Today, we bring you our live pictures of the new IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph straight from the SIHH 2017 in Geneva. After receiving a major facelift in 2007 and another one in 2009, the Da Vinci Collection from IWC Schaffhausen has returned to the round case that was so successfully established by the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar in 1985 and saying goodbye to the tonneau-shaped case. All new watches in the IWC Da Vinci line will feature cylindrical crowns and pushers, strap attachments with moveable lugs without looking or feeling dated, lancet-shaped hands, Arabic numerals and repetition of round design details on dial and alligator straps by Santoni.
The Dial & Case
Available in stainless steel —anthracite dial— or 18K red gold —opaline dial— with a 43 mm case, this is the first watch from IWC to ever combine a mechanical chronograph with a perpetual moon phase display on a chrono subdial at 12 o'clock. Inspired by the perpetual calendar created in 1985 by Kurt Klaus —IWC's master watchmaker and inventor, this new watch is simply gorgeous in the metal. Fitted with an anthracite grey dial with applied Arabic numerals, this perpetual calendar chronograph features a four-digit year display with three rollers between 7 and 8 o'clock.
While the dial layout in the new IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph ref. IW392101 seems a little too busy, reading the different indications is not that much of a challenge. The dial features a 12-hour monocounter chronograph register with moon phase indication at 12 o'clock, date indicator at 3, month indicator with overlapping running seconds at 6 and day of the week at 9 o'clock.
The Movement
Powered by the new 51-jewel in-house calibre 89360 with a modular construction, this automatic movementbeats at a frequency of 28,800 vph —4 Hz— to provide a power reserve of 68 hours. The movement features a red gold oscillating weight and blued screws throughout only for the 18K red gold version of this watch.
Mechanically programmed, the calendar takes into account the different length of the months and even the leap years. Nevertheless, every 100 years (2100, 2200, etc.) a leap day normally due is omitted, which means that a watchmaker will have to advance the calendar manually on March 1st of 2100. In 2300, another intervention will be necessary when the current century slide with the figures 20, 21 and 22 will need to be replaced with a new one for the years 2300 to 2599. An operation that many generations down the road will get to see if the watch is cared for and passed down as an heirloom.
On the Wrist & Pricing
While we've never been big fans of the IWC Da Vinci collection, all we can tell you is that this time the redesign resulted in some very good looking watches. The watch wears slightly bigger than its actual size of 43 mm but with very nice wrist presence. A very nicely executed watchand one that we are confident will do very well for IWC.
Sticker Price CHF 32,000 Swiss Francs —approximately $31,000 USD— for stainless steel and CHF 45,000 —approximately $44,000 USD— for 18K red gold. For more info on IWC click here.
