IWC aim for perpetuity with the new Portugieser Eternal Calendar and Perpetual Calendar
Borna BošnjakAfter an Ingenieur-heavy 2023 and all the recent focus on materials with the Pilot’s Watch range, it was high time for IWC to give some love to the Portugieser. With its design stemming from the pocket watch-inspired pieces of the 1930s, the Portugieser’s clean dials, Roman numeral indices and large size always stood out. For 2024, this will undoubtedly continue, as the Schaffhausen brand introduces a whole slew of Portugieser references, including an update to the Perpetual Calendar, and an all-new Eternal Calendar. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Portugieser Eternal Calendar
From the outset, the name of the Eternal Calendar is ripe for attracting attention. But, what is it, really? Explaining it as simply as possible, the Portugieser Eternal Calendar is essentially a perpetual calendar on steroids, incorporating a new 400-year gear that accounts for an anomaly of the Gregorian calendar in which three leap years are skipped in a four-century cycle. Not only that, but with the help of a new reduction gear, the Double Moon display is now accurate to 45 million years, too. In a nutshell, it means you can rest easy all the way until the year 3999, as it’s yet to be decided whether 4000 is a leap year or not. Seeing as you’ve got another 2000-or-so years left to worry about that though, might be best to add a calendar reminder.
The Portugieser Eternal Calendar isn’t just a slightly reworked Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, however. For starters, the case is hewn of platinum, measuring in at 44.4mm in diameter and a whopping 15mm in height. While not much larger than the biggest Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, the increase in size was necessary considering the two new modules with added complexity.
Outwardly, however, the most complexity is visible on the dial. It’s actually quite an impressive effect, with cascading edges of transparent and opaque glass making up the elements. The base is a glass disc with a white-lacquered underside, to which the sub-dials and numerals are affixed by hand, suspending them above the white base.
Unfortunately, the pre-production sample that we got to experience before wasn’t quite ready to show off the new calibre 52460, though you can expect similarities to the 52616 I’ll touch on in a moment. You can expect plentiful circular graining and Geneva striping from the finished product, all visible through the box-domed sapphire caseback. As far as the technology goes, the two new modules are the most interesting. The first is the aforementioned 400-year gear, completing a single revolution every four centuries. With three strategically placed indents, it informs the rest of the mechanism when a leap year should be skipped, containing only eight components in total. The moon phase calculation involves a reduction gear train being placed between the base movement and the moon phase disc, with the teeth numbers for the three intermediate wheels decided by a computer simulation calculating over 22 trillion combinations. For the moon phase disc itself, the lower is in titanium, while the upper is in glass. Like all of IWC’s Kurt Klaus-inspired perpetual calendar calibres, the 52460’s functions are all crown-operated, and you’ve also got the brand’s signature Pellaton winding system and 7-day power reserve.
IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar pricing and availability
The IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar is available now. Price is on request.
| Brand | IWC |
| Model | Portugieser Eternal Calendar |
| Reference | IW505701 |
| Case Dimensions | 44.4mm (D) x 15mm (T) |
| Case Material | Platinum |
| Water Resistance | 50 metres |
| Crystal(s) | Box-domed sapphire front, sapphire back |
| Dial | Glass with white lacquer |
| Bracelet | Black alligator leather, platinum folding clasp |
| Movement | 52640, IWC-manufactured, Pellaton winding |
| Power Reserve | 168 hours (7 days) |
| Function | Hours, minutes, small seconds, power reserve, secular perpetual calendar |
| Availability | Now |
| Price | On request |
Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44
Calling the new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar the younger sibling to the Eternal may seem a tad unfair, but it really is the more casual, versatile option. For starters, there’s a choice of four dial colours and two types of gold case, with a more understated overall look, too. Continuing the theme of subtlety, the most noticeable change for the new Portugieser Perpetual Calendar collection is a more refined case, making this 44mm giant wear a little smaller than its on-paper dimensions suggest.
Let’s start with the dials, though, as their heavy sunburst finishing will be the most eye-catching detail. The Portugieser Perpetual offers a baby blue, sandy beige, sterling silver or golden brown, the latter being my pick of the bunch. The sans-serif Arabic numerals and legible layout are similar to the Eternal Calendar, though there’s no cut-out at 4 o’clock. The sub-dials are particularly striking, with the outside scales sitting on 15 layers of transparent lacquer.
IWC do say that the most notable change is in the case construction, with a slimmer midcase and new construction for the front and back. Nevertheless, the height still clocks in at a significant 14.9mm, and with the 44mm diameter, it’s safe to say you’ll need beefier wrists to pull this one off convincingly. You can choose between 18k white gold, or 18k 5N Armor Gold, which is IWC’s proprietary gold alloy that the brand doesn’t reveal too many details about, but state that it sports heightened hardness and wear-resistance compared to traditionally soft 18k gold.
On the movement side of things, the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 collection is powered by IWC’s 52616 calibre. This isn’t a new movement, appearing across multiple collections – and on the wrist of Lewis Hamilton and his Lake Tahoe Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar. The 7-day power reserve is topped up by a Pellaton winding system, with a semi-skeletonised rotor hovering over a striped and grained lattice of bridges.
IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 pricing and availability
The IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar is now available. Price: A$70,000 (18k Armour Gold), A$72,000 (18k white gold)
| Brand | IWC |
| Model | Portugieser Perpetual Calendar 44 |
| Reference | IW503703 IW503704 IW503702 IW503701 |
| Case Dimensions | 44.4mm (D) x 14.9mm (T) |
| Case Material | 18k white gold 18k 5N Armor Gold |
| Water Resistance | 50 metres, screw-down crown |
| Crystal(s) | Box-domed sapphire front, sapphire back |
| Dial | Sunburst light blue, sand beige, metallic brown, silver |
| Bracelet | Santoni Alligator leather, case-matching folding clasp |
| Movement | 52616, IWC-manufactured, Pellaton winding |
| Power Reserve | 168 hours (7 days) |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, small seconds, power reserve, perpetual calendar |
| Availability | Now |
| Price | A$70,000 (18k Armour Gold) A$72,000 (18k white gold) |