IWC Portuguese Grand Complication Ref. IW3774

SIHH 2010. Last year, IWC revamped their Aquatimer line-up. I was never really fond of their older Aquatimers, but at least they were distinct. From my standpoint IWC's new for 2009 offerings were a bit less than interesting. A new year, a new SIHH and new watches. This year IWC expands it Portuguese line-up of watches and added a new model to their Da Vinci collection, and the new offerings are more to our liking. Picking the best new IWC offering is going to be difficult.

IWC Portuguese Grand Complication Ref. IW3774. IWC is no stranger to making watches with mechanical movements a cut above the rest. IWC is one of the few companies to successfully market lower cost luxury watches, together with creations that look comfortable beside the very best watches, created by companies like Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and Bregeut. One such watch is the IWC Portuguese Grand Complication Ref. IW3774.

IWC chose to release the latest grand complication a Portuguese case. Housed in a large 45mm red gold case, the watch merges modern trends with old world watchmaking. Inside the case is the 79091 caliber automatic movement the merges a perpetual calendar, a minute repeater, a perpetual moon phase display and a chronograph. The case is water resistant to 30 meters. The movement has a 44 hour power reserve.

The case back was features the engraving of a sextant, giving a nod to the maritime history of the Portuguese series of watches.

Four sub-dials adorn the face of this watch, at the 3-6-9-12 o'clock positions. Three of the four sub-dials serves a dual purpose function.

Perpetual Calendar. Of all complications, the one I find most desirable is the perpetual calendar. A complication that will display the correct day, date, month and year without having to be adjusted to account for the different numbers of days of the month or even leap years. IWC Portuguese Grand Complication. For the Perpetual Calendar the date is displayed at the 3 o'clock, the month at the 6 o'clock and the day at the 9 o'clock positions. The year is displayed in a aperture at the 8 o'clock position.

Minute repeater. A repeater is a complication in a mechanical watch that audibly chimes the hours and minutes at the press of a button. This complication originated to allow the time to be determined in the dark, and were also used by the visually impaired. The minute repeater chimes the time down to the minute, using separate tones for hours, quarter hours, and minutes, usually with low tones for the hours, a sequence of two tones for the quarter hour and high tones for minutes.

Moonphase and chronograph. As if the perpetual calendar function and the minute repeater were not impressive enough, the watch also displays the phases of the moon at the sub-dial at the 12 o'clock position. The same sub-dial is also used in conjunction with the chronograph function of the IWC Portuguese Grand Complication which measures intervals of time of up to 30 minutes. The sub-dial at the 6 o'clock which display the month also displays measures intervals of time of up to 12 hours.

We have no word on pricing, but IWC tends to produce things like this at "reasonable" prices. Only 50 watches a year of this type are going to be produced, so expect a long wait to get one.

About IWC. IWC or the the "International Watch Co. Schaffhausen" was founded by an American engineer from Boston, Florentine Ariosto Jones, in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in the year 1868. IWC Schaffhausen is notable for being the only major Swiss watch factory located in eastern Switzerland, as the majority of the well-known Swiss watch manufacturers are located in western Switzerland.