The Legendary Reverso

A Reverso has two sides, hence its name. The dial on a Reverso is much like a painting because of its rectangular shape. A Reverso is somehow like a book as well, especially when you turn it to see the other side of the watch. It is much like flipping a book’s pages.

The Reverso “Chocolate”

In rose gold, this watch has a grand size of 46.8 x 27.4mm. Thanks to its size, it does not look too small on bigger wrists. The dial has a very strong vintage feeling with its chocolate brown color, arrow-shaped hour markers with aged lume, railway track minute markers and a sub-dial for seconds display. The sword hands are plated with rose gold. Together we see a design which sticks to its ancestors’ in the 1930s. The other side of the case is blank, leaving you space for any engraving.

The Casa Fagliano strap

What is better is that the watch comes with a shell cordovan strap by Casa Fagliano, an Argentinian polo boots maker. The brown shell cordovan strap has special stitching style that complements very well with the striped case.

The movement

Inside this watch is the JLC movement 822/2 which has 45 hours of power reserve. It is manually wound and the winding is very smooth.

On the wrist

On the wrist, this watch is perfect for occasions like formal dinners and business meetings. Because of its size, it is also a good piece to wear when you want something understated yet charming to decorate your wrist on a casual day.

Conclusion

All in all, this watch is a truly amazing piece. It has all the vintage elements a watch lover would like to see. The brown dial is almost like a tropical dial but it is not. The strap is really cool and it completes the vintage puzzle for the watch , as this watch will certainly be downgraded by any other strap .

  

The Portuguese Collection

The Portuguese Collection has long been one of IWC’s most iconic collections. It features watches that look classic but retains bits of modern design. An IWC Portuguese is always easy to recognize. Design features, such as leaf-shaped hands, railway track chapter ring, Arabic numerals and classic case shape, make the Portuguese one of the most successful collections for IWC. The Portuguese 50237 Perpetual Calendar here is in white gold with an Ardoise dial.

Case

The case size of the watch is 44mm and it is 15.5mm thick. This imposing size has been the tradition of the Portuguese collection. The case has a polished concave bezel, a brushed middle case and a polished display case back. The bezel reflects light in an elegant way and its concave shape make it extraordinarily classy to look at and it perfectly complements the box-type crystal. The lugs are curved and polished on the surfaces while brushed on the sides.

Dial and hands

There are a lot to read on the dial. At 12 o’ clock, you have the moonphase display and the brand logo on it. The moon is polished and is silver in color while the sky and stars are grey and silver to match the dial color and the white gold case. At 9 o’ clock, there is the sub-dial for seconds and days. The display of months is at 6 o’ clock. The power reserve indicator and the display of dates are in the same sub-dial at 3 o’ clock. Also not to be missed is the display ofyears at 7 o’ clock.

As a perpetual calendar, this watch can adjust automatically during the end of each 31-day and 30-day month. It can also track leap years automatically. The watch needs no adjustment until the year 2499 and the moonphase display will be accurate for more than 500 years.

The dial layout is clear and easy to read as most texts are in a contrasting white color. The Arabic numbers and the railway track chapter ring are there to highlight its Portuguese bloodline. The grey sunburst, under different lighting, gives out different shades of grey.

The hands, long and leaf-shaped, sweep round the dial in a classy and clear fashion every time you adjust the time.

The movement

The watch is equipped with an IWC Caliber 51613, which is a rather big movement as it is about 38mm in diameter and it is quite big as the case itself is 44mm. It has a power reserve of 7 days, or 168 hours, ensured by a single barrel. It is a very substantial amount of power and a 7-day power reserve will spare you the trouble of winding the watch all the time. The movement has a rotor that has a solid gold IWC medallion and it uses the Pellaton winding system which uses pawls rather than direct gearing between the rotor and barrel. This helps isolate the gear train from shocks.

As mentioned before, the movement itself is quite big. When you look at the case back, you can have a feast. It is quite an imposing view when you compare its size to smaller movements on watches like an Royal Oak Offshore. The rotor, the plates and the wheels look way larger than other movements.

Strap and buckle

This watch comes with a finely finished glossy black alligator strap and a robust IWC deployant buckle. The strap is particularly nice as it has orange lining with white stitching while on the front it has black matching stitching.

Conclusion

As one of the most recognized watch in the world, a Portuguese is widely worn by businessmen and suit wearers. Surely, the big case size means that it can always go with any casual wear. On the wrist, it has a lot of wrist presence and its substantial weight  make it hard to be neglected. Even with a t-shirt and jeans, this IWC Portuguese Perpetual calendar will impress.

Also, this watch is quite affordable compared to other perpetual calendars produced by Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet and the like. With a white gold case at 44mm and good functionality, this is a brilliant watch for anyone who looks for a perpetual calendar.

Ready for a horological lesson?

If a watch can teach you a lesson on horology, which watch will it be? The

Breguet 7027 may be the answer.

Where does this watch come from?

Named after its founder Abraham-Louis Breguet, Breguet is a brand that strives to preserve the essence of watchmaking left the giant. They came up with an idea of making a watch that could pay tribute to the Souscription watches made by A.L Breguet in the 1790s. Soon, the Tradition Collection was born and the 7027 came out.

Case and dial

This 7027 here has a 37mm case in white gold. The middle of the case has the signature Breguet coin-edge pattern. The case is around 12mm thick and it has welded lugs. The black lacquered dial is made of a plate of solid gold. It features three different hand-applied patterns : the Clou de Paris in the center, circular graining around the hour ring and a grain d’orge (barley grain) pattern that separates the different zones of the dial. Not many manufatures use solid gold for their dials and Breguet is one of the manufature that craft their dials by hand with solid gold. The hands are very Breguet as well as they have the classic moon tips.

Movement

The movement is what really draws a person into this masterpiece. The hand-wound Cal507 by Breguet is shown on the front of the watch. You can see from the right the blance wheel, the pallet fork, the escape wheel, the fourth wheel, the third wheel and the center wheel on the left. At the center of the watch below the dial is the barrel where the power is stored. It is a vivid horological lesson.

The plates and bridges all have a frosted anthracite finish which can only be done through complex manual processes. The movement also features polished bevelled angles, circular graining on the barrel and wheels, polished angles on the wheel spokes and black-polished screws. It is literally a work of art. The movement has 50 hours of power reserve and you can check the it from the power reserve indicator to the left of the dial. On the back of the watch, you can see another power reserve indicator which is in a vintage style and you can also see the ratchet wheels that turns when you wind the watch. The layout of the movement is well-balanced and it resembles the movement of vintage Souscription watches.

  

A piece of lesson on horology

When looking at this watch, you cannot help but wonder how a mechanical watch works. The finishes of the 7027 is absolutely top-notch and one of a kind. You see the whole movement exposed to you when wearing the watch. You can enjoy each move of the pallet fork or the balance wheel whenever you stare at it. It is a piece of horological essence that AL Breguet represents.

Style-wise, the watch has a classic size of 37mm and the skeleton dial (the movement) gives an impression that it is a watch with complications while it is just a simple watch. The welded lugs look vintage and the coin-edge case band reinforce that vintage element of the watch. If you ever want to own a watch that represents both modern and classic horology, this is the watch to have.