Shortly before the turn of the century, the company started converting its production machines to electricity.

AG Trade name IWC Schaffhausen Type Subsidiary Industry Watchmaking Founded 1868 Founder Florentine Ariosto Jones Headquarters Schaffhausen, Switzerland Area served Worldwide Products Watches Number of employees 650 Parent Richemont Website www.iwc.com.

AG, doing business as IWC Schaffhausen, is a luxury Swiss watch manufacturer located in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

Founded by American watchmaker Florentine Ariosto Jones in 1868, IWC has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group since 2000.

Jones encountered opposition to his plans in French-speaking Switzerland because Jones wanted to open a factory.

At this stage, watch manufacturer and industrialist Heinrich Moser built Schaffhausens first hydroelectric plant and laid the cornerstone for future industrialization.

He probably met F.A.

Jones in Le Locle and showed great interest in his plans.

Together, they laid the foundations for the only watch manufacturers in north-eastern Switzerland: The International Watch Company in Schaffhausen.

Prior to adopting the name International Watch Company, the brand was known as the International Watch Chronology.

It is still recognized by this name today by watch connoisseurs and horologists.

By 1874 plans were already being made for a new factory and a site was purchased from Mosers hydroelectric company which was directly adjacent to the banks of the Rhine and called the Baumgarten.

A year later, in the spring of 1875, the construction work was completed.

At first, 196 people worked in the 45 meter long factory, which could accommodate up to 300 workplaces.

Four generations of the Rauschenbach family owned IWC, with varying names.

Rauschenbach and ran it successfully until his own death on 2 March 1905.

He had got to know the watch business in French-speaking Switzerland and France; in 1883 he joined IWC and stayed with the company for 52 years.

He was responsible for getting factory operations up and running smoothly and acquiring new customers.

He was also responsible for warding off the prospect of the outside interests acquiring IWC in the interest of the noble Rauschenbach family.

Rauschenbach-Schenk in 1905, his wife, two daughters and their husbands, Ernst Jakob Homberger (director of G.

Rauschenbach. E.J.

Homberger was the only authorized signatory, Haenggi and Vogel were directors.

His contribution was honoured in 1952, when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of St.

Gallen. He died in 1955, aged 85 years.

He had joined his fathers company in 1934 and took control after his death in April 1955.

In 1957 he added a new wing to the factory and in the same year set up a modern pension fund for the staff.

He bought new machines to meet new demands and continuously brought his production technology up to what were considered the latest standards.

During the first few years the electrical power was probably used only for lighting purposes and the galvanic gold-plating of watch movement parts.

Iwc Serial Numbers