The history of the IWC Replica Portuguese collection is a substantial part of the history of the company founded in 1868 in Schaffhausen by Florentine Ariosto Jones. Throughout the 155 years of history, celebrated in 2023, of the renowned Swiss manufacturer, Portuguese is a constant presence although 125 years have passed between its genesis and its commercialization.

The origins of IWC Portuguese

A premise is necessary: ​​the current collection is universally identified as IWC Portugieser, but the IWC Portuguese term is undoubtedly the one commonly adopted by the Italian public, the reference market for both the collection and the brand. In fact, it must be said that many modern evolutions of Portuguese were born due to the express request of the Italian market which, although the economic scenario today rewards other markets from the point of view of turnover, remains a reference market for taste and competence.

The history of IWC Portuguese begins in 1939, when it built the reference 325 at the request of two Portuguese traders and navigators, looking for a particularly precise watch to use while sailing. Constructively, it is a savonette-type pocket caliber inserted into a wristwatch case.

The wristwatch was at the dawn of its history, and the IWC Portuguese model 325 represented an oversized model for its time. The commercial birth of the Portuguese dates back to 1993, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary celebrations, with a classic limited series collection built in steel, gold and platinum.

The model shown above is the Portuguese Manual Winding reference 5441 in steel with a diameter of 42 mm and a thickness of 10.3 mm with plexiglass glass and a splendid manual winding movement. This particular example was sold by Antiquorum, to which the photos belong. This reference represents the beginning of the modern history of the collection, which has welcomed every type of complication, although the classic automatic chronograph is the backbone of the collection.

IWC Portuguese price

The Portuguese’s modern collection is varied and includes watches from time-only to very large complications, with the Sidérale Scafusia model occupying the top rung. Below we report the collections currently in the catalog and the related price range, updated to January 2024.

IWC Portuguese Automatic 40 mm

In 2020, IWC presented a model that is directly inspired by the IW325 from which it all started and, above all, extends the new manufacturing calibers to the entire Portugieser collection (after the IWC Portugieser Chronograph 3716). Slightly more compact and with a 40mm case, the Portugieser Automatic 40 (reference 3583) is equipped with the in-house caliber 82200.