Big Ingenieur Gold

In Context

At 45.5 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 open, so the movement is visible without taking the watch apart, 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. 168 hours of reserve puts it well past a weekend — several days off the wrist and it is still going. At 21,600 vph the seconds hand advances 6 times a second, the slower and more audible rate of an older design.

IW5005-03 is one of 4 executions of the IW5005 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a silver dial.

The seven-day Pellaton automatic made for the Big Ingenieur, with a pierced rotor carrying the IWC logo in gold. It is all but identical to the 51111 of the Big Pilot; the difference is that the 51111 sits inside a soft-iron cage against magnetism while the 51113 does without one, the Big Ingenieur's oversized case providing that protection itself.

3 other watches in the library run the IWC 51113.

IWC

Big Ingenieur Black / Alligator

IW5005-01 · 45.5 mm

IWC

Big Ingenieur Black

IW5005-05 · 45.5 mm

IWC

Big Ingenieur Platinum

IW5005-02 · 45.5 mm