Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Beijing International Film Festival 2016

In Context

At 45 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. At 12 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. Rated to 30 m, it is protected against rain and splashes and nothing beyond that.

The movement is hand-wound, so winding it becomes part of the day rather than something the watch does for you. 192 hours of reserve puts it well past a weekend — several days off the wrist and it is still going. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

IW5101-14 is one of 11 executions of the IW5101 base reference. Underneath they are the same watch; what separates this one is a silver dial and a stainless steel case. It was a limited edition. Introduced in 2011.

IWC

Black · Stainless Steel

IW5101-02 · 45 mm

IWC

Silver · Stainless Steel

IW5101-03 · 45 mm

IWC

Grey · Red Gold

IW5101-04 · 45 mm

IWC

Blue · Stainless Steel

IW5101-06 · 45 mm

IWC

Silver · Red Gold

IW5101-07 · 45 mm

IWC

Grey · Stainless Steel

IW5101-11 · 45 mm

IWC

Grey · Stainless Steel

IW5101-15 · 45 mm

IWC

Blue · Stainless Steel

IW5101-16 · 45 mm

+ 2 more variants in this family.

An eight-day hand-wound calibre introduced in 2011 with the Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days. Two mainspring barrels supply the reserve, tracked by a retrograde indicator on the dial at eight o'clock. The balance is free-sprung — no regulator index, adjusted instead by four gold weights set into the rim — and runs against a Breguet overcoil hairspring. Small seconds sit at six and the date at three.

12 other watches in the library run the IWC 59210.

IWC

Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Red Gold / Lafayette

IW510112 · 45 mm

IWC

Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Stainless Steel / Green / Harrods

IW5101-17 · 45 mm

IWC

Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Red Gold / Silver

IW5101-07 · 45 mm

IWC

Portofino Hand-Wound Eight Days Stainless Steel / Black

IW5101-02 · 45 mm