A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP
Fast cars and mechanical watches share a timeless connection
The connection between fast cars and mechanical watches is touted by many brands in their sponsorship of motor racing.
IWC Schaffhausen steered by Christoph Grainger-Herr — the CEO since April last year — has taken that further by becoming the first watch brand to compete in classic car races with its own team and vehicle.
The chosen Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing, with vertically-opening doors reminiscent of a seagull’s wings, shares a timeless design, mechanical engineering and high-performance with IWC’s robust Ingenieur watch featuring shock and magnetic fields protection. Moreover, they debuted at about the same time in 1955.
Last month, Grainger-Herr launched the IWC Racing Team as well as a limited-edition Ingenieur Chronograph at the 76th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, held at Goodwood House estate in the south of England.
Since 2015, the Swiss maison has been the official timing partner of the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, which originally took place between 1949 and 1966, and was revived in 2014 as an annual event in March to start off the historic motor racing season.
The commemorative Ingenieur Chronograph Sport Edition “76th Members’ Meeting At Goodwood” is housed in a 44mm titanium case with a crown protection, and matched with a black calfskin leather strap.
Black subdials, luminescent black hands and blue chronograph hands stand out on the silver-plated dial — the layout evoking a racing dashboard.
Available in 176 pieces, the sporty timepiece is powered by the IWC-manufactured 69380 calibre featuring a pawl-winding system and a 46-hour power reserve.
Protecting the movement from magnetic fields, a soft-iron inner cage has been designed with its lower part inspired by a brake disk and imprinted with “76”.
At the 76th Goodwood Members’ Meeting, David Coulthard took the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing numbered 68 (a reference to the establishment of IWC in 1868) and finished in ninth place in the Salvadori Cup, a competition for vintage sports cars that raced between 1955 and 1960.
In the future, the IWC Racing Team will compete in other classic events. Besides Coulthard, alternating drivers will include Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Jochen Maas, Maro Engel and Carmen Jorda.