The latest model in the Da Vinci collection is another milestone in haute horlogerie: its digital displays make not just every day, but every month too, into a significant event. Its flyback chronograph sets the standard. This watch harks back to the earliest digital-display timepieces from Schaffhausen of more than a hundred years ago.
The name remains a watchword: in its tonneau shaped case, the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month continues the proud tradition of the calendar chronograph with which IWC Schaffhausen played a decisive role in heralding the renaissance of the mechanical watch in 1985. Not with big letters but with big numerals: for the first time ever, an IWC timepiece with a perpetual calendar that has a large format date display, and also turns the correct changing of the month into a large scale digital event on the dial. The watchmaker’s ingenuity was required yet again in order to showcase the two main calendar indications in such a prominent fashion. However, the Schaffhausen manufactory is known worldwide for solving difficult mechanical problems and it is not completely un familiar with digital displays, either.
To put this into historical perspective, we have to go back 125 years in the company’s history. That was the start of the licensing agreement between inventor Josef Pallweber from Salzburg and IWC in Schaffhausen, opening up an important chapter in the story of watchmaking. However, IWC pocket watches with a digital time display were only a short-lived phenomenon, and the new Da Vinci model follows only indirectly in the footsteps of the “Pallweber watches”, which are now highly prized collectors’ items.
For it does not digitally display the time but rather the date and month of its mechanically programmed calendar innovative, highly practical and, above all, clear and easy to read. Two years after the Da Vinci in its tonneau shaped case made its mark with the new IWC chronograph as a complication; this new model adds a major supplementary function to the existing Da Vinci range. For in addition to the chronograph and also the perpetual calendar, it now has a large format date and month shown in digital form, plus a digital display of the four yearly leap year cycle. The Da Vinci has arrived in the latest model in the Da Vinci collection is another milestone in haute horlogerie: its digital displays make not just every day, but every month too, into a significant event. Its flyback chronograph sets the standard. This watch harks back to the earliest digital display timepieces from Schaffhausen of more than a hundred years ago. The name remains a watchword: in its tonneau shaped case, the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month continues the proud tradition of the calendar chronograph with which IWC Schaffhausen played a decisive role in heralding the renaissance of the mechanical watch in 1985. Not with big letters but with big numerals: for the first time ever, an IWC timepiece with a perpetual calendar that has a large format date display, and also turns the correct changing of the month into a large scale digital event on the dial. The watchmaker’s ingenuity was required yet again in order to showcase the two main ca lendar indications in such a prominent fashion. However, the Schaffhausen manufactory is known worldwide for solving difficult mechanical problems and it is not completely unfamiliar with digital displays, either.
To put this into historical perspective, we have to go back 125 years in the company’s history. That was the start of the licensing agreement between inventor Josef Pallweber from Salzburg and IWC in Schaffhausen, opening up an important chapter in the story of watchmaking. However, IWC pocket
watches with a digital time display were only a short-lived phenomenon, and the new Da Vinci model follows only indirectly in the footsteps of the “Pallweber watches”,which are now highly prized collectors’ items. For it does not digitally display the time but rather the date and month of its mechanically programmed calendar – innovative, highly practical and, above all, clear and easy to read. Two years after the Da Vinci in its tonneau shaped case made its mark with the new IWC chronograph
as a complication, this new model adds a major supplementary function to the existing Da Vinci range. For in addition to the chronograph and also the perpetual calendar, it now has a large format date and month shown in digital form, plus a digital display of the four yearly leap year cycle. The Da Vinci has arrived in the digital age.
As the name of the watch says, the calendar is programmed for perpetuity. However, owners of the new Da Vinci model need to understand the special rules governing leap years under the Gregorian calendar. Every fourth year is, of course, a leap year. Each hundredth year is not a leap year unless it is divisible by 400. For owners of the watch, this means that it has to be advanced by one day only once every 100 years, with the exception of years divisible by 400. After advancing the date by one day on 1 March 2100, its owners need not adjust the calendar again for another 100 years. In months that have fewer than 31 days the calendar also changes automatically by one none existent day or at the end of February in none leap years by three days.
