Month: June 2017

There’s a very nice opportunity that you’ve never heard about this watch, nor seen any pictures of it, despite the fact that it’s not some brand new release dropping today. And why might that be? First of all, it’s not even on IWC’s website. So you can imagine my surprise when, flipping through IWC’s catalogue, I focused on this watch. So very soon, I got to know that I had to get my hands on one to take a better view for it.
The reason IWC hasn’t mentioned about it until now is because the company seem to focus on one collection at a time, but I guess it would change very soon. When it comes to new product launches, actually it is just the strategy at IWC for many years. So when it re-launched the Da Vinci line at the SIHH in January, that’s what was the press was shown, almost exclusively. But, very quietly, IWC replica released a new Portofino as well. Besides, it’s one watch with good appearance.
Not bad, right? As for me, it’s possibly the best thing that the replica IWC has released so far this year. The new Da Vinci line was always going to receive mixed reviews, and it did, but the very complications in large quantity presented in the new Ingenieurs tried to please everyone but didn’t exactly knock it out of the park. This new model is 45mm Portofino on the other hand, so it in fact has a lot going for it.
To begin with, it has a piece of moonphase sophistication. It’s the complication the Portofino was born with, more than 30 years ago, and its one the current line-up has been desperately missing – it has been available on the Automatic Moon Phase 37, but that also only comes with diamonds on the bezel and/or dial, so it’s a different story. It’s reappearance in a large case Portofino is therefore a bit of an event.
The new Portofino Hand-Wound Moon Phase on the other hand, is very much meant to be a wristwatch. The movement inside is the same base movement found inside the new Portofino Hand-Wound line-up, which includes the other model. Just like that more basic model, this watch features a small date at three o’clock, small hacking seconds at six o’clock, and a power reserve indicator at nine o’clock (for the eight-day, hand-wound power reserve). But in addition to all of that, you get a beautiful moon phase display at 12 o’clock, and it totally changes the watch.
Because of the moonphase module, the case adds 1.5mm in height, but that’s where the changes end. It’s a big watch, for sure, but that’s kind of the point. I’m sure the new Hand-Wound Moon Phase isn’t supposed to provide the same experience as the original Portofino, and it works as its own, slightly more compact, wristwatch, but I also happen to like that the two references, which are separated by three decades, are linked by how they wear. Even if you’re not usually into larger watches, there’s something amazing about these for sure.