BANGKOK—The Da Vinci collection from Swiss luxury manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen is a fairly new one. It was first launched in 1979, although the company has been producing timepieces since 1868. The collection’s clean lines, jeweled bezels, delicate bracelets and embossed leather straps were designed for women who appreciate subtle luxury.

Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, scientist and artist of the Renaissance, the collection reflects his search for a universal, geometrically measurable principle of beauty. As a tribute to the artist, the back of each watch model is engraved with the “Flower of Life,” a repeating design Da Vinci marveled at and studied intently for its beauty as well as its complexity.

Floral motif

This floral motif can be seen on the floor and ceiling of the exhibition booth at the atrium of Siam Paragon in Bangkok, Thailand. The impressively designed space is compact yet still manages to highlight key pieces in the Swiss brand’s collection.
On view for the first time in Southeast Asia are nine vintage timepieces from IWC’s archives, including the Savonnette Lady’s pocket watch from 1914, the Lady’s wristwatches from 1967 and 1976, the Da Vinci Line from 1979, the Da Vinci Lady Chronograph from 1995, the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon Prototype from 1999, the Da Vinci SL-Automatic Prototype from 1998, the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Rattrapante from 2003 and the Da Vinci Chronograph Edition Laureus Sport for Good Foundation Prototype from 2008.

“With the Da Vinci exhibition, we wanted to give a comprehensive overview of the rich heritage of this watch family,” Dr. David Seyffer, museum curator of IWC, told Inquirer Lifestyle in an email interview. “At the same time, our aim was to showcase the long tradition IWC looks back on in the manufacture of ladies’ watches— with a special focus on the significance of women’s watches in the Da Vinci line.”
He singled out the Savonette lady’s pocket watch (1914) as a beautiful example of an early women’s watch and the lady’s wristwatch (1976) with its elegant white gold case with 36 diamonds and dark blue dial.

Iconic design
“We also included the iconic Da Vinci Lady Chronograph Moon Phase (1995), one of the most successful women’s watches that ever left our workshops,” he said.

Which piece, for him, is the most emblematic in the collection? Seyffer thinks it’s the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Tourbillon (1999), a special edition of the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph from 1985.
“The perpetual calendar is a genius mechanism consisting of just over 80 individual parts. It displays the day, date, month, year and moon phase until 2499 with virtually no adjustments needed. It is one of the most iconic complications ever made by IWC Schaffhausen.”
New pieces in the Da Vinci collection like the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph and Da Vinci Tourbillon Retrograde are likewise on display and for sale at the site.

Model time manager
International brand ambassador Karolina Kurkova attended the opening of the exhibit in Bangkok earlier this month. The supermodel, who has been with the brand for five years, said that she had stayed on this long “because we are both storytellers. I read stories to my two sons and IWC tells stories with its timepieces.”

The fact that she is also a wiz at time management makes Kurkova the perfect ambassador for a watch brand. She narrated how she was once able to attend a red carpet affair in a foreign country weeks after she had given birth to her eldest son.

“I walked the red carpet, attended the event and then my infant son was brought to me in a car. I excused myself, entered the car, breastfed my son and went back to the party,” she said.

The hands-on mom said she was always present in whatever she did. “On the set or with my family, I’m there 100 percent.”

During her trip to Bangkok, she managed to sneak a peek inside the kitchen of the Thai restaurant where dinner was hosted, ate lunch with an enthralled Asian press and had a beautiful white dress made by a Thai designer that she wore to the opening of the IWC event.

The IWC Schaffhausen exhibit at Siam Paragon is on view until June 18. In the Philippines, IWC is exclusively distributed by Lucerne Luxe.