Boris
921
Out of interest, let me post here the comment I left on Jack Forster's article at Hondinkee
Feb 25, 2021,17:47 PM
"A great write-up, Jack, as usual.
Now, as an owner of an original 3705 (bought in 2006, so long before the price exploded, which I blame your excellent 2016 article for, Mr Forster), let me interject:
- unjustifiable case size: going to 41mm doesn't bother me as it has become the norm for sports watches. But 15.3mm thick? The original already wears quite high at 14.5mm and barely fits under a cuff. There are two culprits to this: a) IWC's enduring inability to produce thinner in-house mouvements (which they share with Grand Seiko, although there seems to be hope in the case of GS); and b) the use of a soft iron inner case, which might be a nostalgic throwback, but then if IWC decides to upgrade the watch technically (case alloy, movement), why not go all the way and use 2021 technology to do way with it and keep the watch more slender? You were mentioning the Speedmaster, and Omega now offers it with a movement resistant to 15,000 gauss
- dubious stylistic choices: how they managed to increase the case by 2mm while cutting off some of the numerals at 10 and 11 is a mystery to me. This is a mistake in my view, and a bad one too given how easy it should have been to avoid it. So too the decision to do away with the two-tone looks: I get it that the new alloy allows for consistency between the pushers and crown and case, but that two-tone contrast is very much a signature of the original 3705. Again, to take the Speedmaster analogy, this is the equivalent of Omega discontinuing the hesalite model because the sapphire version is better technically (at least when it comes up to scratch resistance), while a large of the Speedmaster fans like it precisely because of the hesalite looks
- not going all the way for technical upgrades: surely, in 2021, there was a way to make this watch 100m water resistant, which has become the norm for sports watches (I have the same criticism for the new Speedmaster, although it didn't prevent me from buying it - hesalite, of course)
- high price tag: the regular production, steel chronograph goes for exactly half the price of this limited edition. I find the difference in price totally unjustified. Up to 50% (to be very generous) for the case material and the limited edition factor, but exactly 100% is just cynical (as in: we think we can get away with it, so why not?). Add a few $1,000 more and you are in Rolex Daytona or Omega Speedmaster 321 territory, both of which come on a bracelet rather than a calf leather strap
So, all in, this is a swing and a miss for me. Sure, it's better than not having anything in ways of owning something similar to a 3705, but IWC could have done much, much better with this. Alas, it's a recurring theme since Guenter Bluemlein passed away. God, I miss this guy."