IWC Jones Portuguese

The new Jones Portuguese watch at least keeps up with the other watches in IWC’s repertoire. It also keeps up with IWC’s legacy, and reaffirms the importance of its ancestor, the original IWC Jones Calibre pocket watch. And for the true IWC watch collector, the new Jones Portuguese wristwatch is one watch to covet. Every IWC collector should keep up with the Joneses, and should want this wristwatch.

The Jones Portuguese watch is a wristwatch par excellence for collectors. While it represents a unique heritage, it is also both a fine watch and a fantasy watch. It fulfills tradition by borrowing bits and pieces from disparate elements, and puts them together like never before. It could be claimed that its proud parents are the first IWC pocket watch from 1868 and the Jubilee Portuguese wristwatch from 1993. Given such an interesting union, this watch represents a watch collector’s fantasy come true.

Florentine Ariosto Jones, the founder of IWC, could never have envisioned such a consequence of his labors. An enterprising American, he previously had worked for the Howard Watch & Clock Company in Roxbury , Massachusetts , near Boston . Jones traveled from Boston to Switzerland after the American Civil War in search of inexpensive labor for a new watch factory. In 1868 –more than 135 years ago— he founded a watch company in a part of Switzerland not significantly known for watchmaking expertise.

IWC was established in Schaffhausen in large part to harness the hydroelectric power available from the adjacent Rhine River. Mr. Jones announced the founding of the company by declaring:

“With the object of combining all the excellence of the American system of mechanism with the more skilful hand labor of the Swiss, we have established our Watch Factory at Schaffhausen, Switzerland."

Jones produced a great watch for that era -- a pocket watch, of course, and one of excellent quality. Unlike most watches of that period, most Jones models could be wound via crown, rather than using a key. Like watches today, it could be set via the crown without depressing a pin or moving a lever. The cases often had well-detailed gold-work and some even had display backs to reveal the movement –a rarity in the 19th century.

Most Jones models were high quality, although various grades were produced. There were 17 different calibres, or movement types, and varying grades within the calibres. A few were key wound, but most were crown wound, and were either open face (Calibres 4, 6, 8, 19, 12, 14) or more commonly hunter (Calibres 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15) styles. There were differences in finishing quality and the number of jewels, between five and 20, although most had 15 or 16 jewels. Quality was shown by letter designations (in ascending order A, C, R B, S, D, H, E, N).

Jones calibre watches had certain characteristic design features. These included:

A three-quarter plate, which covered three-quarters of the movement

An extra-long index for adjustment of timing, by varying the length of the balance spring

A bi-metallic balance, which allowed for temperature adjustment

While none of these attributes were unique, a Jones movement often can be easily identified by its characteristic regulating index. This is sometimes called the “Jones arrow”, and unlike most other regulating indices extends away from the balance wheel cock to the three-quarter plate.

Most Jones models were intended for the U.S. market, and many had movements with U.S. names. While some movements say “International Watch Company”, others were engraved "International Co., New York”, “Stuyvesant” “Romney”, “Henry Burns” among other names. Many were presumably cased in the United States .

By 1874, Mr. Jones purchased a new site from Moser's hydroelectric company directly adjacent to the banks of the Rhine River, which was called the "Baumgarten". In Spring 1875, the construction was completed and 196 people were working in the 45-meter-long IWC factory. Today, the IWC factory, with a few more employees, is still located on Baumgartenstrasse.

There were ambitious plans to produce these watches and production of more than 10,000 watches per year was projected. However, from 1868 through 1875 only about 25,800 “Jones” watches were made. In 1875, Florentine Ariosto Jones fled Schaffhausen, leaving the company with serious financial problems. Perhaps Mr. Jones’ reach was greater than his grasp, at least because it may be noteworthy that he also opened the expanded new factory in 1875.

Despite the end of the Jones calibre production with the hasty departure of Mr. Jones in 1875, IWC continued to be a major Swiss pocket watch producer. Between 1900 and 1930, IWC produced over 900,000 watches, and the overwhelming majority of them were pocket watches. It wasn’t until the early 1930’s that the Swiss watch industry produced more wristwatches than pocket watches. To many, IWC was known primarily as a pocket watch manufacturer.

It was no surprise then that the story of the “Portuguese wristwatch” evolved from this tradition. Aspopular watch culture knows, in 1938, following a request from two Portuguese businessmen, Rodriguez and Texeira, IWC produced a new highly accurate, oversized wristwatch. To accommodate their request, IWC's watchmakers decided to use some of their pocket watch movements in a large wristwatch. The Portuguese wristwatch was born.

This tradition continued over the years, although in actuality not many authentic Portugiesers were made. From 1939 through 1981, only about 669 of these wristwatches were made by IWC. Of this total, most were made in the mid-1940’s, some with Calibre 74 movements and then with Calibre 98 movements. Approximately 138 and 144 Portuguese wristwatches have been identified as having been produced in 1944 and 1946 respectively.

Even compared to the production of the Jones’ calibre pocket watch, production of the original Portuguese wristwatch was minimal. It could be suspected that the vintage Portuguese wristwatches may have been an attempt by IWC to unload pocket watch movements that were in inventory and never sold due to changing tastes. For the period of 1939 though part of 1944, all Portuguese wristwatches had Calibre 74 movements –and the last of those movements was produced many years earlier, in 1931.

Nevertheless, the idea of what the Portuguese wristwatch represented transcended its relatively small production. Here was a watch that broke conventions, by being very much oversized in an era of small wristwatches. Here was a watch that represented the grand heritage of the pocket watch tradition. Here was a watch that symbolized in many respects the essence of International Watch Company. It stood for IWC’s significant pocket watch tradition; it stood of the concept of the basic, time-only classic watch; it stood for Probus Scafusia. Good solid craftsmanship from Schaffhausen.

It was both extraordinarily perceptive and a stroke of marketing genius that IWC chose to honor its 125th anniversary in 1993 with a newly-issued Portuguese wristwatch. Aside from a few insiders, virtually no one had heard of the relatively obscure original Portugieser. People then, too, derided its oversized dimensions. It took confidence and courage to use this model as a symbol of all IWC represented. And it was an overwhelming success.

The so-called Jubilee (or Anniversary) Portugieser from 1993 sold out virtually the moment it was introduced. Collectors clamored for one of the 2000 examples. In one year, far more were sold than the entire vintage Portugieser production over 40 years. The watch sold out despite being unusually oversized for 1993, despite not having any complications in a period valuing those, and despite being a manual winding watch in an era in which automatic movements reigned.

The Jubilee Portugieser spawned an entire newly-defined style and a complete line of watches that became unmistakably IWC. Everyone knew that a wristwatch with those 1940’s-era Arabic numerals looked like an IWC Portugieser. This dial design became identified with IWC even though the original vintage Portugiesers came with dials in many classical variations. Following the immediate success of the Jubilee model, IWC subsequently introduced rattrapante, chronograph, repeater, and small Portugieser models. When IWC produced its first new in-house movement in decades, the Calibre 5000, it of course housed that “automatic pocket watch” movement in a wristwatch case, and that also became part of the Portuguese family. The Portuguese line now also includes a skeleton repeater, a tourbillon and perpetual calendar models. There also is today the popular Ref. 5001 Automatic, a watch with a 7-day power reserve and date.

Still, the origins of the Portuguese watch emanated from a classic, basic pocket watch design. TheJubilee could not be re-editioned, and there clearly was a gap in the entire line. What “new-old” watch could fill that gap?

The stroke of brilliance this time is to re-edition, once again, one of IWC’s great in-house pocket watch movements. The movement performs flawlessly; it is thin, well-designed and classic in every respect. But the idea would be to extend this great movement by redesigning it. Give it a three-quarters plate. Give it that characteristic index finger. Decorate the movement in a 19th century style. Back to the future.

Most of the original vintage Portuguese wristwatches, especially those made after 1944, had Calibre 98 IWC movements. Also a thin, traditional pocket watch movement, this was one of IWC’s great movements. When the Jubilee Portugieser debuted in 1993, it too had an extension of the original Calibre 98 movement –Calibre 9828: the original movement, with shock resistance and special engravings added. Now, the new Jones Portuguese wristwatch uses Calibre 98290, with the Calibre 98 base being further elaborated with a three-quarters plate, special decoration and the Jones arrow. However, where scientific progress intervened, the new movement does not copy completely outdated characteristics of the original Jones calibre. Unlike those movements which used bi-metallic balances for temperature compensation, the Calibre 98290 makes a concession to progress by using has a modern balance made of Glucydur.

This movement conversion can be every watch collector’s fantasy. Why a three-quarters plate today? Why a Jones-style regulator? Because all mechanical watches represent a tradition and a heritage. And the great heritage of IWC is based on a pocket watch tradition. And that tradition started circa 1868 with one Florentine Ariosto Jones.

Of course, Messrs. Rodriguez and Texeira didn’t get a Jones Calibre movement in their few dozen Portuguese wristwatches. They received a thin pocket watch movement, the Calibre 74, which had been laying around for a decade or so. It doesn’t even matter whether IWC back then might have made some Portuguese wristwatches with a Jones Calibre if any of those 19th century movements were available. What really matters is that this watch is a symbol. Like the original vintage Portugiesers and the Jubilee model, the Jones Portuguese stands for IWC’s significant pocket watch tradition; it forms the concept of the basic, time-only classic watch; it stands for Probus Scafusia. Plus, here, the watch stands for one more thing: Florentine Ariosto Jones. The founder of IWC. And accordingly the founder of everything about IWC.

This new watch represents what F.A. Jones accomplished, even if he could not have possibly have envisioned this legacy. This watch at least symbolizes what the original Jones pocket watch had intended to accomplish. In that sense, the new Jones Portugieser has kept up with the Joneses. It has carried on the tradition and it has equaled the quality represented by the original Jones watch.

Also, by keeping up with the Joneses, the Jones Portuguese is one watch to envy. It’s a wristwatch to pocket.

from http://www.iwcforum.com/Articles/2005/Jones/text.html