IWC Ingenieur Watches

portuguese yacht club chronoTags: IWC’s Portuguese Yacht Club ChronographUnveiled at SIHH (Salon International Haute Horologerie) 2010, Geneva the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph is an elegant sports watch which also is a nautical precision instrument A reliable timepiece whose functionality is beyond reproach and in which every detail, however minor, has been optimized, the Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph from IWC is water-resistant to 6 bar and is equipped with a screw-in crown and a crown protection. Its chronograph permits the recording of aggregate times of up to 12 hours on the common counter for the minutes and hours and can be reset to zero via the fly back function at any time while running, so that it is instantly ready to start measuring a new time. There are many ways of measuring longstop times. Yet none are as convenient and unambiguous as those provided by the analogue display of the 89360 calibre: these can be read like a normal time display. In addition, the movement with its integral chronograph is designed in such a way that the measurement of even long stop times does not lead to fluctuations in amplitude and associated inaccuracy. The signal red centre stopwatch hand in effect also plays a central role. Together with the supplementary flange for seconds and fractions of a second, it allows extremely accurate short-interval timing. In terms of functionality, the dial appeals with its clear railway track-style chapter ring and �C for the first time in the Portuguese family �C with luminescent indices and hands. It also incorporates date and small seconds displays.In spite of its sporting characteristics, the new Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph represents a Portuguese that is true to type with its consummately neat dial and Arabic numerals. The Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph is available in three variants: in steel with a silver-plated dial, rhodium-plated luminescent hands and appliqu��s. Again in steel with a black dial, silver-plated flange and rhodium- plated hands and appliqu��s, also luminescent. The most refined model in 18 carat red gold has an slate-coloured dial with a sun pattern ground finish, subtly contrasted by the black small seconds display circle and the black ring for the aggregate minutes of the chronograph. Gold-plated hands and solid red gold appliqu��s distinguish this model additionally. All three variants are worn on a black rubber strap with a folding clasp.ends

A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 LuminousThe new A. Lange & Söhne Grand Lange 1 Luminous model goes in the same direction as the gorgeous Zeitwerk Luminous (Ref. 140.035) “digital” hand-wound wrist watch.Like the rest of the Grand Lange 1 line, the Luminous version is powered by the in-house Caliber L901.2 hand-wound movement decorated and assembled by hand. Being 30.4 millimeters in diameter and mere 5.9 mm in height, the movement allows for a pretty slim body, which, in this particular case, is only 11 mm thick. With a diameter of 41.9 mm, the 18-carat white gold job indeed looks very slim on just about any wrist.The manual-wind movement with its plates and bridges made of untreated “German silver” (which is not silver at all, but is a 60% copper alloy with 20% nickel and 20% zinc) and the balance cock engraved by hand, sports Lange’s trademark twin mainspring barrel that stores enough power for the watch to run for as long as 72 hours. Well, not particularly impressive compared to the latest manufacture calibers from IWC that offer up to 168 hours of continuous operation with guaranteed accuracy, but still much better than an average Swiss Made in-house hand-wound movement can offer.It is not clear how many copies of the watch Lange plans to sell, however it seems that it is going to be a strictly niche product. While the “normal” Grand Lange 1 is a living classic of watchmaking that looks great on just about any wrist with just about any suit (if it costs more than $5000, that is), the Luminous version of the timekeeper leaves an impression of a timepiece developed for a small group of fans who need “something different” without any particular reason.SuperLuminova is a good choice when you need something versatile or, just the opposite, something highly specialized, like a diving watch or a pilot’s instrument. But a dressy watch that is designed to be worn on very special occasions where there is always light doesn’t really need any amount of lume on its hands and indexes, especially when the lume utterly destroys their gorgeous shapes. Well, like I said, a niche product.