What Sealed The Deal – Chris’ IWC 3706 Fliegerchronograph

Nick Kenyon

The only thing thrown around more often than the word iconic by watch media is watch media cleverly saying how often the word iconic is being thrown around. But despite committing both sins in one paragraph, Sunday confession would be a comfortable one if you were talking about IWC pilot’s watches as iconic. With designs unchanged for decades, it is the archetype of the pilot’s watch, with large luminous hour markers and hands that contrast against a dark dial, and essentially offer everything the modern world is looking for in an everyday watch. Chris was kind enough to speak with us about his own experience of pulling the trigger on his IWC 3706 Fliegerchronograph, and how it almost ended in heartbreak.

When did you first see/hear about it?
I first saw my 3706 Fliegerchronograph in the window of my local vintage watch store, right in the heart of Perth, Western Australia. I’m an expat kid, and I grew up around in-flight magazines and duty free all through the ’80s and ’90s, so I know an IWC when I see one, but I’d never come across the 3706 before. It was sitting in the display right next to a beautiful Mark XV, and I thought, ‘Man, that’s a cool watch.’

The 3706 is — even at first impressions, and especially if you know a little about watches — a real study in form following function, and I love that. It has a 7750-based movement beating in it, but is only 39mm wide and 14.6mm tall. With a movement 30mm wide and 8mm tall, you really can’t wrap that heart up in a smaller package and still retain its robustness and functionality; I appreciated that right away. Lots of little details are so right, too: the crown is large and grippy enough to use easily, and the dial must be a masterclass in design; all the text is legible, the sub-dials are well spaced and very easy to read, with nothing feeling crowded or disproportionate. It’s a bit of a looker too, with alternating brushed and polished surfaces and hands that are still blemish-free and shiny. The tang buckle as well; IWC make some of the best around. Oh, and have you seen the movement? Clearly, I could go on!

Any story behind the purchase?
It’s a bit of a star-crossed love story, really. I stood admiring the watch on the outside for quite a while; the dial was marked T-Swiss-T, and the tritium on the hands and quarter-marks had gone a really nice colour, so I went in and asked the owner, Darren, about it. Soon enough I was trying it on, and appraisal melted into affection pretty quickly. It was the perfect size, had those really cool ‘Mark-style’ hands, and the 7750-based 7922 inside the case wiggled like an excited puppy, even after 22 years. There was only one problem: I really couldn’t afford a new watch! I had bought an 114060 from Darren a little while earlier, and barring a new job or a raise; another watch just wasn’t on the cards for me. Sure, I’d still wander past and spend some fugitive moments with the watch, but nothing was going to come of it. When one day I turned up to find it gone, I wasn’t surprised; the IWC was a really beautiful watch and Christmas was just around the corner, so it was only a matter of time before some other lothario snatched it up! You can only lead a watch on for so long.

What was the deciding factor?

She came back! I’d recently fallen into a new job, so a new watch was definitely on the menu. It’s probably a bit telling, but I was looking for a new chronograph and tried on almost every one in Perth in the process, but something was always missing. During my search I swung past Darren’s store to ask about trying on a Speedmaster I’d seen he had (mandatory, right?). Once I was inside, there in the back case I saw her again! I immediately forgot about the Omega, and thinking it too good to be true, asked him if it was the same watch. Sure enough, he said it was; the previous buyer had worn her for a little while then returned her, complaining she was too small! At this stage in the story I’d love to say that I purchased her immediately and the rest is history, but I actually vacillated a little; buying a brand new watch has a certain cachet, so to my eternal shame I actually hemmed and hawed for another day before returning to Darren to do what I should have done in the beginning.

Any surprises?
The first is how many compliments the watch gets! I felt the 3706 might be a little ‘inside baseball’ today: it’s not quite vintage, and it’s small for a modern watch, but in the few weeks I’ve had her she’s garnered lots of compliments, even from my non-watch savvy friends. I think there is something really perfect about the 3706’s dial and proportions. It looks like a high-quality instrument, even to people who don’t know an IWC from an Invicta. The second is how much I like the case-back inscription; there are lots of little details that I’ve mentioned about the watch that IWC got right, but the inscription has really grown on me. I rarely give case-back inscriptions a second thought and I doubt I even looked at this one more than once before I bought it, but since I’ve owned the watch and had the time to pore over all the little details WIS-style, it’s stuck with me. It’s a pretty plain steel screw-in case-back, and all it says is ‘Der Fliegerchronograph’ and ‘IWC’. No glitzy engraving of a plane, no paragraph and a half of quasi-technical marketing details, just that simple statement. I think IWC was really proud when they made this watch, and I think the case-back shows that. In a way, it sums up everything right about the 3706: no sales pitch, no embellishments, just a watch that does what she says on the tin (steel?), as well as IWC could make her.

When do you wear it?
Unsurprisingly, all the time. My new job is in an engineering role, so unless I need to show up at a big client meeting where a Rolex can lend some heft, the 3706 is on my wrist.

How does it feel on the wrist?
Perfect. My wrists are not large, and the 3706 is 39mm wide by 48mm lug-to-lug by 14.6mm tall. Large enough to have presence on my wrist, but compact enough not to be cumbersome.

Do you change straps often?
It came with the original IWC black crocodile strap, but it’s a bit frayed around the edges so that’s back in the box and I have her on a nice brown two-piece made from Horween pull-up leather, fitted with the original IWC tang buckle. I also have a green textile strap from IWC as well as a new OEM black crocodile strap on order. I think between the three straps, the watch could fit just about everywhere!