Kurt Klaus was born in St. Gallen, Eastern Switzerland, in 1934. He joined IWC Schaffhausen in 1957. He began as a watchmaker in the brand’s service department. During 1970 and 1999, he was involved in the “development, construction and prototype building for new movements.” He officially retired in 1999, as the Former Head of Development and Construction.
Kurt Klaus continued to have an active role at IWC “on new movements, assist his former colleagues in Schaffhausen and support the next generations of IWC watchmakers.” Post retirement, he continued to “travel the world, teach watchmaking classes, and speak publicly about his inventions and passion for watchmaking.”
Kurt Klaus key achievements at IWC Schaffhausen
Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph: Reference 3750 (1985)
This Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph (Reference 3750) was a “game-changing perpetual calendar” launched at the Basel watch fair in 1985. Its calendar mechanism consisted of 81 intelligently arranged parts. Its calendar displays were advanced by turning the crown, first time in the watch industry. Being a perpetual calendar, it recognised the different lengths of the months (28 days in February, and 30 and 31 days for other months), and accounted for the leap year (29 days in February) once every 4 years, without manual adjustment until the year 2100. “No one had ever built a perpetual calendar that was so ingeniously simple in its design, easy to operate, uncompromising in quality and efficient to assemble.” Kurt Klaus is best known for this watch.
Portugieser Perpetual Calendar: Reference IW5021 (2003)
Kurt Klaus continued to improve upon his calendar. He led the integration of the calendar module into a movement from the brand’s 50000 calibre family, resulting in the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar (Reference IW5021) in 2003. It featured a moon phase with an accuracy of 577.5 years.
Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month: Reference IW3761 (2009)
Kurt Klaus had a vital role in the design of the brand’s first perpetual calendar watch with digital displays for the date and month, resulting in the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month (Reference IW3761) in 2009.
Kurt Klaus other innovations at IWC Schaffhausen
Kurt Klaus was involved in the development of several in-house movements, split-seconds chronograph mechanism, world time module, and mechanical depth gauge for divers’ watches. He had a pivotal role in the development of the Il Destriero Scafusia (pictured above) in 1993, a grand complication, and the most complicated watch in the world at the time.
Our Thoughts
Kurt Klaus’s vital contributions at IWC Schaffhausen have been a key factor in making it the exceptional watchmaker it is today. From all of us at The Cornea Impression, we congratulate and wish Kurt Klaus a happy 90th birthday.
IWC Schaffhausen watches recently travelled to space aboard the privately funded Polaris Dawn mission. Read here.
Kurt Klaus had a role in the design of A. Lange & Söhne’s Lange 1, and possibly the other three debut Lange watches (1815 Tourbillon Pour Le Mérite, Saxonia and Arkade). This was during the early 1990’s, when IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre and the newly revived A. Lange & Söhne had the same owner – Les Manufactures Horlogères (LMH), part of the VDO/Mannesmann Group. Today, both A. Lange & Söhne and IWC Schaffhausen are part of the Richemont Group. The iconic Lange 1 just celebrated its 30th anniversary. Read here.
A legend! Happy Birthday!
[…] recent coverage of IWC Schaffhausen includes the Polaris Dawn mission, legendary watchmaker Kurt Klaus, and the GPHG Awards, where the Portugieser Eternal Calendar won the “Aiguille d’Or” […]