Perpetually Portuguese

Perpetually Portuguese

Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis

April 2003

The new Portuguese Perpetual Calendar is a great watch. Its greatness lies in what it represents and how the watch has evolved as a perfect synthesis.

This in turn raises perhaps the fundamental question about all mechanical watches: what makes a great watch? There may be no one answer to such a rarely asked question. One could claim, however, that a great watch must be more than a beautiful design –although the Portuguese Perpetual Calendar is striking in looks. One could claim that a great watch is more than one that is well-executed in mechanics –although the movement of this watch is both creative and well-engineered.

There is even more here than a sound mind in a sound body. A beautiful appearance which houses a fine movement produces high craft, but not necessarily greatness. Here, in the Portuguese Perpetual Calendar, the watch represents something more than itself. It makes a statement. The watch is a symbol of tradition and innovation. IWC often incorporates its heritage within its new products, in a way and with a thought process unequaled within the Swiss watch industry. But this particular watch stands above them all because of what it represents.

The 19^th century German philosopher Hegel conceived of the dialectic as a way of understanding reality. This was a process that began with a thesis, followed by its opposite –an antithesis, and finally culminating in a synthesis. If there ever were a watch that reflects this philosophy, it is the new Portuguese Perpetual Calendar. This watch may be the ultimate synthesis of watchmaking in Schaffhausen in a single watch.

The Thesis

The thesis is the original Portuguese watch from IWC. This watch evolved in the late 1930s when two Portuguese businessmen ordered from IWC in Schaffhausen a wristwatch using a pocket watch movement. Pocket watches always were the classic watch and IWC was noted for its fine pocket watch movements. By producing in limited quantities an oversized wristwatch, hiding within its case a pocket watch movement, IWC had inadvertently created a unique symbol of classic horology.

While few true Portuguese wristwatches were made by IWC –a total of only 669 were produced from 1939 to 1981-- the original Portugieser said everything that needed to be said about a “regular” watch. There were no adornments to the watch and no complications to its movement. Instead, it was a simple watch that just told time. Hours, minutes and seconds. Its case was straightforward, its dials --and there were many styles-- were classic in the pocket watch tradition, and its movement was superb. What was remarkable about the Portugieser was its large size, plus its pocket watch movement. The watch was beautifully designed and executed, yet entirely functional. A complete classic.

In 1993, to celebrate its 125^th anniversary, IWC reintroduced the Portugieser with its Jubilee model. An oversized wristwatch using a thin pocket watch movement, the limited edition of 2,000 was an instant success. The Jubilee Portugieser was both classic and boldly new –especially given that its large size was virtually unique when it was introduced in the early 1990s.

The Jubilee model, in turn, spawned many new models for IWC. These included at first a manual wind rattrapante chronograph, an automatic chronograph, and a small Portuguese with an automatic movement. The epitome of the Portuguese line, at least until now, was the introduction in 2000 of the Portuguese 2000 –the first watch with IWC’s very special in-house movement, the Calibre 5000. This movement involved a play on tradition vis-à-vis innovation. It incorporated design elements from IWC’s past, including the Pellaton winding system and the Cal. 89 escapement, in something totally new.

The Antithesis

Although some Portuguese models with complications have been made, the essence of the Portuguese watch –the original Portugieser-- was the idea underlying it. First and foremost, it was a large watch. Its size was because of its pocket watch heritage. It was a classic watch.

Until 1970s, the entire watchmaking tradition of IWC involved making non-complicated wristwatches. In a calculated gamble to revive mechanical watchmaking in a quartz-watch era, the late Günter Blümlein –IWC’s legendary boss— encouraged Kurt Klaus, IWC's renowned watchmaker, to develop a new perpetual calendar movement. IWC had never made its own perpetual calendar. If successful, such a watch would be a real move forward in an industry that was then gasping for air.

Kurt Klaus developed IWC’s perpetual calendar wristwatch. Introduced in 1985 in the Da Vinci and Ingenieur models, the movement was extraordinary. Unlike anything else at the time or preceding it, all functions were integrated and the calendar was set simply through the crown. There was more, too, than the hours, minutes and seconds, plus the month, day and date. There was also the year –and not just the last two digits of the year but the century as well. And there was a moonphase –and not just a traditional moonphase with an accuracy of one day’s error in 33 months, but a then unprecedented accuracy of one day’s error once in 126 years.

The Da Vinci model, in particular, may have done more to change the culture than any other watch over the past two decades, not just for IWC but the entire Swiss watchmaking industry. It revived an entire interest in mechanical watchmaking. It created a renaissance of interest in complications and especially perpetual calendars. Although statistics may be unavailable, it has been claimed that IWC has now produced more perpetual calendar wristwatches than the rest of the Swiss watchmaking industry. Regardless of the precise numbers, there is no doubt of the absolute significance of this complication by IWC.

The Synthesis

The ultimate irony about the Da Vinci perpetual calendar is that it was not born out of a tradition at IWC. While fine watchmaking has been synonymous with IWC’s heritage, until relatively recently very complicated watches were not. The rattrapantes, repeaters and Grand Complications that we see today were not part of the IWC real tradition –which was making good, solid, quality watches. Well engineered watches, absolutely –but not complicated ones. In that sense, the Da Vinci with its perpetual calendar really stood for everything that the original Portugieser was not.

Both traditions –innovation and complication, on the one hand, and classicism in the sense of the pocket watch heritage, on the other—today are integral to what "is" IWC. IWC is defined by its traditions and both lineages are important to understanding the company and its products.

It was natural to combine these elements in something new. This watch would be a synthesis of everything that IWC has stood for, and stands for today. It would represent the classical pocket watch tradition underlying International Watch Company. It would represent the trend towards innovative complicated watchmaking – a much younger tradition, certainly, but today one that has institutionalized itself in Schaffhausen.

Here, then, is the child of this evolution: the Portuguese Perpetual Calendar, Reference 5021. It has the new Calibre 50611 movement, which combines the basic design of the special IWC perpetual calendar module with the revolutionary –and still traditional—Calibre 5000. Yet, the movement is more than a simple combination. It uses the larger size of the Portuguese case, and the wider diameter of the Portuguese 5000 base movement, to enhance the perpetual module. There are more teeth on the moonphase gearing, so that the inaccuracy is now a mere one day in 577.5 years. There are now more bridges to facilitate assembly and service.

The Portuguese perpetual, from style to size to movement, represents two traditions. Yet, even if they are disparate, they co-exist in perfect harmony. Just as IWC as a company has both the Portuguese tradition and the Da Vinci tradition, this model reflects and expands upon both lineages. This is a watch of the past, the present and the future.

The Portuguese Perpetual Calendar is a beautiful watch. It is a functional watch –after all, a complicated dial of any perpetual is easier to read in a larger model. It is a useful watch. It represents a great movement –unique, but traditional, and produced with no compromise regarding quality. It is modern, but classic. It is an engineered watch, but still one that possesses a special grace and its own distinct charm.

Above all, this watch is a symbol. It is a symbol born out of synthesis. It represents watchmaking as a culture and IWC as a heritage. It is far more than a timekeeping device. The Portuguese perpetual calendar is truly a great achievement. It is a great watch, for what it is and for what it represents.