Last year, IWC Replica made a big splash by unveiling the new Ingénieur 40, a watch with an integrated bracelet born from the pencil stroke of the iconic Gérald Genta. But between its price jump and its availability, we were quite perplexed. This year, things are different. Very different in fact, because the Schaffhausen-based house is unveiling a multitude of colors on a wide range of pieces from the Portugieser collection. However, the new product that caught our eye is completely different because it is the first secular calendar ever developed by the brand. So, let’s spotlight the Portugieser Eternal Calendar.

It’s hard not to think of Furlan Marri’s Secular Perpetual Calendar developed for the cancelled/postponed 2023 edition of Only Watch. It’s a shame because we’ve prepared a superb selection and could have told you about this watch created in collaboration with Dominique Renaud and Julien Tixier. For the IWC model that interests us today, the principle is the same: taking into account the leap years of the Gregorian calendar over the next 400 years. In addition, its moon phase indicator is so precise that it will only be wrong by one day every 45 million years! A projection so far into the future that it’s almost a tribute to eternity. And to create the cogs, IWC used a supercomputer that simulated nearly 22 billion different combinations.

All this technical prowess is housed in a 44.4mm platinum case that is just 0.1mm larger than the other new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar models, at 15mm. The dial itself is made of glass with a frosted and white lacquered inner face, then separate sub-dials fixed on top, while the appliques are fixed by hand. The whole thing is topped with an impressive double-domed sapphire crystal, mounted on a black alligator leather strap by Santoni, then equipped with a transparent caseback revealing the workings of the automatic movement with an oscillating weight with an 18-carat gold medallion and offering 168 hours of power reserve. The price is not specified by IWC but one inevitably expects a considerable amount due to its complexity, not to mention the material used to make the case which never indicates anything affordable!