IWC Aquatimer 2000 IW356805

IWC Aquatimer.

The history of diving goes back to 4500 BC. In this time divers found mother-of-pearl in Mesopotamia. The history of the current diving is relatively short. The real break-through of the sport came is 1943. The French Marine officer Jacques-Yves Cousteau developed an ‘aqualung’, so that it would be possible to stay under water for longer periods of time. Jacques-Yves Cousteau is one of the most famous Scuba divers of the 20th century.

Many years Cousteau played the rivers and seas with his research vessel de ‘Calypso’. His documentaries about the unknown under water world made him famous all over the world. Some of this documentaries even won an Oscar. In 1974 he started a non-profit organisation. The ‘Cousteau Society’ was later included in a collaboration agreement with an industrial company in 2004.

When the organisation went on an expedition to the Red Sea there were also people from the watch manufacturer on board. The expedition on board of the ’Alcyone’ was also caught on film and ist he legacy of a man that made us aware of the threats to the ocean. He said: ’A man protects and supports the things he loves’.

The sport diving became more and more familiar. One of the most important things that you need when you want to dive safely is a well functioning diving watch. The term ’diving watch’ and the use of this have to meet the international standards. For example it has to eb able to hadle a minimum pressure of 10 bars. The engineers of IWC devoted themselves to the subjects ‘diving watch’ and ‘water resistant’ with their usual thirst of perfection. The impressive result of their efforts was the very first diving watch of IWC: the ‘IWC Aquatimer’. The fact that the current diving watches of IWC are namesakes of the now legendary Aqutimer in 1967 is not a coincidence. The name combines 2 fundamental aspects of diving: aqua for water, and timing.