IWC, like Rolex, effectively splits its catalog between dress and sports watches.
The Schaffhausen brand doesn’t go so far as to categorize its product lines into “Classic” and “Professional” groups like The Crown does, but it’s pretty clearly understood that IWC’s Pilot’s, Ingenieur and Aquatimer lines are the brand’s sports watches, with the Portofino and Portugieser (and formerly, the Da Vinci) representing the dressy side of IWC.
But sometimes, the coolest watches are produced when those lines between dress watch and sports watch are blurred. That’s what IWC has done with the latest iteration of the brand’s iconic complicated dress watch, the Portugieser Chronograph.
Stealth mode
IWC has long been a pioneer in the use of alternative materials in watchmaking. In 1980, the Porsche Design by IWC Titan Chronograph was both the first chronograph and the first Swiss watch with a titanium case. Six years later, the brand launched a Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar with the industry’s first case made of zinc oxide ceramic — the same ceramic material used for watch cases throughout the industry today.
In 2017, the brand combined its long histories with titanium and ceramic into one groundbreaking material. Either ingeniously or idiotically dubbed Ceratanium, the new material promised to combine the high scratch-resistance of ceramic with the lightweight strength of titanium. It lived up to the hype and has since been used by IWC in a wide range of sports watches.
