SCHAFFHAUSEN
2000m
AUTOMATIC
AQUATIMER
A review by Damon, Marc & Kyle
~CASE~
DAMON:The case on this watch is one of the best-designed cases ever made for a watch. IWC made a great decision by making the top of the lugs brushed and the sides of the case polished. The brushed top helps hide the tiny scratches that will incur when worn. The engineering used on the case to make it resistant 2000 meters is just mind blowing. The lack of crown guards causes some people to worry, but since the case and crown are so well designed, it would have to take a hard hit to knock it off of the case.
My Aquatimer's case measures 41mm in diameter, 14mm thick and 48mm from lug to lug, that is if you can call them lugs. While not being the largest sports watch on the market, it is a behemoth in its own right. Thankfully the titanium material used makes it extremely comfortable. I remember reading somewhere that it is 40% lighter the conventional stainless steel. Thankfully a solid gold version is not available, due to its soft consistency, but could you imagine what it could have weighed? The person who would have worn such a watch would have had to alternate arms every once in a while in order for the muscles to develop equally. My watch weighs in at 113g, pretty skimpy, but not too bad as far as titanium sports watches are concerned.
The entire case has absolutely no polished surfaces; this is something that I look for in a sports watch. This combined with the darker titanium color makes it very stealth like. The odds on someone commenting on it from afar are next to nil, then again, if you are purchasing a watch in order to get that effect, the Aquatimer wouldn't even make your short list. The edges are very sharp and cut to precision, you would almost think it was carved out by computer guided lasers.
You would think that 14mm in thickness would make it sit very high on ones wrist, on the contrary this one does not. Because of the case back's cone shape, it digs into your wrist and begs to be worn tightly. Strange, I usually love to wear my watches loosely; this one is surprisingly more comfortable worn snug. The case back is beautifully engraved with the traditional Aquatimer Submarine. It is also written "International Watch Co. Schaffhausen" and it is also screwed down in order to guarantee its impressive 2000m water-resistance rating.
The crown is a work of art. It measures 6mm in diameter and protrudes just over 3mm from the case, but because it sits high on the case, it does not dig into your wrist. I have never owned a watch that had a crown with as much bite. It is amazingly reassuring to unscrew and set. Another surprising attribute is that once it is unscrewed there is no play. In other words if I try to wiggle it, in any of the setting positions, it is as solid as a rock. I cannot say the same for many of the watches I've owned that use the same base caliber. IMPRESIVE! I also read that the watch is still water-resistant when the crown is unscrewed and in all the setting positions, though it is recommended to keep the crown screwed down for normal use. It is also signed with the traditional fish emblem, which designates a water-resistant IWC watch.
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