2016 didn’t just mark the opening of the IWC Boutique in Via Montenapoleone, located in the heart of the Milan fashion district, but celebrated the comeback of the IWC Portuguese Double Chronograph watch on the market too, after a ten year absence.
The IWC Portuguese Rattrapante, or IWC Portugieser Rattrapante according to the latest official naming, is a pillar in the history of the brand, and one of the most robust and aesthetically pleasing chronographs ever made. Two years ago, the Italian branch of IWC Schaffhausen launched a commemorative version in rose gold after the ribbon-cutting ceremony and has, this year, introduced a second limited edition watch, this time in steel.
The IWC Portugieser Chronograph Rattrapante Edition Boutique Milan in steel has all the key attributes of the original gold version, like a vivid blue dial, featuring tachymetric and telemetric scales, with contrasting gold colored hands and Arabic applied numerals. The brand’s designers have in my opinion found an eye-catching combination in terms of fonts, hues, and size that make the 2019 IWC Portuguese Rattrapante look and feel more premium than its old sibling, discontinued in 2006.
Tachymetric and telemetric scales are not breaking news in the history of the collection, as I specified already in a previous post: the 2004 IWC Portuguese Double Chronograph Edition “Milan” was the first IWC Portuguese ever (maybe the only one) to have both scales on the dial. Extremely limited in numbers, that version came in just fifty specimens, as a collaboration timepiece between the brand and the Italian boutique Barozzi.
Another distinctive feature of the IWC Portugieser Chronograph Rattrapante Edition Boutique Milano in steel is its caliber IWC 76240, that is hand-wound in comparison to a Top Gun Ceratanium‘s, for example. This attribute helps make the IWC Portugieser Rattrapante, a mechanically complex hand-wound chronograph, look and wear thinner than expected: at 40.9 mm in diameter and approximate 13.0 mm in thickness, the IWC Portuguese Rattrapante is the only double chronograph to date to easily slide under the cuff.
The idea of crafting the watch in stainless steel is winning since this option makes this special edition accessible to a broader audience. It is no coincidence that during the official launch of the collection, held at the brand’s boutique, starring star chef and friend of the brand Andrea Berton, many of the 150 pieces had gone already. The IWC Portugieser Chronograph Rattrapante Edition Boutique Milano in steel is available exclusively at the IWC brand boutique in Milan and retails for €12,600.
Whether you are from Milan, around Italy or the world over, it is a not-to-be-missed collector’s piece, for its limited production and allure either, given by one-of-a-kind features like the blue dial and two scales, plus gold-colored indexes and hands. Features you can’t find anywhere also on a Portugieser unless IWC opts for re-introducing the IWC Portuguese Rattrapante in its standard collection with this precise design. Something it hasn’t done yet.
(Photo credit: Marco Scarpa per IWC Watches)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
