IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar Unique Edition ‘BFI London Film Festival 2015’ – hands-on with Exclusive live photos

02/09/2015 | By Brice Goulard | 4 min read |

IWC is used to create, amongst their various limited editions, watches related to Film Festivals. It was the case recently with a unique Portofino Hand-Wound Monopusher Chronograph dedicated to the Tribeca Film Festival 2015. The same kind of partnership is now applied to the BFI London Film Festival. And as we’re not talking about just putting a name on the wall behind the red carpet, there’s something much more interesting for us here: watches. The first one we’re about to introduce you is based on a recent but inspired creation of the brand. Here is the IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar Unique Edition ‘BFI London Film Festival 2015’ that we had the chance to have on our wrists and in our hands.

Before going deeper into this (very nice) edition, be aware that it’s not going to be easy to acquire it. This unique timepiece will be auctioned at the BFI’s unique fundraising gala LUMINOUS on October 6th 2015. All of the proceeds raised will go towards the BFI national archive – and this year for the first time, the auction will be opened to bidders across the world through this link. Now you’re aware… This watch will certainly be quite pricy.

IWC Portuguese Annual Calendar Unique Edition ‘BFI London Film Festival 2015’

The IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar Unique Edition ‘BFI London Film Festival 2015’ is, as you’ve probably guessed by its name, based on the recently revealed (during the 2015 edition of the SIHH) Portugeiser Annual Calendar 5035 – oh yes, as we’re talking about this watch and for your personal culture, note that IWC change the name Portuguese to Portugieser, the original name of this watch. The IWC 5035 is an ingenious creation that boasts a technically complicated annual calendar movement (but not as complicated and pricy as a perpetual calendar) with an interesting integration of this complication in the classical, yet iconic design of the Portugieser Automatic 7-Day.

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On the dial, we found here the same indications and look as a regular Portugieser Automatic – long leaf hands, rail-road track for the minutes, applied numerals, small second sub-dial at 9 and 7-day power reserve indicator at 3 – but with 3 extra windows on the top, at 12. Displayed in arch, the calendar is easy to read with from left to right, the month, the date and the day of the week. As we’re talking about an annual calendar, it will automatically adjust to the months with 30 or 31 days, meaning that the only correction required will occur in February.

The IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar features a brand new movement. Even if the display from the dial and the long power reserve remain equal to the previous editions of the automatic Portugieser watches, it now comes with several improvements, including a double barrel (instead of a large unique one) for a better stability and accuracy, an improved Pellaton winding mechanism, some durable ceramic wheels (for the winding pawls, the automatic wheel and the rotor bearing) and an index-less balance with an increased frequency of 4 hertz. Besides these technical modifications, the movement is also featuring a nicer finish and a skeletonized rotor. What doesn’t change however is the large size of this calibre that completely fills the case.

The Unique Edition of the IWC Portugieser Annual Calendar for the ‘BFI London Film Festival 2015’ showcases several specific features. First of all, its case is made of solid platinum. Then, it comes with a silver-plated dial with sunburst pattern. Finally, the hands and the indexes are blued. The result is a cold but appealing look that really pops in the flesh, with natural light.

Now you’re probably like us, wandering why this watch is a unique edition. Clearly, the association of grey metal, with a silver dial that perfectly catches light and contrasting blued hands and indexes is superb. Why oh why IWC doesn’t come with this watch in a less limited edition….? No worries, there is another edition dedicated to the BFI London Film Festival, a cheaper, less limited version that boasts the same attributes – but you’ll have to wait a few days to see it on Monochrome. More details here on IWC.com.