In our previous article, detailing the story behind IWC’s Da Vinci collection and the ladies’ models introduced at the SIHH 2017, we concluded that the Da Vinci collection has never looked so integrated as it does today.
The Da Vinci line, which is famous for receiving one of the best known IWC calibres – the IWC 79060 perpetual calendar designed by Kurt Klaus in 1985 – has been extended by two complicated models this year.
Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph
In the 1985 model, Kurt Klaus created a user-friendly perpetual calendar, which greatly decreased the setting overhead experienced on other such timepieces. He also managed to accomplish this by employing only 90 parts for the entire complication. This simplicity was cleverly conveyed to the user by Hano Burtscher, IWC’s lead designer back then, who arranged the army of scales, numbers and hands in a way that it makes perfect sense immediately. He used the self-enclosed form of the circle to establish unity.
The round shapes are also characteristics of the entire 2017 IWC Da Vinci collection: the case, the Arabic number fonts and rounded appliqués, the sub-dials just as the pushers – although they are more cylindrical.
The Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph naturally brings together the perpetual calendar and the chronograph functions thanks to the IWC-manufactured 89630 calibre and the careful design considerations. For the first time at IWC, the chronograph hours and minutes co-locate with the moon phase indicator on the sub-dial at 12 o’clock. Its blue colour differs from the rest in both model versions: the steel-cased slate-coloured version, and the silver-plated red gold version.
The moon phase mechanism requires correction in every 577.5 years. The calendar needs a manual one day advancement in every 100 years, when the leap day is omitted. Additionally, in 2300 the first two digits of the century slide need to be replaced, making it ready for the next 300 years.
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Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph steel-cased slate-coloured version
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Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph steel-cased slate-coloured version
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Da Vinci Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph
IWC issued another Da Vinci chronograph combining it with a tourbillon and a retrograde date indication. The balance wheel in the new in-house 89900 calibre can be stopped by two levers that grip rim. It is activated by pulling out the crown, and it allows the setting of the timepiece down to the seconds. The pallet and the escape wheel are made of diamond-coated silicon and have a newly developed geometry. As a result, the energy consumption is lower, extending the running time to 68 continuous hours.
Just like on the perpetual calendar timepiece, the chronograph’s hour and minute counters were given a dedicated sub-dial at 12 o’clock. The passing of the days is indicated by a retrograde hand on a black curved scale. The timepiece comes in one version: 18-carat red gold case with a silver-plated dial.
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IWC Da Vinci Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph
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IWC Da Vinci Tourbillon Rétrograde Chronograph
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Photo credits: IWC Schaffhausen, Loupiosity.com.
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