IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN OPENS ITS FIRST BOUTIQUE IN COSMOPOLITAN BERLIN
Schaffhausen/Berlin, 17th July 2023: IWC Schaffhausen announces the opening of its first boutique in Berlin. Located on Kurfürstendamm, the city’s famous shopping boulevard, it is designed as an open and welcoming space where clients can discover the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer’s main collections. The so-called Engineering Wall provides visitors with a deep-dive into the inner workings of IWC-manufactured movements and complications. A comfortable bar and lounge area looking out on the lively boulevard completes the visitor experience.
Berlin is a world-class destination with a rich, storied past and a vibrant atmosphere. Like no other metropolitan area in Europe, it attracts creative minds like artists and designers, filmmakers and musicians, but also pioneering entrepreneurs and start-up founders from the tech world. The new IWC boutique in Berlin is the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer’s second boutique in Germany after Munich. It is located on Kurfürstendamm, Berlin’s most famous shopping boulevard.
“The origins of IWC, like my own, are connected to Germany. Back in 1868, our founder Florentine Ariosto Jones, located production in the German part of Switzerland near the Black Forest so that he could hire German watchmakers for his factory. Since then, German engineering talent and technical expertise have been embedded in our design and manufacturing processes. Therefore, we are thrilled to be represented in the German capital with an IWC boutique,”
THE SIXTH INSTALMENT OF IWC'S NEW BOUTIQUE CONCEPT
After Battersea Power Station, Rotterdam, Sanya, Washington and Costa Mesa, Berlin is the sixth location to feature IWC’s new boutique concept, offering a transparent and cosy interior as welcoming as a friend’s home. On more than 200 square meters, clients can explore the art of Swiss watchmaking in an immersive environment. While showcasing IWC’s most important product lines, separate exhibitions also demonstrate the brand’s engineering and materials competence. IWC’s watch families, such as the sporty Pilot’s Watches, the classic Portugieser and the refined Portofino, are displayed in glass vitrines.
The Engineering Wall enables visitors to dive deeply into IWC’s engineering heritage. Among other things, it features easy-to-understand models showing the assembly order of different IWC-manufactured movements, as well as explaining the functionality of IWC’s Pellaton winding system and the double moon phase display. Another part of the exhibition walks visitors through the colour engineering from the first inspiration to the coloured ceramic case. Finally, the Engineering Wall also visualises the complex ceramic production process from polycrystalline powder to green body and finished ceramic watch case.
Complementing the visitor experience is a lounge area, an inviting and quiet corner for clients to relax and have a drink. A separate space for different events, such as watchmaking classes or virtual manufacturing tours, completes the amenities of the boutique.
The new IWC boutique is located on Kurfürstendamm 184, 10707 Berlin.
IWC Schaffhausen is the Engineer of Watchmaking. In 1868, the American watchmaker and engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones established the ‘International Watch Company’ in Schaffhausen in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. By combining the best of human craftsmanship and creativity with cutting-edge industrial technology and processes, he laid the foundation for IWC’s unique engineering approach to watchmaking.
IWC’s distinctive and pure design is brought to life through collections ranging from elegant dress watches to sports and luxury sports watches, notably the Portugieser, Portofino, Pilot’s Watches and Ingenieur. Over its more than 150-year history, IWC has earned a reputation for creating professional instrument watches and functional complications, especially chronographs and calendars, which are ingenious, robust and easy to use.
A pioneer in the use of titanium and ceramic, IWC specializes in performance materials such as Ceratanium®. IWC’s advanced engineering division XPL develops technologies that enhance the durability of mechanical watches and extend their applications to environments with extreme conditions such as jet aviation and human spaceflight.
IWC is a leader in luxury watchmaking, crafting timepieces built to last for generations and continuously improving every aspect of how it manufactures, distributes and services its watches responsibly. Empowering the next generation of engineers, the brand also partners with organizations that work globally to support children and young people. IWC. EngineeredTM.