At the 2025 Goodwood Members’ Meeting, IWC Schaffhausen premiered a short film about its Ingenieur SL, Reference 1832. This stainless steel watch with an integrated bracelet was created by renowned Geneva watch designer Gérald Genta. As the Swiss luxury watch manufacturer marketed the model exclusively to engineers, the Ingenieur SL never became a commercial success. However, it remained a secret gem among collectors and other insiders. Set in the 1970s and titled “The most brilliant failure”, the film tells the true story of the Ingenieur SL. This story is intertwined with a fictional plot about one particular model with a green dial, which eventually finds its way to a racing driver.
Following the launch of its new Ingenieur collection at Watches and Wonders Geneva, IWC Schaffhausen unveiled a compelling short film about its Ignenieur SL, Reference 1832. The striking visual codes of this integrated bracelet sports watch from the 1970s have also inspired the modern IWC Ingenieur. The film premiere took place on the occasion of the 82nd Members’ Meeting in Goodwood in West Sussex in the UK.
IWC Schaffhausen’s “Most brilliant failure“
In the 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was shaken to its core by the Quartz crisis and skyrocketing gold prices. In this environment, IWC Schaffhausen turned to renowned Geneva artist and watch designer Gérald Genta to re-design its Ingenieur. Originally launched in the 1950s, this anti-magnetic tool watch had specifically been developed for professionals who were exposed to strong magnetic fields, such as scientists and engineers. At the height of his creative period, Genta created the Ingenieur SL, Reference 1832, featuring a bezel with five recesses and an integrated bracelet. Other watch manufacturers, who had commissioned watches from Gérald Genta, saw the signs of the times. They positioned their integrated bracelet designs as stainless steel luxury sports watches, establishing an entirely new product category in the industry. With the modesty and sobriety of a tool watch manufacturer, IWC chose a different approach and marketed the Ingenieur SL exclusively to engineers in the years to come. However, for this target group, Genta’s design was simply too bold and too visionary. And so, between 1976 and 1983, only 598 pieces were produced and sold.
The film tells the true story of the Ingenieur SL as IWC’s “most brilliant failure” and intertwines it with a fictional storyline about one specific model with a green dial. In the film, this particular watch is handed to a racing driver to practically test its shock resistance on the race track. Subsequently, the film shows how IWC launches the Ingenieur SL at the Basel Watch Exhibition in 1976 and follows sales director Hannes Pantli in his attempts to sell the watch to the envisioned audience of “engineers”. After failing to achieve commercial success, the Ingenieur SL is then re-discovered around the turn of the millennium by collectors and other enthusiasts. Suddenly, the unspoiled Gérald Genta design reaches top prices at auctions and starts to appear on the wrists of actors, musicians and sport stars. The green-dial Ingenieur SL in the film is ultimately acquired at an auction by the racing driver’s daughter, who follows her father’s footsteps on the race track. The short film tells the story of this particular watch as an example of the stories that each of the 598 Ingenieur SL watches ever produced could tell today.
Cinematic Storytelling
The short film project was endorsed and supported by Evelyne Genta, long-time life companion and business partner of Gérald Genta, and their daughter Alexia Genta. Evelyne Genta is also the founder of the Gérald Genta Heritage Association, which pays tribute to Genta’s creative genius while supporting the talent of tomorrow. In the film, Gérald Genta is portrayed by actor Anthony Watterson. IWC’s former Sales Director Hannes Pantli is played by Matt Schaal and IWC’s former Marketing Director Alexandre Ott by Brett Williams. Director was Rune Milton, who previously directed the cinematic tribute to IWC’s founding story, “Born of A Dream” (2020). Director of Photography was Daniel Voldheim, also known for “Presumed Innocent”.
