Text by Ethan Hall
In 1868, Florentine Ariosto Jones founded IWC in Schaffhausen, a town in northern Switzerland on the banks of the Rhine. An intricate use of machines, constructed of ropes, pulleys, and gears, was powered by a partially submerged paddle in the Rhine in the factory’s production of their watches. This powerhouse of a watch company has been around for over 150 years. In 1993, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of IWC, the Portugieser was revived. At the time, the idea of a luxury mechanical watch that wasn’t just quartz-driven was in increasing demand in the market, and so the Portugieser became a success and has since been continued.
IWC just celebrated the release of their new collection for their Portugieser line of watches in London. A selection of watches, without knowing their history, still elicits a very nautical aura about them. There are very nautical colors such as blues and silvers of the sea, or the golds of compasses or vintage skirting.
However, the release may be new, but the collection of Portugiesers being released stays true to when they were first released in 1939 as the solution to the demand for a wrist-worn “marine chronometer,” as watches at the time were typically just pocket watches. At the time, the watch was massive comparatively, with a 42mm diameter, which set them apart from their other wrist-worn compatriots.
