Rare military IWC Mark XI with a white dial
Case
35 mm stainless steel case with screwed back
Dial
white with Arabic numerals and center second
Movement
legendary IWC cal. 89
Functions
antimagnetic case
Condition
nice original condition
Year
1948
Price
Description
IWC had a history of providing watches to specific army requirements to various countries of this world. The Mark XI is one of those famous models in this category. And we normally know them for their characteristic black dial with specific army layout and markings. One odd deviation in this series of watches are the white dialled versions of the Mark XI that were delivered to the British Ministry of Defense. Various theories are going around on why there are a few out there with this white dial. The theories go from "pre-procurement tests" to "acceptance tests" to "white dials for ground crew" to "white dials for officers" to "surplus stock sold without dials, purchaser made own (white) dials". No one knows it exactly but it can be taken as granted that they were in use of the British military pilots!
There is a story behind a vintage watch.
Besides the obvious fact that traveling down the years,
a watch absorbs the energy of time and history, it often has a significant story to tell, based on the purpose it was originally made for.
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