Vintage wristwatches with cloisonné enamel dials are not just wristwatches. They are considered amongst collectors true works of art.
Stern Créations has been the best known and most skilled manufacturer of cloisonné enamel dials during the golden era, considered the period spanning from the 1940s to 1960s. Switzerland’s most prestigious watch manufacturers were supplied with enamel dials from Stern, including Patek Philippe, Rolex, Vacheron Constantin and IWC, just to name a few. The most beautiful dials were finished by Mrs Marguerite Koch, master enameller working for Stern.
Thankfully, the Stern records still exist today, allowing us to identify individual dials. The present example, numbered on the back-plate “61*2544”, is listed in the Stern records as having been made for IWC as “fleurs stylisées” (stylized flowers). Interestingly, it is also mentioned that the dial features 13 gold hour markers, at first sight rather unexplainable. Closer examination however reveals that at the 12 o’clock position there are 2 faceted baton markers mounted, very close next to each other.
The present watch is also fitted with IWC’s in-house calibre 85, the first automatic movement made by the firm in series. This movement was only in production in 1950 and 1951.
Without a doubt, this IWC is one of the most beautiful and valuable vintage wristwatches by the venerable manufacture to appear on the market in years.