IWC

I was at the IWC boutique today (Taipei 101). Went there to look at getting another strap for the Mk. XV. It is currently fitted with a black NATO strap, but I will change it to another black leather strap that came with the watch. This black strap is not original. The unique aspect of the Mk. XV is that the lug width is 19 mm. That does limit the choice of straps.

I wanted to get a thicker, more robust looking strap for the watch. So had a look to see what the IWC boutique had. I have to say that the people there are very nice. They were very friendly and helpful. They showed me a number of straps, via their catalogue, what could be used on my watch. I could not decide if I should stay with the original black leather strap or go with the one fitted to the Mk. XV Spitfire. The difference being the Spitfire strap has white stitching along the edge. It does look more 'robust'.

The staff there said that they will order both and let me see which one I liked. How is that for customer service? The only down side is that it will take sometime to get the straps in as they don't have stock of the strap. After all that was over, they even gave me their latest catalogue for me to peruse. And the best part? The catalogue is in English. Trust me, this is important as my Mandarin is not really great and most of the other brands don't have English catalogues here in Taiwan.

The IWC black strap.

The curved spring bars. This is the first time I have seen curved spring bars. How cool. It fits the curved ends of the strap. How is that for detail.