IWC Portugieser Hand Wound Monopusher Edition "Laureus Sport for Good"

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Yesterday, 17th February 2020, IWC Schaffhausen organised in Berlin a new edition of “Laureus Sport for Good” Awards Gala. In a festive ambience, Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO IWC Schaffhausen presented and welcomed the Laureus Academy Members. With this occasion, a celebration piece was launched – the IWC Portugieser Hand Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good”. I present my images and my impressions about the new piece.

Hands-on IWC Portugieser Hand Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good”

This year’s edition of “Laureus Sport for Good” is part of the Portugieser family. Limited to 500 pieces, the IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good” is, as the name suggests, a hand-wound monopusher chronograph. The watch combines the typical Laureus blue theme dial with the characteristics of the Portugieser: the minute register, applied Arabic numerals, and slim feuille hands.

Please see below a short wrist roll and hands-on clip:

Note: the presented piece is a prototype. Although full functional and identic with the series, this piece had a metal caseback with a prototype engravings model (the 000/250 engraving is, in this case, incorrect for the 500 limited series).

Case

IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good” comes in a large 46mm stainless steel case. The three-parts construction is decorated with a polished bezel, a brushed caseband and an engraved full metal caseback.

The lugs are nicely integrated into the case body. The decorations are extended over the lugs, making the lugs seamlessly part of the generously sized case.

The monopusher is integrated into the simple crown. Both, the crown and the pusher offer very pleasant tactile feedback. I think is easily noticeable in the above video that the chrono-pusher works effortless but with a sure and precise actuation.

For a height of 13.9mm, the watch is rather tall for a hand wound. Considering the overall dimensions, the watch is well balanced. My “delicate” wrist enjoyed the watch. Only after I have read the specs I realised that the watch is quite big. On the wrist, it wears smaller.

The Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher is fitted with a leather strap and a deployment clasp with “Probus Scafusia” engraved insignia.

Dial

The Laureus Sport for Good Edition features the signature blue dial. On this edition, the watch bears the face of the Portugieser chronograph collection.

On a sunray brushed background, one can recognise some distinct elements: the hand-applied Arabic numeral, the vertical layout dial with 60-minutes chrono counter at 12 o’clock and small seconds at 6 o’clock. The sub-dials are sunken and present a circular pattern. The design elements are similar to the new released Portugieser Chronograph presented a week ago.

A beautiful detail is represented by the 8 days power reserve indicator placed on the horizontal line, together with the date and printed brand’s name.

The date aperture reveals a white on blue scheme that fits great into the theme. The date is well visible through the large aperture.

The dial is pleasantly balanced. True that the size of the watch permits a nice and clean aspect, specific to the IWC Portugieser timepieces.

Movement

Unfortunately, IWC does not spoils us with a view to the 59360 Calibre. The monopusher placed inside the crown starts, stops and resets the chronograph by a simple push. The handling is user-friendly and straight forward.

The manual wound Calibre 59360 features a huge 192 hours of power reserve at a 4Hz operating frequency. The movement comprises 281 components, from which 36 are jewels.

I expect nothing less than a nice decoration of the movement. The press release talks about Côtes de Genève and perlage but I am sure that, in the metal, it look great. Witness is the stock image shown below.

IWC Calibre 59000 (Image credits to IWC Schaffhausen)

Final notes

The first Portugieser with monopusher chronograph is the 14th Laureus special edition from IWC. The timepieces was designed by the 15-year-old Yi Xin, a “Special Olympics China” contestant. I truly appreciate that the brand is involving in life of the children, bringing them hope and a better life.

The IWC Portugieser Hand Wound Monopusher Edition “Laureus Sport for Good” has a pleasant wrist presence. With smaller wear as expected, the watch looks good on my wrist even if I usually not wear pieces greater than 43mm diameter. I have played with the chrono on and off the wrist and I was satisfied by its behaviour: easy to use and precise in action.