IWC 80000

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Calibre 80000 is a family of robust automatic watch movements produced by IWC from 2005 through 2017.

History

IWC began transitioning to in-house movement capability in 2000 with the launch of the Cal. 5000 family. That movement featured an updated version of the company's classic Pellaton winding system but was a high-end movement with an extra-long spring for seven day power reserve.

IWC sought to prove that they could produce a more conventional in-house movement and launched this Cal. 80000 family in 2005. The resulting Cal. 80110 featured exceptional shock absorption, above the natural ruggedness of the Pellaton system. Yet it is a compact movement, measuring just 30 mm in diameter and 7.3 mm thick, the first small movement developed in-house by IWC since the original Cal. 81 family of the 1950s.

The basic design of the wheel train and location of time-keeping components is similar to the Valjoux 7750 (specifically the hand-winding Valjoux 7765), a movement IWC engineers were very familiar with as it was the basis for their Cal. 7900 family. But every major component is specific to the IWC movement and the winding system is unique to IWC. And, of course, the IWC 80110 and 80111 are time-only movements with none of the chronograph components found in the 7750 family.

IWC retired the Cal. 80000 family after 2017 in favor of the slimmer Cal. 82000 family which uses the ETA 2892/A2 architecture rather than the ETA 7750 design.

Movement Family

See Also