IWC Celebrates 75 Years of the Portugieser at Harrods

To mark the anniversary, Swiss brand IWC, has teamed up with London department store Harrods to host an exclusive exhibition featuring the newly re-launched Portugieser collection.

Opening in the Harrods Fine Watch Room on April 10th, the pop-up 'Iconic' exhibition will allow visitors an exclusive glimpse of the new collection, which launched in January at the SIHH Watch fair in Geneva and comes with a host of technological and design modifications.

Highlights from the new collection include the introduction of IWC’s first Annual Calendar, featuring a newly developed in-house movement; the 52000 calibre, as well as the vintage-inspired Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days Edition ‘75th Anniversary’, a modern-day interpretation of one of the original Portugieser time-pieces from the 1930’s.

“With the 75th jubilee of the Portugieser in 2015, IWC is celebrating the birthday of a genuine icon,” says Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen. “The Portugieser is not only one of our oldest and best-known watches but probably also the most pres-tigious of our brand.”

“With a wealth of sophisticated complications and movements, the Portugieser line has for many years come to symbolize our expertise as manufacturers of movements. None of our other watch families incorporates so many of the technical tours de force of haute horlogerie.”

The exhibition will also explore the brand’s history and rich heritage, which dates back to 1868. Alongside the new Portugieser collection, two vintage IWC timepieces; a Savonette Taschenuhr Kalibre Jones from 1875 and a Portu-gieser Anniversary Watch Hand-Wound Calibre 9826, will also be on display.

Founded in 1868, IWC have grown to become one of the world’s most renowned luxury watch brands.