IWC Portugieser Chronograph Watch, 41mm Silver Dial, IW371605

In the late 1930s, two Portuguese businessmen ordered wristwatches with the precision of marine chronometers from the International Watch Co. IWC. At the time, the only way of providing the desired precision was with a voluminous pocket watch movement. This was the reason why the watchmakers decided to take the 74- calibre hunter pocket watch movement, which fortunately has the crown on the right-hand side, and house it in a wristwatch case. When the first “large wristwatch” left the factory, it was technically and aesthetically way ahead of its time. Technically, because the highquality pocket watch calibre had a larger balance that set new standards in terms of precision for wristwatches. Aesthetically, because back then popu lar taste demanded dainty, and wherever possible rectangular, wristwatches in the art deco style. Today, almost 80 years and countless watchmaking masterpieces later, the Portugieser watches are among IWC’s best-known timepieces. No other watch family unites quite as much expertise in the art of Haute Horlogerie as this one. With its timeless and unmistakable design consisting of simple Arabic numerals, “chemin de fer” railway-track-style chapter ring and balanced dial, it has long established itself as a watchmaking icon. The Portugieser Grande Complication, for instance, unites the perpetual calendar, perpetual moon phase display and minute repeater. The Portugieser Tourbillon Hand-Wound, in turn, is the embodiment of precision mechanics with its intricate “whirlwind” and beautiful seethrough back cover. The Portugieser Perpetual Calendar models, with either a double or single moon display, feature a perpetual calendar that needs to be corrected by just 1 day in 577.5 years.