IWC Schaffhausen Vintage Collection watches

IWC launched the Vintage Collection in 2008 for its 140th anniversary: six models from its history, reworked as modern watches. Each carries a year in its name: the Pilot's Watch Hand-Wound 1936, Portuguese Hand-Wound 1939, Ingenieur Automatic 1955, Aquatimer Automatic 1967, Da Vinci Automatic 1969 and Portofino 1984.

The first three years match well-documented originals. IWC's Special Pilot's Watch of 1936 laid the ground for its aviation line, and the Portugieser of 1939, reference 325, stood out for its large size and pocket-watch movement. The Ingenieur of 1955, reference 666, was Albert Pellaton's watch for professionals, built to resist magnetic fields up to 80,000 A/m, and it is the design the Vintage Ingenieur draws on. The Vintage Ingenieur is a 42.5 mm automatic; the platinum version runs on the self-winding calibre 80111 with a date.

Under the shared name the six are quite different watches. The Pilot's Watch is a 44 mm hand-wound watch with a rotating countdown bezel. The Aquatimer is a 44 mm automatic diver with a 60-minute bezel, 14.5 mm thick. The Portuguese is also 44 mm and hand-wound, but only 10 mm thick. The Da Vinci measures 41 mm, and the Portofino spreads to 46 mm while staying 11 mm thick. The metals follow one pattern across all six: steel with a black dial, rose gold with silver, white gold with grey, and platinum with silver, limited to 500 pieces.

Smaller runs carry extra names. The Sincere versions pair rose gold with a black dial. The Ingenieur also came as an Italy edition in steel with an ivory dial, a Hong Kong edition in rose gold with a grey dial, brown-dial Boutique Editions in steel and rose gold, and a blue-dial Laureus edition in steel, limited to 1,000. A white-dial Aquatimer in white gold was limited to 30 pieces.