It's Complicated
Modern innovations have elevated IWC’s Ingenieur. THE RAKE’s correspondent went to Milan to study the line’s latest launches.
The Ingenieur has pedigree, historical significance and style in abundance. It has filled a void IWC had for decades — that of a sports model with bracelet and modest proportions that could accommodate complications further down the line. Its evolution can be traced through three key phases.
When it debuted in 1955, the Ingenieur was designed as a professional watch for engineers and scientists working in environments with strong magnetic fields. Its key innovation was an anti-magnetic soft-iron cage that protected the movement, capable of withstanding fields up to 80,000 A/m.
In 1976 the legendary watch designer Gérald Genta reimagined the Ingenieur as the SL Reference 1832, introducing the distinctive integrated bracelet and bezel with exposed screws that would define the collection’s DNA. This design aligned with the era’s preference for luxury sports watches, following Genta’s other iconic creations, the Royal Oak and the Nautilus.
The collection continued to evolve through the 1980s and 1990s, but it wasn’t until 2023, with the Ingenieur 40, that it really hit its stride. This significant refresh returned to Genta’s original design principles while incorporating modern innovations. The 40mm case with integrated bracelet showcases the combination of brushed and polished surfaces that defined the original SL model — less a reissue and more an evolution of Genta’s seventies vision with better wearability.
I was invited to Milan to get hands-on with the watches. Interestingly, IWC used runway models to showcase them — a masterstroke, as you rarely see these timepieces on wrists at launch events. Seeing a gentleman wearing a smaller gold 35mm model really hit home. Here are the five most noteworthy launches:
The Automatic 42 in full black ceramic boasts a combination of three distinct finishing techniques — satin-finishing, sand- blasting and polishing-required specialised diamond tooling. It is powered by the IWC 82110 manufacture calibre with the robust Pellaton winding system featuring ceramic components. Christian Knoop, IWC’s Chief Design Officer, says: “For the Automatic 42 in full black ceramic, the highly complex case construction with sapphire caseback, allowed for our calibre 82, has proven itself in the collection over a couple of years now.”
The Ingenieur Automatic 40 in 18-carat 5N gold might be my favourite of the novelties. It takes an Automatic 40 that feels subdued, and a watch that publicly whispers, and introduces this solid-gold number, which positively shouts (in the best possibly way).
The Ingenieur Perpetual Calendar 41 (ref. IW344903) successfully integrates Kurt Klaus’s ingenious perpetual calendar mechanism into the Ingenieur case. The calendar’s mechanical programming accounts for varying month lengths and leap years with a crown-only adjustment system. The 41mm case maintains perfect balance between sophistication and sporty robustness. David Seyffer, IWC’s museum curator, reveals: “There has been precedent for Ingenieur and the perpetual calendar complication. The head of the case- polishing department at IWC in the seventies wanted to make a run of 50 SL Jumbo perpetual calendars. He took his personal ref. 1832 watch and put a perpetual calendar in the watch — only to be told by Mr. Blümlein [Günter Blümlein], the boss of the era, that they wouldn’t, because they needed a smaller size. The prototype remains as the only evidence of that moment in time.”
The Ingenieur Automatic 35 demonstrates IWC’s technical prowess in miniaturisation. There was a years-long development process to scale down Genta’s design while maintaining proportions. If we look at Audemars Piguet with their Royal Oak or Cartier and their Panthère, we know the ‘mini’ moment is real.
The limited-edition Ingenieur Automatic 40, with its green dial, draws inspiration from a modified Genta-designed Ingenieur SL worn by Brad Pitt’s character, Sonny Hayes, in the forthcoming F1 movie. By all accounts he wanted the green to be slightly different to the helmet that inspires it. The bottom line is that, much like Top Gun, this movie is set to be a hit. Few watchmakers align with popular culture as well as IWC.
