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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.

IWC Portofino Chronograph (Ref. IW391002)The 2011 IWC Portofino Chronograph automatic watch may be completely new, but it is still equipped with the good old Caliber 79320 self-winding movement.The caliber in question is a slightly modified version of the well-known ETA Valjoux 7750 base movement.As usual, the caliber features a rather average power reserve of 44 hours and has a small hacking seconds “complication” (just like the rest of the 7750-based movements.) When you set the watch, the second hand stops and resets to “0″ position, which helps to increase the timekeeper’s accuracy.The movement is enclosed in well-proportionate stainless steel case 42 millimeters in diameter and 13.5 mm thick. Like the rest of the refreshed series, the watch looks very slim and refined.Due to the limitations of the movement, the watch sports a standard tri-compass dial layout with a 30-minute counter at 12 o’clock, a 12-hour totalizer at 6 o’clock and a small seconds display at 9 o’clock.The inevitable “day of week” and date apertures are located at their usual positions at 3 o’clock.Well, although the watch is equipped with an ordinary movement and its collector’s value is almost zero, it may be a good choice if you are searching for a dressy timekeeper, which is supposed to be worn with business attire.