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Introduction
I've had my IWC since August, about six months, and it seems time to do a midterm review. As with postmortems and first impressions, my opinion changes over time.
I've also found a bracelet and velcro strap, which deserve writeups, so here's a combined review and essay on quick-release straps. Enjoy!
The Watch
Here you can see the case (more about the lugs in a bit) and the horizontal notch that holds the spring in place. IWC licensed the quick-release system from Cartier, and while I was initially unhappy I've decided that I sort of like it. Sort of....
More detail on the lugs. Note the sharp lower edge.
Even closer:
Notice how, on the lower edge, the lug has scratched and worn. This sucks - the edge is painfully sharp, and would wear better and more comfortably if IWC had facetted or radiused it.
Sure is nicely finished, though.
Dead stock
When I bought the watch, it came with the rubber strap on it. A month or so later, I found a local WIS with an IWC bracelet and Velcro strap for sale. The bracelet is around $1,600 list and the Velcro $280 at Tourneau, so when we agreed on 1,000 for both I was pretty happy. They are both used, but I really don't care. I tend to put wear on my watches anyway.
Here's the rubber strap, bottom side. The waffling keeps it from being clingy when sweaty, and the metal inserts keep it well in place. I hear that the list price is $450 or so but have not verified it.
The outside is much plainer:
I really like the rubber. It gets the most wear; not too dressy, comfortable and low-key. A great match for the sporty nature of the watch. It's a too short to wear over a wetsuit, though. For that you have to have the velcro.
The bracelet
Most bracelets are for activities like diving, as pioneered by Rolex and the like. Diver extensions and flip locks are designed for wetsuits and keeping a watch in place against arm motion, brushing against undersea 'stuff' and vigorous exercise.
The IWC bracelet is not. It's for dressing up the watch. This took me a while to figure out, as I'm used to sporty mindset. Check this out:
Yeah, they put decoration on the normally-invisible section of the clasp! Perlage, actually, quite pretty, and under a layer of lacquer to protect it. Quite silly, and quite decorative. The clasp is single-button, no fliplock here:
The benefit of this design is thinness - the bracelet clasp is effectively invisible on the wrist, and barely thicker than the other links.
The links are two-piece, with the outside brushed and the center links mirror-polished.
I hate the polish. It shows scuffs and fingerprints like crazy, and is far too blingy for my taste. Me no like.
The build quality is the highest I have ever seen anywhere.
Notice the thickness of that pin - easily 2mm! Also notice the wasp-waist in the center; that's the tool-free method of adding or removing links. The toothpick pushed the flush-mounted button on the link, which retracts a spring-loaded pin in the link, and then the pin slides out.
So you can resize the bracelet with 3 minutes and a couple of (no risk of scratches) toothpicks. Absolutely brilliant! Wonderfully made to boot.
Speaking of that, the spring-loaded, Cartier-licensed end links:
Parked on a holder:
The bracelet is amazingly comfortable to wear. The links feel like water in your hand, they're so smooth, and the low-profile clasp doesn't bite your wrist while at the keyboard. It goes well with a suit or odd jacket, and does fair-to-middling with long sleeve shirts. 
The Quick-Change Review
Once you've changed from band to bracelet in the space of 90 seconds while your wife taps impatiently, you'll understand how utterly magnificent this system is. Simply wonderful, and it changes how you wear the watch. You can change the look at a whim, so I do; it's a lot of fun.
The big negative is cost. You have to buy IWC, and the three on this page are all there is. Keep reading, though, for an alternative.
The Velcro Escape Plan
The IWC solution for wetsuit wear is their cheap-looking Velcro strap. It has a single piece of fabric run through fixed bars and metal endpieces.
Endpiece closeup. Note the threaded bars:
Annoying, they put the 'IWC' on the topside of the endpiece, polished just to maximize the bling:
Overall, though, it definitely looks different:
The important tidbit here is that the Velcro strap has converted from IWC-only lugs to standard bars! 19.7mm on my micrometer, so a 19 or 20mm strap should work just fine. This was my plan when I bought it, but honestly I've just not bothered yet. I just switch back and forth from bracelet to strap, and if I feel dressy I park the IWC and pull out the RGM 151P instead.
Wrist shots
To show how the look changes, here are shots of each on my 7.25" wrist:
Velcro:
Rubber:
Bracelet:
The midterm review
I'm still quite happy with the watch, even though I had to have it serviced, it came back quickly and I still love wearing it. As noted above, I dislike the sharp-bottomed lug design, and have managed a few scuffs here and there; other than that it continues to delight.
Buying advice
- Buy it on the bracelet, and then negotiate an add-on price for rubber and velcro. Otherwise the add-on price of the bracelet is fucking ludicrous. You want all three.
- Used bracelets, straps and velcro are available. I posted a 'want-to-buy' on TZSC
and got lucky. - The bracelet is utterly magnificent, but think more suit then wetsuit.
- On the bracelet, it's more watch than a Submariner. And few will recognize it.
Update
Note that the bracelet, strap and velcro will fit the Aquatimer (3568) I have as well as the chronographs (3769, 3767), Galapagos and the Deep Two (3547). They all have the same lugs.
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