IWC Cal. 89 Stainless Steel Central Second Flat Bezel 35mm Calatrava from 1948
Calibre IWC Cal. 89 · 35mm Stainless steelCondition
Provenance
What draws me to this dial is the texture rather than the layout: the silvered surface has broken down into fine grey speckling across the whole face, heaviest around the outer minute track, and I find it far more interesting than a clean example would be. The gilt Arabics at 12, 2, 6, 8 and 10 still catch light well against that aged ground, and the baton and arrow markers, dauphine hour and minute hands, and the sweep seconds are all gilt to match. IWC's Calatrava case is a slim, lightly polished round steel case with a snap-back, and I can still make out the case reference and the Probus Scafusia mark inside the back, along with a clearly legible serial I'm not quoting here. Winding it, the manual Cal. 89 inside is IWC's own workhorse three-hand movement of the period. I'd put this in front of someone who wants a dial with genuine age and character on the wrist rather than a cosmetically perfect one, and who won't mind a case that has seen a light polish in its life.
Buying from a stranger, in short. Every fault I know of is in the listing, and if you find one I missed, the return stands. Take the watch to a watchmaker of your choosing before you pay — I have never once objected. Fourteen days to send it back, for any reason at all.
Privatverkauf. Everything described above — case, dial, hands, lume, rate and service history — is agreed condition for this watch and I stand behind all of it. Beyond that, the watch is sold excluding liability for material defects, as is normal between private individuals for a vintage mechanical object of this age. That exclusion does not cover anything I have misdescribed or failed to disclose, and never covers injury or intent.
Fourteen days to return it for any reason — my own promise, not a statutory withdrawal right. Terms · How I describe condition
