Da Vinci Perpetual Edition Kurt Klaus Stainless Steel

In Context

At 43.1 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 15.2 mm it is a tall case, and it will catch on a cuff. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. Rated to 30 m, it is protected against rain and splashes and nothing beyond that.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 44 hours of reserve carries it overnight, but not through a weekend in a drawer. At 21,600 vph the seconds hand advances 6 times a second, the slower and more audible rate of an older design.

IW3762-04 is one of 6 executions of the IW3762 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a silver guilloche dial and a stainless steel case. It was a limited edition.

The 79261 is the Kurt Klaus perpetual calendar: a Valjoux 7750 chronograph carrying the calendar module IWC introduced in the Da Vinci of 1985. It powers 129 watches in this library. Klaus's achievement was to make a perpetual calendar that needs no correctors. Every indication, the date, day, month, four-digit year and a moon phase accurate to one day in 122 years, advances together and is set forward from the crown alone, on a module of fewer than a hundred parts sitting on the 7750's chronograph. It made the perpetual calendar a watch IWC could build in series rather than to order, and the [7750 piece](/blog/the-valjoux-7750-family) explains what the base gave it. The movement has 39 jewels, a 44-hour reserve and a 30 mm diameter; the 79261 is the later designation of the original 79061. In the library it sits under 100 [Da Vinci](/brands/iwc/da-vinci) references, the ref 3750 and its successors in a 39 mm case, 24 GST Perpetual Calendars at 43 mm and 5 [Pilot's Watches](/brands/iwc/pilot). The 39 mm case accounts for 91 references. 11 are limited editions. The [79251](/calibers/iwc-79251) is the same movement with a split-seconds chronograph added, and the glossary defines the [perpetual calendar](/glossary/perpetual-calendar) it computes.

128 other watches in the library run the IWC 79261.

IWC

Da Vinci Perpetual White Ceramic / Yellow Gold / White / French

IW3755-08 · 39 mm

IWC

Da Vinci Perpetual White Gold / Diamond / White / French

IW8153-12 · 39 mm

IWC

Da Vinci Perpetual White Gold / White / Italian / Bracelet

IW9252-06 · 39 mm

IWC

Da Vinci Perpetual Red Gold / Black / French / Bracelet

IW9252-12 · 39 mm