambitious and practical for daily wear. Perpetual calendar wristwatches were still uncommon, yet his system, based on the Valjoux 7750, required only 81 components and displayed a four-digit year accurate until 2499.

The distinctive case, designed by Hanno Burtscher, incorporated baroque influences and articulated lugs, giving the watch its unmistakable silhouette. Introduced at the 1985 Basel fair, the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar was an immediate success, with the first 100 pieces selling at once. Its debut marked a pivotal moment for IWC and helped reassert the place of complicated mechanical watchmaking in the modern era.

The present example, a limited edition in pink gold dating to circa 1990, reflects the enduring appeal of the Da Vinci line. Particularly in its perpetual calendar variants, the family holds a notable place in watchmaking history and no longer appears in IWC’s contemporary catalogue, making examples such as this all the more compelling to collectors.