IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN
Following the brief to “design a rugged, weatherproof watch that cuts a fine figure on any occasion,” IWC introduced the
Yacht Club in 1967. Driven by a highprecision movement of then technical director Albert Pellaton, who developed the revolutionary pawl-winding system that featured in the company’s first automatic movement, the elegant, sporty automatic timepiece in stainless steel and bracelet soon established itself as one of IWC’s most successful models.
In 2010, the company decided to revive the legendary name and integrated the
Yacht Club into the Portugieser family. In the Portugieser Yacht Club Chronograph, IWC chief designer Christian Knoop created a nautical sports watch that met the highest expectations. The 45mm case is ruggedly built and water-resistant to 6 bars. Thanks to the iconic Portugieser design, the watch also cuts a fine figure on dry land. Powered by the IWC-manufactured 89360 calibre, the versatile watch combines stopped hours and minutes, and displays them in a simpleto-read totaliser at 12 o’clock. The flange, which features a quarter-second scale, not only enables precise reading of stop times, but also lends the Portugieser Yacht Club Chronograph the character of a nautical instrument and its understated sporty style.
This year, the Yacht Club Chronograph enters its third generation and sports new eye-catching features including a filigree bezel and a flat casing ring, both of whom lend the 44mm case particularly elegant proportions. This is accompanied by the very first IWC model - the Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tide - to feature the company’s newly developed tide indication.
The Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tide is the first watch from IWC to sport the newly developed tide indication. A subdial at 6 o’clock indicates the expected times for the next high and low tide. This is made possible by a special wheel train that translates the rhythm of the hours into the constantly shifting chronological sequence of high and low water.
Because the display rotates continuously, it always shows the approximate time of the next high tide. If the arrow points to 12 o’clock at 10 o’clock in the morning,
the next high tide will be a little later than 12 o’clock because, in the next two hours, the tidal disc will also move a little further. On the opposite side you can also read the approximate time for the next low tide.
The exact times for high and low tide depend on the longitude. As a result, the display needs to be calibrated once using the tide tables for a specific location, such as New York, Lisbon or Sydney. According to this, the deviation is theoretically only 10 minutes in 100 years. The display works reliably on all coasts with two equally strong high and low tides per day.
Another special feature of the Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tide is the double moon phase display, which has been enhanced to show spring and neap tides and thus provides information about the strength of the current tides. Spring tides, which bring particularly high water, occur at full moon and new moon. At half-moon, however, the sun and moon are at right angles to each other. The result of this is a weaker high tide, or “neap tide”. So, anyone in charge of a boat would be well advised to take a look at the dial of their Portugieser Yacht Club Moon & Tide.
The module for the double moon phase display and the tide display is driven by the IWC-manufactured 82835 calibre, encased in 18k 5N gold with a blue rubber strap with textile inlay. This robust automatic movement features a Pellaton winding fitted with ceramic components and offers a power reserve of 60 hours.