iwc fligher chrono

IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Caliber 59210 (Ref. 5101)One of my most favored Swiss watchmakers is prepping a number of new timepieces for the upcoming SIHH 2011 even. The new IWC Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Caliber 59210 watch (Ref. 5101) is among them.Playing on the crowded field of “affordable” dress watches, IWC Portofino has always been somewhat of an ugly duck in the family of beautiful swans.Now, however, the model is updated and seems to be moved a tad upmarket.The new IWC Portofino Hand-Wound 8 Days will be the most expensive model in the line-up, which will also include a Portofino Automatic (Ref. 3565,) Portofino Chronograph (Ref. 3910,) and Portofino Dual Time (Ref. 3610) GMT watch.Having successfully absorbed the core DNA of the recently refreshed IWC Portuguese family, the new model features a similar dial layout, is powered by an in-house Caliber 59210 manual-wind movement, and will soon be available both in stainless steel and in rose gold.The movement in question belongs to the Cal. 50000 family of engines and, being almost 38 millimeters in diameter, is rather large.Sporting a set of massive bridges and plates, the movement will possibly be especially sturdy and robust compared to calibers built with gentler, thinner, less rigid parts.Of course, the pocket watch-sized manual-wind mechanical movement has enough room for an oversized mainspring barrel which is capable of powering the watch for up to 192 hours.That is more than enough even if you plan to wear the timepiece only on weekends.If you, like me, belong to the neurotic part of the population that checks the fuel gauge every three minutes even if the tank is still three quarters full, then a beautifully executed power reserve indicator located between 8 and 9 o’clock may come extremely handy to you.Leaf-shaped hour and minute hands, solid gold hour indexes, as well as the small seconds indicator at 6 o’clock, also look extremely elegant.The Roman numeral at 12 o’clock may raise some eyebrows, but, all in all, this generation of the IWC Portofino family has a good chance of becoming one of the most popular since the line was introduced in 1984.If the price is right, that is.

What, at first sight, resembles the lapse of memory of a needle on behalf of the clock and watch maker is actually a scarcity: the regulator – with the needle of the minutes in the center and the offset indication of the hours and the seconds. There is an excellent reason with that: the Portuguese Regulator, with her movement of watch of pocket of manufacture, prolongs the long tradition of the observatory and marine chronometers.Several reasons explain the choice of the case 43,1 mm in diameter of a Portuguese to place the first regulator of IWC there.Created 70 years ago for the Portuguese market, the "watches of pocket for the wrist" which gave their name to a whole line of models were already of a remarkable precision and could be regarded as instruments of reference.The unequalled mechanical masterpiece which constitutes their interior life is at the base of such processes.The Portuguese Regulator remains faithful to this tradition of the house. Equipped with gauge 98245 of manufacture IWC, it is animated by a movement of watch of pocket which does not count only among most beautiful, but undoubtedly as among most authentic as one can still find nowadays in the world. Picture with IWC Portuguese Regulator WatchAs the designation of the gauge reveals it already, the basic construction of this movement rests on the cal. 98, that IWC has not ceased improving for more than 70 years and who represents a true stake of the clock *** technique. It is ally certain of the qualitative characteristics of the first movements of watch of pocket IWC, which go up at the time of its founder F. A. Jones, in 1868.Among those, let us quote in particular an in deformable turntable three quarters out of copper nickel zinc alloy and, like the most typical characteristic, the long arrow of racket for the adjustment fine, also called "arrow of Jones".Beyond this tradition, all the detail of the clock *** progress made since the time of Mister Jones is found in this movement high-end whose beam oscillates with the traditional alternation of 2,5 Hz – as the shock-proof device, the stopping of the second hand or the miscorrelate by eccentric on the arms of the screw press in Glucydur. A glance through the transparent bottom out of glass sapphire makes it possible however to note that only a specific decoration distinguishes this movement from that which also animates the Portuguese Special Jones Edition.With the shelter of the glances however, the timer placed under the Regulating dial of the Portuguese was modified of kind to allow the separate indication of the hour around "12 hours". The small last of the line of the IWC Portugueses, which for a long time personifies one of the rare "eternal" figures of the traditional design, fully expresses the assets of its giant format on the silver plated dial.All the indications underline the original goal of this type of watch: to indicate time in a clear and precise way. The long aciform needle in the center plays its part as much that the traditional timer "railroad", whose style takes as a starting point the the railway rails. The needle of the hours is activated in the small dial under the "12" with four Arab indicates. At the other end, around "6 hours", the seconds are shelled on the interior dial.The IWC Portuguese Regulator is limited, like new exclusiveness, with 500 specimens in a platinum edition. The versions out of pink gold and superfine steel are not limited. The three watches are provided with bracelets croc and clasps in same metal as the box. Tags: marine chronometers