Important Collector's Wristwatches, P...

Geneva, Dec 02, 2003

LOT 26

International Watch Co., Schaffhausen, "Portuguese 2000" Automatic, No. 189/250. Produced in a limited edition of 250 examples in 2000 to commemorate the year 2000. Very fine and rare, self-winding, platinum gentleman?s wristwatch with 7-day power-reserve and a plat- inum IWC buckle. Accompanied by a wooden fitted box and a certificate.

USD 12,000 - 14,000

EUR 10,300 - 12,000

Sold: USD 15,525

C. three-body, solid, polished and brushed, concave lugs, transparent case back. D. satiné silver with applied white gold Arabic numerals, subsidiary dials for the seconds and the up-and-down indication. White gold "Feuille" hands. M. Cal. 5000, rhodium-plated. "fausses côtes" decoration, 44 jewels, straight line lever escapement, monometallic balance adjusted to 5 positions, shock absorber, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, skeletonized bi-directional rotor with gold medallion inlay egraved "IWC -Probus Scafusia - Seven (7) Days Power-Reserve". Dial case and movement signed. Diam. 42 mm. 


LOADING IMAGES
Click to full view
Image
Grading System
Grade: AA

Very good
Case: 1

As new
Movement: 1

As new
Dial: 1 - 01

Notes

Portuguese 2000 In the late 1930?s two Portuguese businessmen, Rodrigues and Teixeira ordered a wristwatch with marine chronometer-like qualities from IWC. The company responded to what was at this at the time a rather unusual request by producing the desired watch which housed a pocket watch movement, Cal. 74 in a large case. Who would have thought this would be the birth of the famous "Portuguese" watch, IWC?s instantly recognizable icon? However, between 1939 and 1981 only 669 Portuguese watches were produced. These were good quality watches that simply and very reliably told time. It was however not until 1993, in order to celebrate the company?s 125th anniversary, that the Portuguese was launched as the "Jubilee" model. It was an instant success! IWC carefully extended the Portuguese line over the following years. 2000 marked again a memorable event for the company with the launch of the Portuguese 2000 featuring the newly devel- oped Cal. 5000, a reference to the past which alscombined cutting edge technology and materials. The Cal. 5000 self-winding mechanism is based on Albert Pellaton?s famous automatic winding system. Pellaton joined IWC in 1944 as Technical Director and became the driving force behind many technical innovations. IWC?s Cal. 81 and Cal. 85 "families" of movements, the last one to be Cal. 8541, directly inspired the develop- ment of the automatic Cal. 5000. After 4 years of devel- opment the "Portuguese 2000" was unveiled at the Basel Fair in 2000.It is the only large automatic caliber of its kind, comprising 286 parts. With a power-reserve of 168 hours or 7 days it will run with consistent accu- racy. The Pellaton winding mechanism ensures a minimal amount of friction while optimizing kinetic energy. This makes it a highly efficient self-winding system with only minimal tear and wear. The Portuguese 2000 was produced as follows: 250 examples in platinum, 750 in 18K pink gold and 1000 in stainless steel. The first 100 timepieces in each mtal were sold together as exclusive sets of 3, numbered 1 - 100.