IWC Goes True Blue With A Pair Of New Portugiesers

The Portugieser is to IWC what the Royal Oak is to Audemars Piguet and the Daytona to Rolex. It’s a foundational piece, one that has been tweaked over the years, but hasn’t changed too much, on the basis that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Two new renditions of the classic dress watch, the Portugieser Automatic and the Portugieser Chronograph, bear the same design characteristics as the original Portugieser when it was introduced in the 1930s, but with modern movements and materials (including a sapphire crystal), and now, contrasting white and blue dials, a design with a marked delineation between the dial and the subdials, often affectionately referred to as “panda dial” by watch enthusiasts. The sporty blue color carries over to the straps – a blue alligator on the Automatic and a blue rubber on the chronograph. Both watches are steel.

The Portugieser is recognizable for its slim, barely-there bezel and wide open dial, which makes the Chronograph model a little more dressy and elegant compared to the brand’s sportier pilot’s chronographs, particularly paired with the long, stretched-out blue feuille hands and simple Arabic numerals. The Automatic version bears the Portugieser’s characteristic railway-track style chapter ring, with a discreet date window at 6 o’clock. Instead of the classic east-west arrangement of subdials, the Chronograph counters are arranged in a north-south configuration, with the minutes totalizer at 12 o’clock and the small seconds at 6 o’clock. The subdials are given an azurage finish (concentric circles leading out from the center). The white dials are lacquer.

The Portugieser Automatic (Ref. IW500715) is powered by the IWC-manufactured 52010 caliber with a power reserve of seven days and fitted with a blue alligator leather strap. The Portugieser Chronograph (Ref. IW371620) features the IWC-manufactured 69355 caliber chronograph movement and comes on a blue rubber strap. The Automatic case is 42.3mm wide, and the chronograph, 41mm. The Automatic is priced at $13,100, and the chronograph at $8,400.