Jewellery & Watch News
Brace yourself for something extraordinarily precise and sophisticated...
IWC Schaffhausen has ventured into the world of secular perpetual calendars. The Portugieser Eternal Calendar looks far ahead to the future with an accuracy guaranteed until the year 3999!
IWC Schaffhausen has revealed its first-ever secular perpetual calendar – the Portugieser Eternal Calendar Watch. It comes equipped with the most accurate moon phase indicator ever, promising a staggering accuracy that will last 45 million years! This release from the Watches & Wonders 2024, which begins today, is a massive achievement for the brand. The hyper-accurate complication has only ever been achieved three times in the past. Cleverly, the watch will adjust for skipped leap years that happen at the start of each century, plus it also breaks records with its unmatched moonphase accuracy. Meet the new IWC Schaffhausen Portugieser Eternal Calendar watch, dressed in platinum and featuring a Double Moon complication that displays how the moon is seen from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
A statement from IWC CEO, Chris Grainger-Herr
CEO of IWC Schaffhausen, Chris Grainger-Herr, has spoken about the momentous achievement as the watch was unveiled today at the 2024 Watches & Wonders event in Geneva;
“Since Kurt Klaus developed his legendary perpetual calendar in the 1980s, IWC Schaffhausen has accumulated unique expertise in mechanical calendars that are ingeniously efficient in their design and easy to use. With the new Portugieser Eternal Calendar, we now venture further than ever before, touching the limits of eternity. Our first secular perpetual calendar automatically takes into account the Gregorian calendar’s complex leap-year exception rules by skipping the leap year three times over 400 years. True to the spirit of engineers who are always pushing the boundaries, we have also fitted this technical marvel with a moon phase display that will only deviate from the moon’s orbit by one day after 45 million years.”
How the IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar Watch Works
The secular perpetual calendar that IWC is releasing in the design of the new Portugieser Eternal Calendar watch differs from other perpetual calendar watches in the fact that the standard perpetual calendar is only programmed for a four-year cycle. The movement is promised to calculate the leap years accurately until the year 3999 and delivers a seven-day power reserve too. The switch from the irregular calendar to a mechanical program is something that IWC describes as engineeringly challenging. While the Gregorian calendar divides the year into twelve months, only those years that are divisible by four count as leap years and a 29th day in February must be added. An additional correction is then needed to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year. Those centuries that can be divided by four hundred are leap years and all others are common years. All of this is possible thanks to a 400-gear module. Surprisingly, it requires only 8 additional components, but the complexity of the movement is nothing short of staggering. Instead of a standard perpetual calendar needing a manual correction in the years 2100, 2200, and 2300 - the Eternal Calendar accounts for these variations on its own.
Experts at IWC accompany the movement with a reduction gear between the base movement and the moon phase plate to ensure each calendar month is reduced as close as possible to one true lunar cycle. Unlike the 30-day cycle that we round off for convenience, a true lunar cycle actually lasts 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 2.88 seconds. To get the measurement as close as possible to a lunar cycle, experts at IWC have exhausted a precise computer system that simulates 22 trillion different combinations of teeth and wheels. The final result means that the instrument will only deviate from the moon’s orbit by one day after 45 million years.
The New IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar Watch
So, here are the details you’ll be wanting to know about the new IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar Watch. The case, measuring 44.4mm in diameter, is crafted from brushed and polished platinum and sits at a height of 15mm. The dial – undoubtedly the winning feature here – is made of glass with a frosted underside and a white lacquered finish. Interestingly, the combination makes for a very palpable display, with hands that are discreet and understated yet perfectly visible at the same time. The top of the dial is where you can access that stunning Double Moon complication. Balancing things out is the 6 o’clock location, featuring the months of the year surrounding the IWC logo. The dates in the month and 7-day power reserve can be found at 3 o’clock, while across the other side, at the 9 o’clock location, are the days of the week and a running seconds function. Lastly, the year is displayed in 4 digits at 8 o’clock. All of these functions are enabled by the sophistication of the in-house Calibre 52640, which provides a power reserve of seven days once fully wound. The watch is completed on a brown alligator leather strap, fitted with a matching platinum folding clasp for wearer comfort.
Buy the new Portugieser Eternal Calendar Watch at Jura Watches
Looking at the new Eternal Calendar watch released by IWC Schaffhausen today, it’s hard to pick what the biggest achievement is. Only three brands have ever mastered the secular perpetual calendar before. But that double moon phase display showing at the top of the dial, now has an accuracy of 45,000,000 years! Above all else, the platinum case and its beautifully polished and brushed finishes are worth celebrating, even if only worn to show off. If you’ve been looking for the perfect Portugieser Perpetual Calendar upgrade, 2024 is the year for it. You can pre-order the watch here with us at C W Sellors by calling 01335 216004 or email us at sales@cwsellors.com
