Wristwatches · Wristwatch
IWC 'Hermet' Oversized, 1940s
- Maker / attribution
- IWC (maker)
- Date
- 1940s
- Historical period
- Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
- Country of origin
- Switzerland
- Object type
- Wristwatch
- Dimensions
- Case 38 mm
- Stock no.
- Product 1385874391127
- Credit line
- Dealer listing, S.Song Watches (product 1385874391127)
- Catalogue title (original)
- IWC 'Hermet' Oversized (English)
View the source record (dealer listing) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by S.Song Watches (dealer), Seattle (stock number Product 1385874391127), this is a wristwatch by IWC, made in Switzerland, dated 1940s. The Atlas places it in the Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking period (1900 – 1945) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 38 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Dealer description — S.Song Watches
While from afar the IWC Hermet may just look like any other vintage IWC dress watch out there, it is actually one of the rarest and most desirable vintage IWCs in the market today. A few details set the watch apart and as always, it is the details that make a watch. Beginning with the stainless steel case, it is sized way bigger than your average IWC at 38mm and features a unique inset fluted crown. While IWC made several Hermets in different sizes, this oversized case is by far the rarest and most sought after. I really love the inset crown as it adds a nice asymmetry to the overall design. The term ‘Hermet’ comes from the word hermetic and it was IWCs form of climate proofing a watch. Featuring a tightly sealed snap caseback and together with the inset crown, this was a method to protect against humidity and dust. The silver dial comes with very attractive blued steel Feuille hands and a large sub seconds at six o’clock. Furthermore, the dial design features some of the most beautiful numerals I have seen on a watch and it is really this that makes me love this Hermet so much. It has very stylised Art Deco style Arabic numerals that work so proportionately well with everything. This Oversized IWC Hermet is a real connoisseur watch and for one who truly appreciates beauty in the details. Furthermore, it has rarity and condition going for it- you won’t find many oversized Hermets out there, let alone in this condition.
Historical context
Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking (1900 – 1945)
The wristwatch displaces the pocket watch; waterproof cases, self-winding and grand complications.
The wristwatch overtook the pocket watch. Military use in the First World War, aviation, water-resistant cases (1926), automatic winding (1923–31), rectangular Art Deco designs and early chronographs and calendars defined the period.
Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Industrial Revolution
Atlas type guide
Wristwatches
Bracelet watches were worn by women from the early nineteenth century — Breguet made one for Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, in 1810–12 — but the wristwatch only became a man's instrument with military use and aviation in the early twentieth century. Between the World Wars it overtook the pocket watch; the 1920s and 1930s brought rectangular Art Deco cases, water-resistant cases and the first automatic winding systems.
After 1945 the wristwatch became a carrier of identity — dress watches, sports and dive watches, chronographs, calendars — produced by Swiss, American, Japanese, German, Soviet and Chinese industries. The quartz revolution after 1969 and the mechanical renaissance since the 1990s, including the rise of independent watchmakers, complete the story.
What to look for
- The reference number (between the lugs or inside the case back) and serial number, the starting point for dating.
- The calibre: its maker and number are often stamped under the dial or on the bridge.
- Originality of dial, hands and crown — refinished ('redial') dials are common.
- Case material marks: 18K/750, 14K/585, stainless steel, gold-filled, plated.
Dating clues
- Wire-lug cases: before c. 1925.
- Water-resistant screw-down cases: from 1926.
- Quartz movements: from 1969; sapphire crystals widespread after c. 1980.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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