Case #733 — IWC IWC Portugieser Chronograph Ref. IW371605

Case #733 — IWC Portugieser Chronograph

Ref. IW371605

Status: Available

Condition: Excellent Pre-Owned

Scope: Box, Papers, and Cards

Scope: 2020

🔎 Case Notes

Few dials in modern watchmaking are as instantly identifiable as this one: a silver-plated field, blued leaf-shaped hands, applied blue Arabic numerals, and two recessed totalisers that interrupt the 12 and 6 numerals in the way only a Portugieser does. The silver-plated dial carries blue hands in the distinctive feuille style and blue Arabic numerals, with the 12 and 6 showing the characteristic cut-off created by the positioning of the subdials. It is a layout the Portugieser Chronograph has worn for decades, and it still reads as a design rather than a product.

What separates this particular reference from the long-running 3714 that preceded it is what sits behind the dial. The Portugieser Chronograph launched in the 1990s with a large steel case and a third-party calibre; the IW371605 instead runs a movement from IWC's own Calibre 69000 series. The IWC-manufactured 69355 calibre is visible through the sapphire-glass case back, uses a classic column-wheel design, and offers a 46-hour power reserve. The open caseback is the other departure — earlier Portugieser Chronographs were solid-backed, so this generation is the first that lets the owner watch the column wheel work.

The case remains the Portugieser's quiet trick. A round steel case, modestly sized at 41 mm, suits almost any wrist, yet it wears visually larger thanks to its thin bezel. Mirror-finished lugs sit against satin-finished case sides, with the crown, pushers and bezel polished.

This example is graded Excellent Pre-Owned, with no specific condition flaws recorded at inspection. It arrives on its leather strap with deployant clasp and is accompanied by box, papers, and cards. The strap is currently sized to fit an approximately 8-inch wrist.

🕰️ The Evidence

• Reference: IW371605
• Model / Collection: Portugieser Chronograph, Portugieser Collection
• Year: 2020
• Case: Stainless steel, polished and satin-finished surfaces
• Case Diameter: 41 mm
• Thickness: 13.0 mm
• Lug Width: 20 mm
• Dial: Silver-plated with blued hands, Arabic numerals and small hacking seconds; blue accents throughout
• Crystal: Sapphire, convex, with anti-reflective coating on both sides
• Bezel: Polished stainless steel, thin profile
• Caseback: See-through sapphire glass back
• Movement: IWC Calibre 69355, column-wheel chronograph
• Movement Type: Automatic, self-winding, IWC-manufactured
• Power Reserve: 46 hours
• Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz), 27 jewels
• Functions: Hours, minutes, small hacking seconds, chronograph with minutes and seconds
• Water Resistance: 3 bar / 30 metres
• Strap: Leather strap
• Clasp: Deployant / folding clasp
• Fit: Approximately 8-inch wrist
• Condition: Excellent Pre-Owned
• Included: Box, Papers, and Cards

🌟 Collector Provenance

The Portugieser Chronograph occupies an unusual position within IWC: it is both the brand's most recognisable watch and one of its most restrained. The harmoniously designed chronograph, with its peripheral precision scale and recessed totalisers, has been the most coveted member of the Portugieser family since 1998. That design language — two sunken registers, a slim bezel, a nearly bezel-less dial opening — has survived virtually unchanged across generations, which is precisely why collectors track the mechanical and construction differences so closely.

The IW371605 belongs to the generation that resolved the model's longest-standing collector debate. Reference IW371605 is among the most classic-looking of the six models IWC launched at the start of 2020, the release that moved the 41 mm Portugieser Chronograph onto IWC's own 69000-series chronograph calibre and added an exhibition caseback. For enthusiasts who admired the 3714's proportions but wanted in-house movement architecture and a view of it, this is the reference that answered both points without altering the silhouette.

The movement itself deserves attention on its own terms. The in-house 69355 is built from 212 components and uses 27 jewels, and the column-wheel chronograph construction is displayed through the sapphire caseback, finished with Côtes de Genève and perlage. A bidirectional pawl-winding system and column-wheel actuation place it firmly in the category of purpose-built chronograph calibres rather than modular additions.

🌟 Design Provenance

The Portugieser line exists because of a specification request, not a styling exercise. IWC's most iconic watch was created in the 1930s for Portuguese businessmen Rodrigues and Teixeira, who wanted a men's wristwatch capable of matching the precision of a marine chronometer. Fitting a pocket-watch-calibre level of accuracy into a wristwatch forced a large, thin-bezelled case with an unusually open dial — the proportions that still define the family.

That origin story is legible on this dial. The characteristic réhaut, printed with a quarter-second scale, allows precise reading of stop times and recalls the Portugieser's beginnings as a nautical precision instrument for the wrist. The dial's clarity comes from applied Arabic numerals and slender feuille hands — a combination that keeps a chronograph legible without resorting to sports-watch contrast.

The silver-and-blue execution is the most formal of the current colourways: cool, high-contrast, and more dress-leaning than the black or white-dial variants, with the blued hands carrying the historical reference to heat-blued steel.

🧾 From the Case File

In practice, this is one of the easier chronographs to live with daily. At 41 millimetres it fits almost any wrist, while the thin bezel gives the impression of a significantly larger watch — useful if you want visual presence without a 44 mm footprint. At 13.0 mm in height it remains a chronograph, not a slim dress watch, but the 20 mm lug width and leather strap keep it firmly on the formal side of versatile.

The deployant clasp is a meaningful practical detail: it protects the strap tail from repeated buckle wear and makes on-and-off easier, which matters on a watch most owners wear to work rather than to the water. Note the 30 metres of water resistance — splash-safe and rain-safe, not a swimming watch.

For a buyer weighing this against the earlier 3714 generation, the case is straightforward: identical proportions and dial architecture, but an in-house column-wheel calibre with a 46-hour reserve and a sapphire caseback to see it through. Against buying new, the advantages here are immediate availability, an Excellent Pre-Owned example with no recorded condition flaws, complete box, papers, and cards, and a strap already fitted to an approximately 8-inch wrist.

🗝️ BST Verdict

A Portugieser Chronograph from the generation that finally paired the family's defining dial with IWC's own column-wheel calibre and an open caseback — the same silhouette collectors have admired since 1998, with better machinery behind it.

Silver and blue is the most classical of the current dial options, and this example comes graded Excellent Pre-Owned, complete with box, papers, and cards, on a leather strap with deployant clasp sized for an approximately 8-inch wrist.

👉 Every case deserves a closer look.