With the increasingly costly ongoing war that the world was wrapped up in, the British Ministry of Defence tasked 12 different watchmakers with supplying their armed forces with wristwatches as per their specifications in the early 1940s. This was done in a bid to provide their soldiers with as large a competitive advantage as possible. These specifications were that the watches had to feature a large black luminous dial with a sub-seconds dial, a 15 jewel movement, a level of waterproofing higher than standard, and a stainless steel case capable of decreasing the impact of shocks on the watch and its level of accuracy. The resulting 12 models were all relatively similar looking, with the IWC model, the Mark X, which we have here, standing as one of the rarer of the 12, with just 6000 pieces produced. With fixed soldered spring bars, W.W.W engraved on their casebacks for “Watch Wristlet Waterproof,” and with the Broad Arrow on their dial indicating that the watch is owned by the British Crown, these timepieces have become icons amongst collectors for their clear provenance and tangible link to the servicemen and women that wore them.

Incredibly iconic as part of the Dirty Dozen, and wonderfully collectible as one of the rarer models within those twelve timepieces, the IWC Mark X is one of the most legendary timepieces within IWC's historic catalog.