Description
It’s the year of the Portugieser at IWC and the Portugieser Chronograph welcomes two new dial colours to the family. Already available in six iterations in a choice of steel and rose gold, the new stainless steel Portugieser Chronograph Ref. IW3716 comes with burgundy and green dials. An elegant take on the chronograph, the new dials add a splash of vibrant colour to the collection.
Like the existing chronographs in the collection, the newcomers share the same 41mm case with a height of 13.1mm. The surfaces are polished and brushed and the case is fitted with piston pushers and an extremely slim bezel that offers an expansive view of the dial. Closer in nature to an elegant/dress chronograph than a sports chronograph, there is no trace of lume on the dial. However, the new sunray-brushed dials in green and burgundy provide enough contrast with the rhodium-plated hands and markers to consult the time.
Taking design cues from its 1939 ancestor, the chronograph features applied Arabic numerals and elegant feuille hands. The two sub-counters are aligned vertically (the 30-min totaliser at 12 and small seconds at 6 o’clock) and are slightly recessed and decorated with concentric grooves. The flange has a printed quarter-second scale for precision readings using the long, thin central seconds chronograph hand that reaches all the way to the track.
Another surprise on board the IW3716 was the addition of a sapphire crystal caseback to view the in-house automatic movement, calibre 69335. Based on IWC’s 69000, the calibre used in all IWC watches that require a precise, robust and high-performance chronograph movement, it has a column-wheel design and the energy is obtained from a bidirectional pawl-winding system similar to the Pellaton mechanism.
On offer today is an example from 2022 and is in Excellent condition with full box and papers.
