We’ll let you in on a little secret.

One of the best buys in vintage dress watches is in IWC. That’s right — the same company so famed for its chunky, modern chronographs and complicated watches built some of the most simple, beautiful, and elegant dress watches of the mid-20th century. And they’re a bargain. 

Take this manually wound piece from circa 197, for example: Housed in a compact 34mm stainless steel cushion case with an acrylic crystal and a polished bezel, it features a lovely, silver sunburst dial with applied stick indices, a matching pencil handset, and an applied IWC logo. Powered by the manually wound IWC Caliber 89 — the same movement that famously powered the Mark XI — it comes paired to a svelte, stainless steel mesh bracelet with a belt buckle clasp.

A comfortable case; an attractive dial; an in-house, manually wound movement; a funky bracelet. What more could you possibly want?