2010 IWC Portuguese Chronograph IW371401
Ref: IW371401

Points of Mention

This watch is sold with its original IWC presentation box and original IWC paperwork, the watch was purchased in December 2010. The watch comes fitted on a 20mm leather strap with an IWC Signed Buckle. The watch is in worn condition but is overall very good, see the photos. The watch comes with our 12-Months warranty.

The Watch

Florentine Aristo Jones founded IWC in 1868. In 1867 he applied for a European passport with the ambition to create watches using the American system of Watchmaking. This system was derived from the Federal Armories at Springfield and Harpers Ferry. Where high precision interchangeable parts were needed for armaments. This was perfect to use in watchmaking and Florentine was a pioneer in introducing it to the Swiss. In 1868 Florentine and Charles Kidder ended up in  Schaffhausen Switzerland. Originally called the company F.A Jones & Co which was later changed to IWC International Watch Company. Florentine returned to the USA in 1876 where he retired and sadly passed away in 1916. His spirit carries on today in the modern IWC watches. The IWC Portugieser was first introduced way back in 1939 when 2 businessmen Rodrigues and Texeira visited the factory in Schaffhausen. They had an unusual request: they required a marine chronometer in the form of a wristwatch.  IWC got to work and created a 43mm, stainless steel watch with a hand-wound Cal.74 pocket watch movement. This was very large for the time with 33mm being the norm for a wristwatch. It had Arabic numerals, an almost non-existent bezel, and slim leaf-shaped hands, a seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. Only 304 pieces were ever created with the Cal.74 movement. Since then the IWC Portugieser has become one of IWC most iconic and best selling.

Here we have a 2010 IWC Portuguese Chronograph IW371401 with a 41mm stainless steel case. The sides of the case are expertly brushed with a mirror finish to the tops of the lugs. On the right side, we have the chronograph pushers and a large crown in the center. A thin bezel holds a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal AR coated on both sides above an ivory dial. An outer minute chapter ring with applied gilt Arabic numeral indices marks the hours. At 12 o'clock a recessed 30-minute register and at 6 o'clock a recessed 60-second register. Elegant gilt leaf hands with a fine tapered chronograph hand complete this classic bi-compax. Text is precisely executed at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock respectively. On the reverse a screw-down case back. Inside an Automatic IWC Cal. 79350, 31 jewels, 28,800 beats per hour. This COSC Certified movement is based on the Valjoux 7750. Assembled, finished, and tested at their IWC factory. The watch comes fitted on a 20mm leather strap with a signed buckle. The watch also comes with its original IWC presentation box and original IWC paperwork.

Personal Note

This reference is one of my favourite offerings from IWC, especially at this case size, it hugs the wrist perfectly, and being almost entirely dial it really does look bigger whilst not wearing bigger on the wrist, almost an optical illusion. Such a great watch and at our asking price a true value for money timepiece in this league!