Creation
In 1868, American engineer and watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones (1841–1916),[13] who had been a director of E. Howard & Co. in Boston, founded the International Watch Company in Switzerland.[14] He planned to assemble watches in Switzerland and import them into the United States.[15] At the time, wages in Switzerland were relatively low and there was a ready supply of skilled watchmaking labor,[14] mainly carried out by people in their homes. Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French-speaking Switzerland because he wanted to open a factory.[14]
In 1850, the town of Schaffhausen was in danger of being left behind in the Industrial Age. At this stage, watch manufacturer and industrialist Heinrich Moser built Schaffhausen's first hydroelectric plant and aided in further industrialization.[16][17] Moser met Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans. Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturers in north-eastern Switzerland. The brand was previously known as the International Watch Chronology.
Early stages and bankruptcy
In 1869, Jones rented the first factory premises in an industrial building owned by J.H. Moser at the Rheinstrasse. Having to rent further rooms in the Oberhaus. By 1874, plans were already being made for a new factory, and a site was purchased from Moser's hydroelectric company. Schaffhausen architect G. Meyer won the order to design and build the factory. A year later, in the spring of 1875, the construction work was completed. At first, 196 people worked in the 45 meter long factory, which could accommodate up to 300 workplaces. However, Jones had trouble selling the watches in America due to tariffs, financing, and technical machine problems.[15] By 1875, stockholders alleged that the company was on the verge of collapse, and Jones scrambled to find new investors. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy, and Jones was forced to relinquish control of the company.[15]
IWC and the Rauschenbach family
One of IWC's stockholders, Johann Rauschenbach-Vogel,[15] Chief Executive Officer and a machine manufacturer from Schaffhausen, took over the Internationale Uhrenfabrik on 17 February 1880. He purchased the company for 280,000 francs.[15] Four generations of the Rauschenbach family owned IWC, with varying names. Only a year after the sale, Johannes Rauschenbach died. His son, Johannes Rauschenbach-Schenk, aged 25, took over the Uhrenfabrik von J. Rauschenbach and ran it successfully until his own death on 2 March 1905.
AUrs Haenggi from Nunningen in the canton of Solothurn had gotten to know the watch business in French-speaking Switzerland and France. In 1883, he joined IWC and stayed with the company for 52 years. He was responsible for getting factory operations up and running smoothly and acquiring new customers. He was also responsible for warding off the prospect of outside interests acquiring IWC "in the interest of the noble Rauschenbach family".
After the death of J. Rauschenbach-Schenk in 1905, his wife, two daughters, Bertha Marguerite Rauschenbach and Emma Rauschenbach (later Jung), and their husbands, Ernst Jakob Homberger (director of G. Fischer AG in Schaffhausen) and Carl Gustav Jung, took over the watch factory as an open trading company named as the Uhrenfabrik von J. Rauschenbach's Erben - watch manufacturer of the heirs of J. Rauschenbach. E.J. Homberger was the only authorized signatory, Haenggi and Vogel were directors.[18]
Prominent technicians
Technician Johann Vogel from Wangen an der Aare in Solothurn played an important role as technical director. He designed and developed IWC calibers until 1919.
In 1885, IWC manufactured the first digital watch based on a patent granted to an Austrian by the name of Pallweber. It was a simple design, but was unable to replace the traditional analogue display.
Electrical era
In 1888, electricity began to take over at the watch factory. J. Rauschenbach had a powerline installed which supplied it with electricity. Shortly before the turn of the century, the company started converting its production machines to electricity. An electric motor made by Brown Boveri from Baden powered the engines in the factory. These were later replaced during the 1930s with individually powered machines.
1900–1960
During the period just before and after the First World War, E.J. Homberger established many social institutions. He extended the living quarters for factory employees and established a fund for widows and orphans. In 1929, the name of the fund was changed to the J. Rauschenbach Foundation and in 1949 he founded the Watch Company Welfare Foundation. Germany's military buildup of the 1930s brought the demand for precision watches back to Glashütte. From the second half of the thirties to the end of World War II, IWC was one of five watch manufacturers (the others being Stowa, Laco, Wempe and A. Lange & Söhne) that built B-Uhren for Germany's air force (Luftwaffe).[19]
IWC's historical significance is marked by several pioneering timepieces, including the 1936 Special Pilot's Watch (Ref. 436), which laid the groundwork for its renowned aviation collection, and the 1939 Portugieser (Ref. 325), notable for its large size and pocket watch movement. This legacy was further solidified by the 1940 Big Pilot's Watch (Ref. 52 T.S.C.), a robust observation watch for military pilots, and the highly influential 1948 Mark 11, which set a new standard for precision and anti-magnetic protection in pilot's watches.[20][21]
1970s–present
In the 1970s and 80s, due to the quartz crisis, the Swiss watchmaking industry underwent a phase of far-reaching technological change. The era saw the first use of miniaturized electric batteries as a source of energy for wristwatches and some eventually unsuccessful technologies, such as the electronically controlled balance. The Uhrenfabrik H. E. Homberger co-founded and was a shareholder in the Centre Électronique Horloger (CEH) in Neuchâtel and was financially involved in the development of the Beta 21 quartz wristwatch movement, which was first presented to the public at the 1969 Industrial Fair in Basel and used by other manufactures such as the Omega Electroquartz watches. In value terms, this movement accounted for about 5-6% of total sales of quartz watches. Parallel to this, the company expanded its collection of jeweller watches to include ladies watches with mechanical movements. 1973 was IWC's most successful year of the post-war period.
A rise in gold prices in 1974 had grave consequences for the watch-exporting industry. Between 1970 and 1974, the price of gold rose from 4,850 to 18,000 francs and the value of the US dollar against the Swiss currency fell by up to 40%. As a result, the price of watch exports rose by as much as 250%.
A change of direction was necessary, and this led to the adoption of a number of measures. In order to survive, IWC, under the leadership of Director and CEO Otto Heller, built up a line of pocket watches and, apart from setting up its own modern wristwatch and case manufacturing facilities, began working closely with Ferdinand A. Porsche as an external designer. In addition, IWC pioneered new watchmaking technologies, notably the first titanium
