Fresh from the Showcase here at SwissWatchExpo. Today, we have two
incredible rose gold IWCs both with tourbillon complications and a retrograde date for good
measure. This is watchmaking at its very finest. So let's just go ahead and dig in.
We have two very impressive rose gold and very complicated IWC watches here. When we got these
in, I could not wait to show them to you together. There are two very similar watches and definitely
some of the peaks when it comes to complicated watchmaking. And that may not be something or
IWC may not be a brand you necessarily think of when you think of complicated watches like that.
Hopefully, this video will cause some people to rethink that. I think they make some incredible
tourbillon watches and because they're not exactly the first brand you think of when
you think of complications like this, they don't necessarily fetch the price tag that some other
watchmakers like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet would for a tourbillon watch that would routinely
cost well above six figures. That's not the case for either of these watches.
Now, that's not to say they're inexpensive. These are tourbillon watches in rose gold
but definitely have a much lower price tag than a lot of other
similar watches in this class. So let's just dig into them because they are both so incredible. My
personal favorite is the one I'm gonna talk about first here, which is this beautiful Portuguese,
and I just love the Portuguese in general. It's a really simple design, but I like that it's big. I
like the shape of it. And the finishing on the case is great too, but that's not really what
makes this watch impressive. Of course, it's this beautiful tourbillon here at 12 o'clock
right up at the top of the dial, which I don't know most watches do tend to have a tourbillon
at 6 o'clock and this definitely makes it a lot more noticeable. But let's be honest,
if you're gonna pay for a watch with this type of complication,
you're gonna want to see it, and you're gonna want others to see it too. It's a beautiful watch
or a beautiful, you know, look into this incredible dial the case pretty large,
44 millimeters across now just a simple steel Portuguese is gonna be just 40. The extra 4
millimeters definitely adds a good bit of heft to this, but it's still a very dressy shape,
and that extra space which probably is required to fit this incredible 7-day power reserve
in this thing, but also just the size of this retrograde date, which by the way,
if you don't know retrograde date most watches if they do display a date is either gonna display it
as a single wheel or at least in a circular sort of pattern, which is the way the wheel works.
Even if, you know, even if it is just a single window that you're looking to see the date in.
This displays all 31 possible days of the month. And as you'll see, it's in a linear pattern or
here a semi-circle and then once you cross 31, it actually snaps back to 1, which is an incredibly
difficult thing to do. It would be much easier just to have it running in a solid circle like
again like 99% of watches do. You don't necessarily need to have a tourbillon
obviously to have this cut-type of date display. But it's one of my favorites and
it is really a testament to the quality of watchmaking and just a very difficult thing
to recreate mechanically. And of course, a lot of space here to display that because
it's a very large semi-circle that again has 31 points on it to represent every day of the month.
Something else this is still Portuguese at heart. So you do get kind of a squared case and these
longer lugs here, as well as these beautiful rose gold Arabic numerals. And this sort of iconic,
it's a simple, but very iconic font that you'll recognize if you've seen
any Portuguese. The Arabic numerals in this font are definitely an iconic component of it.
So while this is very different from a standard steel Portuguese you might have seen in the past,
definitely, even though the size is different, the addition of the tourbillon, this is still
a Portuguese at heart in so many ways. The finish I love is beautiful too. This is a high
polished bezel around here. So definitely a watch you're gonna want to be careful for, but again,
something like this, wouldn't be one that you swing around all willy-nilly.
I'm sure you'll have sports watches in your collection, too, for things of that nature.
But a beautiful brushed finish here on the side, which also displays the limited-edition production
number. They only made 500 of these. As you can imagine, a Portuguese of this size with
this type of complication, it's not one, they got a super-wide release or a certain, you know,
large number of production. This also beautiful brushed finish carries over to this incredible
deployant clasp here. You've got the IWC logo here on the buckle. The action here is beautiful. It's
simple, it's high polished on one side and you still do have the brushed center here. So just an
incredible attention to detail on even something relatively insignificant like the deployant.
And of course, this massive, massive case back here does have an exhibition caseback, sapphire
caseback here displaying this beautiful movement. Surprising to see as much steel here as I do.
You would expect to see more gold accents. I'm not exactly sure what caliber or reference they called
this one. But it is still an incredibly beautiful piece. And you can even see
some of the underside of the tourbillon from this too, which is not something I've seen in
a lot of these similarly complicated watches that I've seen. This is my personal favorite,
probably just because of the size. And I am just a sucker for the Portuguese in general,
but the one that might fetch a higher, slightly higher price tag than this
it might be more of the IWC fan or more of an iconic watch for IWC's tourbillon collection.
Is this other 44-millimeter Da Vinci. Now this line tends to be a bit more prestigious in the
IWC line. This Da Vinci was actually where they first introduced their tourbillon complication.
They weren't the first, but they were among the first waves to sort of add this
into their watches. And that's why it's still a big part of their heritage now and why
IWCs always gonna make tourbillon Da Vincis I think. Similar to the Portuguese over here,
although this one's a little bit more rounded, you also see the lugs are a little bit higher,
not quite as wide, and they do stick up a little longer. The shape of this is very different. We
also have Arabic numerals here and a retrograde date. You'll also notice this is a chronograph
watch. So this movement even more complicated than before we have another retrograde date here,
not a full 7-day power reserve. But we also do have the chronograph here,
which is currently running a single subdial because again, there's only so much space on this
dial for them to really use so a single register here, which registers both minutes and hours.
I believe you got two hands here going, so they did consolidate them into one because you still
do have this incredible tourbillon here at 6 o'clock. This is a very different look than
the one. The tourbillon itself, I should say, looks very different than the one that's on the
Portuguese. And I'll admit, I am not, certainly not a watchmaker at all. Definitely not one to the
standard that would be able to really get into the weeds as to what makes this tourbillon different.
But it is incredible to look at when it's moving and that's in addition to this chronograph
running at the same time. The Arabic numbers here, are a bit larger,
also in a much different font. I don't think this is as an iconic font as the
Da Vinci because most of the ones I've seen don't actually have Arabic numerals at all
I don't believe. But you do have these very large crowns here.
As well as the pushers, they do indicate that they might be screwed-down, but they're not
this is not a screw-down watch. This is a hundred percent decorative here
for these pushers. And this is going to be more of a high-polished finish all the way across,
which even for Da Vincis that are not in rose gold, I see much more of a high polish finish with
them. Now, this does also come with an exhibition caseback, not quite as much, or as much space here
to sort of peer into the movement, but you do see that this rotor is actually an 18-carat rose gold,
which does match the case. That's something I actually kind of prefer to this caseback,
if you're gonna look at it, especially for a rose gold watch as you're spending this much money on,
I do definitely prefer having a rose gold rotor here to sort of look at and to block some of the
steel or the metal components in this movement as well.
These are both leather straps. Both I believe gonna be alligator straps from IWC as well as
another brushed finish on this deploy here. I think that is a beautiful touch. And here you
actually have IWC engraved onto the deployment itself. These are two again, incredible watches
for the watch aficionado, even if they're not necessarily in your budget, I think there is
something that we can all appreciate. I certainly consider myself amongst you.
Particularly with the Portuguese, which is just probably my favorite dress watch in
general because of the size and everything. And to really add that extra touch of flair
with the retrograde date. And that's not even getting into the tourbillon here, which is just
so incredible to look at and really a testament to the standard of watchmaking that's at IWC.
Even if I don't necessarily think they get the respect that some other more prestigious brands
do, this should definitely cause you to rethink the type of complications you can get in your
dress watch as well as, you know, what the budget might be to add a tourbillon onto your collection.
I'm not gonna say it's gonna be for everyone, but if it's something you're considering and
maybe IWC hasn't crossed your mind before, this should be something that might tip the scales in
that direction a little bit. Of course, if you're looking for something a little bit more simple,
we have a ton of that stuff too, so you don't need to be put off by this. I promise our collection of
watches for sale for you can be a lot more humble and a lot more affordable than this. So give us a
call. Like and subscribe to our videos. I promise not everything I'm covering is as complicated as
this and give us a call so we can get the next timepiece on your wrist at SwissWatchExpo.com.