Taking inspiration from their archives seems to be a formula that has been working excellently for IWC lately. It certainly did with the Pilot’s collection of 2016 and it’s safe to say that the Da Vinci collection of 2017 is off to its own commercial success. And now, on the cusp of the second quarter of 2017, IWC has already introduced their second collection for the year, banked on the same winning formula.
The number 666, is the number of a different kind of beast here, namely the original 1955 Ingenieur, which was a timepiece with a clear utilitarian outlook given the simplicity of its design and the information that it presented — hours, minutes, seconds and a small date window at 3 o’clock — that’s all there was to it.
It is based on this original ancestor of the IWC Ingenieur that this year’s Ingenieur collection starts off. Named the Ingenieur Automatic the watch is presented in three references fitted with the caliber 35111. The three variations are essentially dial color and case material options presented in a 40mm form factor (two in steel and one in red gold).
Considering that the Ingenieur has in recent days avidly been associated with the world of motor racing, it is natural that the second watch in the new collection is a chronograph. This also builds on the Ingenieur chronograph that the company gave us at last year’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting fitted with the newly developed caliber 69730. This year’s chronographs, though, aren’t just new in the case (42mm; two in steel and one in red gold) and dial options they are presented with. The caliber too seems to haven updated with the movement reference number having been updated to 69375. The functions, however, hold steady with central hours and minutes; hacking seconds at 6 o’clock. Chronograph functions are borne with a central seconds hand, minutes at 12 and hours at 9 o’clock.
The chronograph collection also extends to a 500-piece limited-edition version in a 44mm titanium case containing a soft-iron antimagnetic inner-cage that protects the caliber 89361 within. Functions presented here include a flyback chronograph, central hours and minutes, plus the small hacking seconds at 6 o’clock.
The final big-bang watch in the collection is the 100-piece limited edition Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month. This one is only going to be available in a red gold, 45mm case, which, as the name suggests, sports a chronograph — a flyback to be quite precise — with the date and month displayed in large digital numerals at 3 and 9 o’clock.
For the presentation itself, IWC chose the 75th Goodwood Member’s Meeting, the event where in 2016 the brand first showed off this new look that the Ingenieur has been given with the IWC Chronograph “Rudolf Caracciola”. This year’s Goodwood Members’ Meeting was graced by not only the new Ingenieur collection by racing legend, David Coulthard and the new incoming CEO of the brand Christoph Grainger-Herr.
For full technical details of the new Ingenieur collection keep an eye out on www.IWC.com.
