The IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calender takes you to the heavens
In the new 2015 anniversary IWC collection, both versions of the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar, one with a double moon and one with a single moon, and their nine functions are powered by in-house movements from the IWC 52000-calibre family. Thanks to a number of modest design changes, the Reference 5034 now more closely resembles the Portugieser family and conveys an altogether more discreet and elegant impression.
The full moon has been steeped in mystery and legend since the beginning of time. Many believe it to have an influence on them and many cultures hold celebrations during the nights of the full moon to this day. It is undisputed that the moon's gravitational pull controls the tides and thus exerts a real influence on the earth and our lives. In the revamped models, the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar with a double moon (Ref. 5034) and the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar with a single moon (Ref. 5033), the moon phase display is not only the visual centerpiece of the dial. It is also the technical highlight of a premium timepiece rich in watchmaking tour de force. The perpetual moon phase display is one of the Schaffhausen manufacturer's most spectacular in-house designs, primarily for a level of precision unique in a mechanical wristwatch. It takes the moon 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds to orbit the earth. Generations of watchmakers have been frustrated by the attempt to translate these figures into a moon phase display using only the size and number of wheels in a train. Conventional moon phase displays in mechanical wristwatches need to be corrected at relatively short intervals.
Kurt Klaus, the master watchmaker at IWC who designed the company's first perpetual calendar, succeeded in the mid-1980s in reducing the deviation of the mini-moon of the display compared to the moon's actual orbit to just 1 day in 122 years. It was a masterstroke surpassed only in 2003 with the introduction of the large 5000 calibre. Thanks to its considerable size, the calibre's larger moon phase wheels have a higher transmission ratio. As a result, the display will need to be corrected by 1 day only after 577.5 years.