By admin 
Let’s talk about tuning fork watches – a very special variant of battery-operated wristwatches. Some time ago I gave you the tip to take a look at vintage quartz watches from well-known manufacturers such as Omega, Heuer, Breitling & Co. Just a few months later I started an eBay search myself. As recommended in the article, I entered the manufacturer names and the search terms quartz and tuning fork (see eBay – affiliate link/advertisement).
And lo and behold, I found a beautiful tuning fork watch called IWC Electronic (see eBay – affiliate link/advertisement), which I was able to buy at a good price. It was well under 500 euros (2018). According to my research, that was comparatively “cheap” for an IWC Replica. Even if a repair/revision should be necessary. But more on that later.
First, let’s take a look at the new addition:
IWC ELECTRONIC – STIMMGABELUHR
Wonderful, isn’t it? The blue dial, the 70s look. And: my first IWC. Even with the old International Watch Company lettering.
And if you want to know more about IWC history: the company was founded by the American Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland (Wikipedia). Hence the “international” name.
Back to my IWC Electronic: According to the website Electric Watches.co.uk, IWC manufactured these watches with the caliber 150 (ESA 9162) between 1971 and 1973. Other manufacturers used the same movement, such as Omega (f300), Tissot (Tissonic), Longines (Ultronic), Eterna (Sonic), etc. The production number is said to have been 24,600 pieces. (More about the IWC with the caliber 150 or the ESA 9162 – WatchWiki). What’s interesting is that the tuning fork clock is neither a (purely) mechanical nor a quartz clock – even though it runs on a battery. It falls somewhere between the two. In terms of time too. And that brings us to the first and probably best-known tuning fork clock.