Da Vinci Perpetual Yellow Gold / Diamond / Paved / French

In Context

At 39 mm it sits just under the modern norm — the band that suits the widest spread of wrists. At 14.3 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 plexiglass crystal scratches easily but polishes back out at home, which sapphire does not. 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.

IW8153-08 is one of 18 executions of the IW8153 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a paved dial and a yellow gold case.

IWC

Silver · Yellow Gold

IW8153-01 · 39 mm

IWC

White · Yellow Gold

IW8153-02 · 39 mm

IWC

White · Yellow Gold

IW8153-03 · 39 mm

IWC

White · Yellow Gold

IW8153-04 · 39 mm

IWC

Paved · Yellow Gold

IW8153-05 · 39 mm

IWC

Paved · Yellow Gold

IW8153-06 · 39 mm

IWC

Paved · Yellow Gold

IW8153-07 · 39 mm

IWC

White · White Gold

IW8153-09 · 39 mm

+ 9 more variants in this family.

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