IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater

Revamping the Portuquese line-up. In 2009, IWC revamped their Aquatimer series of watches. 2010 is the year of the maritime inspired Portuguese. The revamped watches include a chronograph, a perpetual calendar, a grand complication, a Tourbillon and a minute repeater.

What is a 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.

IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater. The original IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater was first released in 1995. (Reference No. IW5420). The new IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater new (Reference Nos. IW544901 and IW544905) is not all that different from the watch released in 1995. The new IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater has grown 2mm, now with a 44mm case. The small seconds sub-dials moved from a odd Panerai like location at the 9 o'clock, to a more conventional position at 6 o'clock.

Inside, instead of the Calibre 95290 movement, you have the newer Calibre 98950 movement. But even there, there seems to be little difference. Both the Calibre 95290 and 98950 movements are hand wound slow beat movements that produce 18,000 vibrations per hour.

This is an expensive watch, as are all mechanical minute repeaters. Appropriately, it available only in precious metals, Red Gold and Platinum, with a limited run of 500 pieces each. It may seem we are a bit down on this watch, but that is not the case. There was nothing really wrong with the old IWC Portuguese Minute Repeater, so a minor facelift on the newer watch is fine.

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.