IWC might have been all about the revamped Da Vinci show at SIHH before this season, however the Schaffhausen-based brand has issued a few reminders since that it’s not blowing its popular watch collections in 2017. Following the newly rebooting the Ingenieur in Goodwood in England, IWC has launched a revised version of its Portugieser Chronograph Classic model.
The IWC watches Portugieser Chronograph Classic, launched in 2013, is the third chronograph to join the esteemed Portugieser group, which was launched in the 1930s and derived its name from the Portuguese businessmen whose unique request to get a wristwatch as precise as a marine chronometer inspired its creation.
The upgrades from that 2013 version are subtle but significant: the new railway monitor chapter ring, today minus the subdivisions for the seconds, seems cleaner than its predecessor, and the brand new convex sapphire crystal over the dial increases the general elegant silhouette of this watch.
Like the outgoing model, this watch is powered with the self-winding IWC in-house Caliber 89361. It has a power reserve of 68 hours, an integrated chronograph using a flyback function, together with little hacking moments and a date display. The chronograph readout on the dial is made for optimum legibility: elapsed hours and minutes are displayed with all the subdial at 12 o’clock. The 6 o’clock subdial displays the running moments, and the date is in a window at 3 o’clock.
The situation measures 42 millimeters in diameter and is water-resistant to 30 meters. IWC is offering three versions of this redesigned Portugieser Chronograph watches Classic: one in an 18k rose gold case and silver-plated dial, with gold hands and appliqués, on a brown alligator leather strap ($20,100); and two versions in stainless steel cases with black alligator straps.