Perhaps less identifiable than the Pilot's Watch or the Portuguese, IWC's Portofino collection is a discreet and elegant line that was born in 1984 and has declined over time with various complications. IWC has now revamped it by offering a perpetual calendar version: not the first in the collection, but the first in steel (it is also available in 5N gold) and with a diameter of 40 mm. IWC's smallest perpetual.
The movement in the Portofino Perpetual Calendar is the 82650-calibre automatic winding system Pellaton with ceramic components and a 60-hour power reserve. The perpetual calendar module is the one developed in the 1980s by the then chief watchmaker Kurt Klaus, who designed a mechanical construction that enabled all the calendar displays to advance synchronously, with the option (still incredible in the 1980s) of adjusting them forwards - simultaneously - via the crown alone (without the use of auxiliary corrector buttons, which are usually found on the caseband of more classic perpetual calendars). The mechanical programme recognises the different lengths of the months and automatically adds a day at the end of February every four years. It will not need any correction until 2100.
The calendar information is divided into three secondary displays: date at 3 o'clock, month with moon phase at 6 o'clock and day of the week at 9 o'clock with leap year indication. The perpetual moon phase display is so precise that it deviates from the orbit of the earth's satellite by only one day after 577.5 years. Both versions are fitted with blue straps in traceable Swiss calfskin.
Prices23,500 euros in steel; 36,000 euros in gold.
