Just on the New Year’s Eve, watch lovers had the privilege of watching a short video of Kurt Klaus released by IWC to celebrate the new year. In the video, we watched a very humble man spending time with his dear wife Martha and their lovely dog Janosh.
Almost everybody interested in watches must be very familiar with the name Kurt Klaus. Klaus is the inventor of IWC’s autonomous perpetual calendar.
Born in Eastern Switzerland on October 26, Kurt Klaus completed four years of watchmaking studies in the French part of Switzerland and returned to the east again. He started working for IWC which was the only watch manufacture in this area in 1957. Just two months after he was accepted for the job, he got married with Martha. Life has brought a nice coincidence for Klaus as he united his life with his most beloved person and job in the very same year but 2 months of difference.
1980s were not very good time for mechanical watches thanks to effect of quartz watches. At that time, many mechanical watch brands went bankrupt and manufacturers were not willing to invest more in mechanical watches. Being at the heart of watchmaking, Klaus had a revolutionary idea for the mechanical watches to regain importance. For Klaus, this was only possible through technical development. The calendar modules he designed for pocket watches illustrated that miniaturization was possible so he wanted to try his chance on wristwatches.
There were already some wristwatches with perpetual calendars. They were made by a few Swiss Maisons. The idea of developing an in-house perpetual calendar for IWC lightened some strikes in his mind. Klaus analyzed the mechanisms with perpetual calendars manufactured by other watchmakers. The designs of those mechanisms were in fact very aesthetic but there was one significant problem with them. They were not user-friendly. Taking this problem into consideration, Klaus started working on a user-friendly mechanism with a perpetual calendar.
Working very hard over the years, he invented an innovative perpetual calendar module. This grand complication was introduced at the Basel fair in 1985 and it is still seen as a turning point for watch industry.
Although it has been 35 years since this great innovation, it has never lost its importance. Klaus freed the watch owner to make the necessary corrections for everyday use of watches. He made it possible to synchronize the calendar indicators, moon phase display, and a four-digit year display. Most importantly, he made it possible for the calendar go on functioning correctly for more than 500 years.
A special edition of IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph which Klaus himself contributed was released to pay tribute to his contributions for watchmaking world and IWC brand. Klaus still has an office in IWC headquarter. In an interview, he said:
“Still now, at age 86, my mind is active in watchmaking. I’m travelling, attending conferences, marketing IWC, being interviewed… as long as I do this, I think I will be young. I won’t stop.”
Klaus still works as a brand ambassador, media spokesman, and teacher of watchmaking. He has never lost his energy and enthusiasm for watches. According to Klaus, “Storytelling is one of the most important marketing tools. I have spent almost 20 years travelling round the world, maintaining contact with consumers, telling my story, and the story of the mechanical watch”
In an interview, when the reporter asked Klaus his opinion about the IWC’s new watches, his answer was:” I see the new products and I am happy. The new calendar has nothing to do with the perpetual calendar – it is completely new. But when I look inside the movements, I smile a little bit – there is a little bit from me inside. This makes me happy.”
Apart from the time he spends on watches, Klaus likes spending time with his dear wife Martha and dog Janosh. He also gives his secret to remain healthy: “During my active time, I was developing new things. I had my racing dogs, who needed daily training at 6am before I started work. I think this is maybe one of the most important things to keep healthy. Even now in coronavirus time, I feel healthy. Today I have the big king poodle, Janosh. Every day, Martha and I walk him in the forest for one or two hours. Janosh helps to keep us young. He is a wonderful dog for us.”
We wish Klaus, Martha, and their dog Janosh a healthy and long life and thank for all the things he has done for watchmaking.
The link to the aforementioned video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3yilPeHaNA
