IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar

Though the International Watch Company is most often associated with aviation, the manufacturer from Schaffhausen cemented its global reputation with the Portugieser line, now a flagship collection for the brand and an opportunity to showcase their expertise in manufacturing complicated watches.

The Portugieser had its genesis in the 1930s, shortly before the Second World War. Two clients from Portugal tasked IWC's watchmakers with producing wristwatches that were as accurate as marine chronometers. In those days, the only way of achieving this goal was to take movements from pocket watches and put them in wristwatch cases. 

IWC thus used a Calibre 74 movement as the basis for the new line, christened Portugieser after the homeland of the clients who inspired it. Since the Calibre 74 movement was a hefty 37mm wide, the Portugieser required a large case to match — a huge departure from the slim cases that typified wristwatches of the 1930s.

Though IWC continued to produce the Portugieser line throughout the 1970s, it never was the company’s most profitable or plentiful. But by the 1990s the Shaffhausen-based maison was inspired to revitalize the aging collection, and today, the Portuguese line includes some of the brand’s most lovely and complicated pieces — such as the model we have here.

This particular Portugieser, a perpetual calendar Reference IW503401, is a stunning example of IWC’s in-house watchmaking capabilities. Mechanically programmed for 577 years of accuracy, it’s like a small, mechanical computer on your wrist — though at 44.2mm wide, it certainly makes its presence known!

Housed in an 18K white gold case with a sapphire crystal, a signed crown, and a polished, concave bezel, it features a satin blue dial with applied Arabic indices; recessed subsidiary registers with day, date, power reserve, running seconds, month, moonphase, and year apertures; and a matching ‘feuille’ handset. Visible beneath a sapphire exhibition caseback, the automatic IWC Calibre 52615 movement can be seen doing its thing - with an incredible 168-hour power reserve!  Paired to the watch is a signed, black IWC alligator leather strap made by Santoni fitted to a signed white gold deployant clasp. 

Including a full set of factory goodies, this Perpetual Calendar is more than just a complicated masterpiece - it is also an important marker of how far IWC has come as a manufacture since the birth of the Portugieser line over 80 years ago.

When an American watchmaker named Florentine Ariosto Jones arrived in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in 1868, he found a city almost frozen in time. Though the Industrial Revolution had swept through America, in Switzerland the situation was very different. Watchmakers still plied their trades by their own firesides, as they had done for centuries. But Jones had in mind something different — an American-style factory where the watches would be designed and assembled in keeping with the old Swiss ways. His methods caught on, and soon there were 196 people employed at his factory.
Though the International Watch Company was founded 35 years before Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight, the association between IWC and aviation began just as the age of flight dawned: A pocket watch made by the company in the 1890s found its way into the pocket of one Robert Albert Lotter, a pilot in the German Luftwaffe who served with distinction during the First World War.
Two decades later, in 1936, IWC released a watch that set the standard for pilot’s watch design, the Spezialuhr für Flieger, or Special Pilot's Watch. Another would follow in 1940, the Beobachtungs-ühren (“observation watch”), which spawned an entire model line in IWC’s current collection called the Big Pilot. However, despite the Big Pilot’s current popularity, it was the Special Pilot’s Watch that would lay the cornerstone for IWC’s most iconic line: the Mark series of pilot’s watches.
IWC released the Mark XI in 1948 according to specifications set forth by the British Ministry of Defense. These watches had to be legible, compact, and able to withstand exposure to the magnetic fields emitted by instruments in an airplane’s cockpit. The Mark XI, therefore, had a black dial with large luminous Arabic numbers, while its incredibly robust Calibre 89 movement was encased in an iron cage. (Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, IWC would produce myriad dress watches in steel and gold based upon the Calibre 89 movement, which remain relatively plentiful on the vintage market.)
The Mark XI served as the basis for design inspiration for a robust line of pilot’s watches still being produced today – easily identifiable by their clean, uncluttered dials, robust cases, and outstanding quality.

Our Pledge

Analog:Shift stands behind the authenticity of our products in perpetuity.

Condition

Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.

Warranty

We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a one-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

International Buyers

Please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.

All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.

Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.

We generally ship our products via FedEx, fully insured, within 5 business days of purchase. An adult signature is required for receipt of all packages for insurance purposes. Expedited shipping is available at an additional cost. We are also happy to hand deliver your purchase in Manhattan or you may pick it up at our showroom.

Returns must be sent overnight or by priority international delivery, fully insured and paid for by the customer. A restocking fee may apply. Watches must be returned in the same condition as initially shipped.

We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.