Coming together in 1978 and beginning as a means for IWC to bolster sales and create new markets for them to tap into, the Swiss watchmaker's collaboration with Porsche Design has gone down as one of the most successful and iconic collaborations within watchmaking. The collaboration has produced some fantastic watches over the decades, one of which being the very first timepiece they ever produced together, the IWC Porsche Design Compass Watch. Launched in 1978, it was designed by the same man who designed the Porsche 911 in 1963, Ferdinand A. Porsche. Having left his family’s eponymous automaker, Ferdinand founded Porsche Design Studio in 1972 and became known for his affinity for Bauhaus design aesthetics – a design language that IWC and Porsche Design’s collaboration watches would embody. As such, the IWC Porsche Design Compass Watch is a famously minimalist timepiece that features an uncomplicated circular 39mm two-tier PVD-coated aluminum case that features a black sector dial to display the time and a compass on the tier beneath that can be shown when the case has been opened via the pushers on either side of the lugs at 6 o’clock, with the lugs at 12 o’clock doubling as a hinge.

Launched in 2011 as a contemporary take on the original, the ref. P’6520 that we have here features the very same design as the original, but without IWC's branding on its black sector dial, and a 42mm PVD-coated titanium construction as opposed to the aluminum construction of its predecessor. Powered by the Selitta cal. SW300 and more modern in its physical construction, the ref. P’6520 is the perfect blend of iconic aesthetics and modern horology making it a fantastic pick-up for the collector looking for something a bit outside of the box without compromising their functional needs.