In 2015, IWC manages to face the challenge of leap days in the annual calendar. The newPortugieser Annual CalendarIt brings together in a single box the sublimation of all the advances in manufacturing in recent years. After the minute repeater (1995), the seven-day power reserve (2000), the perpetual calendar (2003), the Mystère tourbillon (2004) and the constant force tourbillon (2011) or the eight-day manual winding movement (2013) are some of the advances of Portugieser watches in its pioneering role in the field of Haute Horlogerie.
The newPortugieser Annual CalendarIt fills the gap that existed between the annual calendar and the simple indication of the date. The new function receives enough power from the new IWC-manufactured caliber 52850 via two barrels, still having enough power for seven days of power reserve. The watch symbolizes the beginning of an IWC initiative in terms of the manufacture's movements that, in subsequent years, will include other families of the house's calibers.
The annual IWC calendar displays the indications of the month, date and day of the week on the dial at 12 o'clock and in three separate semicircular windows. Its advance mechanism automatically takes into account the different lengths of the different months. Unlike what happens in the perpetual calendar, the annual calendar does not calculate either the duration of February, when it is different, or the leap year. Therefore, it is necessary to correct it manually once a year (always at the end of February). The solution is a correction through the crown in the simplest and most comfortable way possible, which eliminates the need for correction buttons that would have disturbed the refined design of the crown.Portugieser Annual Calendar.To make the date display as large as possible, the watchmakers placed the three display discs in the place of the 11 o'clock hour markers at 1 o'clock as a tribute to F. A. Jones, the American who founded IWC.
With its voluminous 44.2 millimeter case, fluted bezel, classic railway minute track, slender lanceolate hands and almost unchanged Arabic numerals, thePortugieser Annual CalendarIt is very close in its external appearance to the annual IWC on the dial, at the level of "12 o'clock" and in three separate semicircular windows the indications of the month, the date and the day of the week. Its advancing mechanism automatically takes into account the different lengths of the different icons of the design that was the Portugieser originating in 1939.
In any case, the small seconds hand is not installed at the "6 o'clock" level as in the original, but at the "9 o'clock" position. The power reserve indication can be consulted on the inner dial opposite. With its seven-day march duration, the manufacturing movement represents a new technological leap in the history of the Portugieser family. The unusual combination of annual calendar and 168-hour caliber will probably make this latest complication made by IWC even more attractive to watch connoisseurs.
El Portugieser Annual CalendarIt is available in an 18K red gold case (ref. IW503504) with a silver dial and in a stainless steel case with a silver dial (ref. IW503501) or night blue (ref. IW503502). The blue dial displays the dynamic luminous reflections provided by the delicate sun-polishing. All variants of the watch are worn on a black Santoni alligator strap.
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