Lot 456

International Watch Co.

Il Destriero Scafusia

An extremely rare and heavy, astronomical minute repeating wristwatch in practically new condition, with split seconds chronograph, perpetual calendar, moon phase and flying tourbillon, produced to commemorate IWC's 125th anniversary in 1993 - with additional original leather strap with IWC 18 K rose gold buckle, original box, certificate, guarantee card, booklets and operating instructions

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The "Il Destriero Scafusia" is the most complicated watch designed and created in the history of IWC. Each movement consists of 750 individual parts. Minimal friction and wear is guaranteed by 76 rubies, and the watch has a total of 21 complex functions and displays. Along with hands for the hours, minutes and seconds, the "Il Destriero Scafusia" features a perpetual calendar which displays the date, day of the week, month, year, decade and century. It also has a moon phase display, which is the most precise one ever built into a wristwatch. The minute repeater chimes out the time in hours, quarter hours and minutes on two finely tuned gongs. The split seconds chronograph can be used as a conventional stopwatch for timing actions and events in fractions of a second, minutes and hours. The split seconds hand facilitates cumulative timing and can also be used as a lap timer. IWC's designers spent three years solid hard working to develop this sophisticated mechansim. Last but not least, a flying tourbillon was also installed, with a tourbillon cage made of anti-magnetic and ultra-light titanium.
Only the most competent and talented watchmakers are able to create such an exceptional watch and even they need several months for the task. The 125 pieces were delivered between 1992 and 1999. Patek Philippe is the only company other than IWC which has a watch with this combination of complications in its range.