Ingenieur Chronograph Racer Ref. IW378507, IW378508, IW378509 and IW378510

SIHH 2013. 2013 looks like it will shape up as a pretty interesting year for IWC Schaffhausen. It is pretty much a certainty that the Ingenieur lineup of IWC watches will be refreshed this year. The Ingenieur is IWC's line of though watches. It is also in my opinion, the line-up of IWC watches that lacks focus.

Ref. IW378507

Ingenieur which is German for "Engineer". Engineering watches in the past have been most closely related to accurate and durable watches designed for used by Train Engineers and Operators and more contemporarily watches suitable for use in factories and other environments where magnetic fields can result in inaccurate timekeeping. With IWC, the Ingenieur line has covered Anti-magnetic watches, chronograph watches and even a watch commemorating a maritime expedition, the later probably having been appropriate for the IWC Portugeuse line of watches. Among IWC's neatly defined watch families: pilots, maritime, divers and formal watches, the Ingenieur line lack a soul or point of focus.

Motorsports. IWC is set to enter the motor-racing season in 2013 as the Official Engineering Partner of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team. This partnership will most likely define what Ingenieur Family will be most associated with in the coming years.

To mark their cooperation, IWC is launching a line of Ingenieur Chronograph Racer watches: Ref. IW378507, IW378508, IW378509 and IW378510.

Ref. IW378509

These watches are all chronograph watches with a flyback function and a tachymeter scale on the chronograph’s bezel, used for measuring speed. The dial features two sub-dials, one at the 12 o'clock and the other at the 6 o'clock. The sub-dial at the 6 o'clock is used for displaying running seconds and has a date display in a window. The sub-dial at the 12 o'clock has two hands, and used in conjunction with main second hand will display measure time in hours, minutes and seconds. 

The Ingenieur Chronograph Racer is available with a slate-coloured dial and black totalizers or with a silver-plated dial, silver-plated totalizers and blue hands and appliqués.   The red “60” in the chapter ring was inspired by the digital display on the steering wheel of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One racing car, which shows the selected gear, oil temperature and lap times during the race. A engraving of a Formula One racing car decorates the case back. The case of the watch is 45 mm in diameter.

Ref. IW378510

The flyback function of this watch differentiates it from the typical chronograph. This allows the stopwatch hand back to zero and immediately restart by pressing the reset button. 

The watch is powered by the 89361 calibre which beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and has a 68 hour power reserve.

The four variants of the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer 

• Ref. IW378507: stainless-steel case, slate-coloured dial, black rubber strap with textile inlay, pin buckle in stainless steel
• Ref. IW378508: stainless-steel case, slate-coloured dial, stainless-steel bracelet with fine-adjustment clasp
• Ref. IW378509: stainless-steel case, silver-plated dial, black rubber strap with textile inlay, pin buckle in stainless steel
• Ref. IW378510: stainless-steel case, silver-plated dial, stainless-steel bracelet with fine-adjustment clasp

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.