Perhaps some of the most magnificent and impressive watches from the Watches & Wonders Geneva 2024 collection are the updated IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 watches. Here, two of the four versions are presented: the Obsidian in 18-carat 5N Armor Gold® as Ref. IW503702, and the Horizon Blue in 18-carat white gold as Ref. IW503703.
Although the basic recipe is well-known, as the Portugieser equipped with a perpetual calendar (and the preceding 'Portuguese' models) have always been a core model of IWC, these new versions emphasize what IWC is - and perhaps should be even more.
What will it be? Eternal refinement. Cheesier than Jean-Claude Biver's basement, I know, but no less real. We turn to brands like Hublot for entertainment, even shock - while from companies like IWC, we expect stability and an unwavering pursuit of even greater sophistication, occasionally experiencing awe and surprise when they test their stylistic limits.
We should also add that launching entirely new watches has not been IWC's strong suit - the Ingenieur, though extremely popular, is quite expensive and somewhat compromised in its execution, and you probably almost forgot about the relaunched Da Vincis and women's Portofinos. Harsh but true.
In contrast, just look at these new IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 watches - they are simply magnificent. Beautiful proportions, exquisite execution, and somehow... they look dense. As if you took much of what was in the watches, put it all in a mold, and subjected it to very high, very even pressure. More specifically, the new Portugieser is strong in that, when you look at it, you don't think of any other watches - and, believe it or not, the same cannot be said about a shocking number of watches at $40,000.
New for 2024 is the IWC Portugieser case design, aimed at making it slimmer and more refined. It's almost too simple, with wide, curved, polished lug tops and an arched, horizontally brushed case profile, crowned by a polished, concave bezel - a tricky little detail that's almost impossible to notice at first, or even fifth glance, which nonetheless frames the dial and boxed glass above it.
On the wrist, the dial color radically affects the appearance and perception of the various IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 models. This is true for any watch, but the colors in the new collection are so vibrant, and the dials themselves take such a prominent place in the overall watch aesthetic, that choosing one of them is truly a challenging task. Therefore, the true star is the dial - but partly because it also hints at the functionality hidden beneath it.
For a reason we will reveal a bit later, and which you will see in our hand-made photos, the dial and its furniture are particularly bright on the new Portugieser. The lacquered base reflects, as do the hands and appliqués, yet the hands are easy to find and distinguish without looking closely. After familiarizing yourself with numerous watches, nuances such as the difference in dial brightness stand out at first glance.
In such cases, the impression comes first, and the reason we learn only later, unlike reading technical specifications and actively searching. In the new IWC Portugieser Perpetual 44 model, the brand claims the dial is lacquered 15 times, repeatedly polished, and then polished to give it a deep shine. This effect is simply impossible to fake.
Among the additional details are the depth of the sub-dials, the quality of the appliqué hour markers, and especially the beveled and polished cover just below the main hands. This is necessary because the sub-dials at '3' and '9 o'clock' also house hands - for the days of the week and date, as well as running seconds and day of the week, respectively - and therefore, the hour and minute hands in the center need to be set quite high above the dial plane.
Brands often bet that people will simply look elsewhere to save on costs and production complexities, leaving a gaping hole, as well as an ugly hand base on display. This small polished cover is a very elegant and beautifully executed solution to a problem that arises from the complexity inherent in IWC Portugieser watches equipped with a perpetual calendar (the number of stacked displays).
Perhaps the most impressive of the four models is the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 (Ref. IW503702), which features a black Obsidian dial and an 18-carat Armor Gold® case. This gold, according to IWC, is 'significantly harder and more wear-resistant than regular 5N gold' - although we wouldn't hope for 'wear-resistance' levels of Magic Gold (whatever that means, anyway).
What is true for virtually any gold watch with a black dial is how the shadowy, dark areas of the gold case complement the black dial, creating a pleasant sense of unity between the case and dial that is not present in all case material and dial color combinations. It's a small detail you might overlook, but it works beautifully in the real world.
The Horizon Blue version of the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 (Ref. IW503703) features an 18-carat white gold case with a bright blue dial, which has a sunray matte finish in the main section and a circular matte finish within the Moon phase indicator. Again, the effect is noticeably different from the black dial version, despite all indicators, hands, hour markers, and displays having the exact same design. Speaking of the Moon phase, IWC claims its accuracy has increased from 122 to 577.5 years due to a larger reduction gear.
The movement, in typical IWC style, fills the case to the edges. Before you is the 'manufactured IWC caliber 52616,' which combines a modern operating frequency of 4 Hz with a very large 7-day power reserve, replenished by a massive rotor and a Pellaton winding system with ceramic components for bidirectional operation. The list of complications includes a perpetual calendar with date, day, month, and year displayed in four digits (dated up to 2299), as well as Moon phases for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres and a small seconds hand.
The movement looks more striking than traditionally beautiful. There is a large - maybe too large for some tastes - variety of surface finishes, colors, and materials, and components meant to catch your eye, such as the giant solid gold rotor, seem too mechanical for a watch costing around $50,000. The size, complexity, and powerful execution of the IWC caliber 52616 make the case back very impressive, but a few small efforts could probably still be made to achieve even greater aesthetic consistency and refinement.
Overall, the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 is an absolute beast in watches, and this is so, especially because it operates with its almost intimidating complexity and compressed design - but does not overdo things. The watch manages to be noticeable without attracting too much attention and looks functional without being overloaded. On the wrist, it creates the impression of some of the best perpetual calendar watches in recent times.
The price for such a complex model in gold will always be 'high,' but thanks to the perpetual calendar controlled solely by the crown, designed by Klaus, and its brute force aura, it is a very tempting offer to distract people from gold Day-Dates or Lange 1s offered at practically identical prices.
The price for the IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 is $46,500 USD for the 18k 5N Armor Gold® version and $47,500 USD for the 18k white gold version. More detailed information can be found on the brand's website.