IWC Portugieser Automatic 42 IW501702

The storyWhy this reference matters

The Portugieser exists because in 1939 two Portuguese importers, Rodrigues and Teixeira, asked IWC for something that did not yet exist: a wristwatch with marine-chronometer accuracy. The answer was brute force — the pocket calibre 74, big balance, plenty of inertia. Out came reference 325, 41.5 mm across, in an age of 33 mm watches. Six hundred and ninety were built over forty-two years, and almost nobody wanted them.

The collection came back to life in 1993 with the 125th-anniversary reference 5441, and took its technical leap in 2000 with reference 5000: IWC's return to full in-house manufacturing, with a seven-day calibre and Pellaton winding. That architecture — twin barrels, power reserve at 3, small seconds at 9 — has defined the Portugieser Automatic ever since, and it is still alive in the IW501702.

At Watches and Wonders 2024 IWC redrew the case: slimmer bezel, leaner profile, box-glass sapphire front and back with a wider opening at the rear. Dials moved to as many as fifteen layers of clear lacquer over a brass base, sanded and mirror-polished, and the new colour codes arrived: Horizon Blue, Obsidian, Dune and Silver Moon. The calibre 52011 kept its seven days untouched.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

The IW501702 is the steel version with the Silver Moon dial, blue hands and applied markers, and a blue gradient alligator strap on a steel folding clasp. That exact combination is what pins the reference down: the IW501701 shares the same Silver Moon dial but sits on black alligator.

The case measures 42.4 mm across by 13 mm tall, rated to 5 bar. What to look for in profile is the double box glass, domed front and back. A Portugieser Automatic 42 with a thicker profile and a flat crystal predates 2024.

The depth in that dial is not a trick of the photography: it is fifteen layers of clear lacquer polished to a high gloss, with the sub-dials milled so they sit in relief. Applied Arabic numerals, leaf hands, and the railway-track minute scale the family has carried since 1939.

CollectingWhat collectors check

Here IWC is playing at home. The 52011 runs twin barrels, 168 hours of reserve, 31 jewels, 4 Hz and the Pellaton system with zirconium-oxide components — the firm's answer to the wear that afflicted the steel pawls of the older versions. If somebody offers you a seven-day Portugieser from an earlier generation, ask about precisely that: ceramic pawls are a before-and-after in servicing.

When you try it, wind it fully and let it run a whole day before judging the rate. A seven-day movement with the barrel half-charged will not give the same amplitude, and plenty of "it runs fast" diagnoses come from measuring a badly wound watch. Check as well that the reserve indicator drops back to zero smoothly, without jumping.

On condition, the redesigned 2024 case has less polished surface than the old one, but the bezel is still delicate. And keep an eye on the dial: fifteen layers of lacquer are a marvel while they are intact, but any knock or ingress of moisture leaves a mark that cannot be touched up. A damaged lacquered dial is a dial replacement, not a restoration.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

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Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with