1952 IWC Mark 11 6B/342 RAF Pilot’s Watch with Rare “Hooked 7” Dial and Correct Military Issue Markings

This really is the best condition one of these iconic, RAF issued IWC Mark 11’s we have seen.

Caseback is marked 6B/346 and is in clear superb condition. The high quality IWC Cal. 89 manual winding hacking movement is working perfectly. It is from a private collection in the U.K. and has not been available for sale for many years until now.

This IWC Mark XI is from 1952 and clearly and perfectly retains all its military caseback engravings. The military winding crown is original, too.

The unrestored superb condition dial features the rare “hooked 7” and correctly accompanying “Swiss” only at the bottom. These dials are highly prized by collectors and commands premium.

The dial also has the British military broad arrow and the printed circled ‘T’ showing that tritium was used for the luminous material. The lume itself is probably the best we have ever seen on one of these, being a gorgeous creamy yellow and perfectly matching the hands.

The original dial of the Mark XIs were lumed with radium, but sometime in the early 1960’s it was replaced by IWC with tritium as it was less radioactive and far safer. Many collectors do indeed prefer the look of the replaced ‘T’ dials compared to the radium ones.

Housed in a 36mm stainless steel case with fixed lugs, it has an antimagnetic Faraday cage protecting the famous manual winding Cal. 89 movement, beating at 18,000 A/h.

These IWC Mark XIs are renowned for their accuracy as this was a fundamental specification required by the British MoD. As a result, these watches were regulated in five positions and for temperature.