IWC Portugieser Watches

The Portugieser is one of the oldest and best-known watches from IWC.
Read more >
No other watch family incorporates so many of the technical tours de force of haute horlogerie such as the Chronograph, Automatic, Annual Calendar and Perpetual Calendar. With a design that is as crisp as it is timelessly modern, the IWC Portugieser has turned into an icon of watchmaking. The IWC Portugieser watch collection has a colourful history enriched by the company’s many technical innovations. Laced with luxury, each timepiece provides a beautiful interpretation of modern timekeeping. Explore the IWC Portugieser Watch range, featuring the Yacht Club and Automatic 40 collections below.

Aesthetically ahead of its time, the first IWC Portugieser watch left the brand’s factory with a never-been-seen-before aesthetic, but with the power and accuracy needed for precision timekeeping - a quality called for by two Portuguese businessman. Now, the watch collection retains the same purist dial with a timeless round case and simple dial layout, yet with an even further refined  in-house manufactured movement. In the 1930’s two businessmen requested a wristwatch with a marine chronometer function from experts at IWC Schaffhausen. The incredibly precise instrument would need to be capable of navigating sailors at sea by offering a design that combined accuracy with legibility. The Portugieser watch was born which housed the Savonnette pocket watch caliber 74 inside a traditional wristwatch case. The crown was featured on the right hand side of the case and sported a beautiful art deco style. 

Scaling the peaks of haute horlogerie, the IWC Portugieser watch collection features the likes of the Grande Complication (with a perpetual calendar, a chronograph a minute repetition), the sporty Portugieser Yacht Club Chronograph (with flyback function) and the IWC Portugieser Watch Chronograph Rattrapante Edition “Boutique Milano” which equips the wearer (with a 42 hour power reserve and tachymeter chronograph function). 

One of the most innovative and sought after designs of the IWC Portugieser watch collection, is the stunning Annual Calendar. The masterpiece embodies the fine art of luxury Swiss timekeeping, enriched with unbeatable functionality. The wearer can access the date, the day and the month on the same dial as an exquisite 7 day power reserve display and a useful small seconds feature. The white dial version with red gold bezel, welcomes a splash of luxury into the dial, enhanced by a classic black alligator styled strap which secures with a matching red gold fasten. 

The classic chronograph version within the IWC Portugieser collection features two tidy sub dials - the 12 o’clock dial combining the hour and minutes into one unique display. Creating balance at the bottom-end of the dial is the small seconds dial which is visited every 60 second by a blue steeled second hand that teams effortlessly with a beautifully polished red gold bezel on one variation, and a lustrous stainless steel bezel on another version. Both designs are secured with a traditional alligator strap and feature two push buttons at 2 and 4 o’clock. 

For those who prefer their IWC watch to attract attention with a look that communicates uniqueness and exclusivity - the Portugieser Watch Hand-Wound Eight Days Edition “75th Anniversary” watch will certainly not disappoint. The 12, 3 and 9 o’clock locations on the dial are represented by bold white Arabic numerals - the only complication on the display being a date aperture inside the small seconds dial at 6 o’clock. Flipping the IWC Portugieser special edition watch over to its underside, the wearer can admire an 8 day power reserve display, which communicates the remaining life of the Calibre 59215 to indicate to the wearer when the movement needs to be wound again. The watch, like so many IWC Portugieser watches, is finished on a traditional black alligator strap to provide a timeless, classic feel to timekeeping.