Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth Adventure Ecology / Plastiki 2011

In Context

At 46 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 15 mm it is a tall case, and it will catch on a cuff. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 120 m is genuine swimming resistance — more than the shape of this watch suggests it would need.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 44 hours of reserve carries it overnight, but not through a weekend in a drawer. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

IW3236-08 is one of 4 executions of the IW3236 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a blue dial and a stainless steel case. It was a limited edition.

The Ingenieur movement, built for shock and magnetism rather than thinness. Its distinguishing feature is an integrated jointed-arm shock absorber carrying the whole movement inside the case, on top of the usual balance-staff shock protection, and it is specified to withstand magnetic fields to 80,000 A/m. Pellaton automatic winding, quick-set date and a stop-seconds mechanism complete it.

30 other watches in the library run the IWC 80110.

IWC

Vintage Ingenieur Automatic 1955 White Gold / Ardoise

IW3233-04 · 42.5 mm

IWC

Ingenieur Automatic Titanium / CLS55 / Bracelet

IW322707 · 42.5 mm

IWC

Ingenieur Automatic AMG GT

IW3246-02 · 46 mm

IWC

Vintage Ingenieur Automatic 1955 Stainless Steel / Italy

IW3233-09 · 42.5 mm