Horological Meandering

AnthonyTsai
[PuristS]
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Pictures of the new IWC watches at the Beverly Hills IWC Boutique SIHH 2009 Trunk Show

The Beverly Hills IWC Boutique is currently showcasing the SIHH 2009 watches for a few days, so Ming, Art and I made took some time out of our work schedules and met up for lunch yesterday.  After lunch at a local Italian restaurant, we then headed over to the IWC Boutique.  I've already seen the 2009 novelties at SIHH but since Ming and Art haven't, it doesn't hurt to see the new watches again

We were greeted by our gracious hosts Yelena Wood and Hoa Huynh, and a special thanks to Yelena for attending to us while the Boutique was busy throughout our time there.

We had 2 trays of watches, so let me start off with the IWC Big Ingenieurs.

IWC Ingenieur Automatic Mission Earth - a whopping 46mm automatic.

Another view of the Mission Earth but at a different angle.  Notice the black dial is a different color due to the anti-reflective coating at this viewing angle as compared to the above picture.

Below is a rose gold Big Ingenieur Chronograph.  The Big Ingenieur Chronographs have been increased to 45.5mm while the older Ingenieur Chronographs are 42.5mm.  The rose gold on this Ingenieur really pops out more than other RG watches IMO.

The Big Ingenieur Chronographs are available in steel, rose gold, and platinum which is limited to 250 pieces.

Next is the IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month.  Available only right now in rose gold and platinum which is limited to 500 pieces.  Case dimensions are 44 x 52.8mm.  I'm pretty confident it's safe to say IWC will release this model in other metals next year.

These Da Vinci Digitals are extremely comfortable on the wrist, and the strap molds perfectly on my 6.75" wrist.  Very easy to read the dial but I need to retrain my eyes because I'm used to seeing the date at 3 o'clock.  The date unfortunately is at 9 o'clock while the month is at 3 o'clock.  There's no year register in this perpetual but there's a Leap Year indicator.

Here's a movement shot of the Da Vinci Perpetual Digital.  (Sorry the IWC sticker is in the way.  We weren't allowed to take them off)

Next is the IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Edition Kurt Klaus.  Limited to 1000 pieces in rose gold.  Case dimensions are 43.1 x 51mm.

This specific watch was my favorite of all the watches present and would be the watch I would pick if given the opportunity to borrow any one of these SIHH 2009 watches for a day or 2   Extremely comfortable on the wrist, and the watch has presence on the wrist - not only visual presence but heft and weight presence.

A very beautifully finished case as you can see in the below picture.  The combination of brushed and polished finishing makes this watch sparkle in the light.

Next watch is the IWC Aquatimer Chronograph Edition Galapagos Islands.  Uses the new larger 44mm Aquatimer case, and the entire watch is completely coated with vulcanized rubber - even the chronograph pushers and crown! 

Notice the yellow arrow tipped seconds hand?

One drawback about the rubber coating is it attracts dust particles, nonetheless a very different "feel" and definitely worth trying on the wrist.  Both Ming and I noticed how comfortable this Galapagos Islands is while strapped to the wrist.  I have a feeling that other brands will begin to also produce rubberized watches (JeanRichard also debuted a rubberized watch at SIHH 2009 as well).

One drawback I noticed about this watch is if you tap on the bezel with your fingernail, it feels as if the entire bezel is made out of plastic.  One gentleman who walked in the Boutique to see the new pieces pointed this out to me, and I agree with his observation.  Doesn't feel that sturdy IMO.  The other Aquatimers do not feel this way, just this one. 

Notice the strap is textured and has indentations going inward into the strap.  A lot of crud can get stuck inside these indentations, so IWC will be redesigning the rubber strap as a result of dirt accumulating in these crevices.

Next are some of the other new 44mm Aquatimer Chronograph versions.  Below is the rose gold version which has a display back showing the the Da Vinci chronograph movement.  The steel Aquatimer 3 pictures below uses the IWC modified Valjoux 7750.

Since the steel version and rose gold versions house different movements, notice the different dial layouts between the two.

Btw, the IWC Aquatimer Deep Two was not present so don't have any pictures of it   

Next are the IWC Big Pilot's Watch Edition Antoine de Saint Exupery.  Available in white gold (250 pieces), rose gold (500 pieces), stainless steel (1149 pieces), and one in platinum which is not for sale.  So total is 1900 pieces which corresponds to Antoine de Saint Exupery's birth year.  This is IWC's 4th Antoine de Saint Exupery edition and will be the last tribute to this passionate aviator and writer.

Below is the stainless steel variant.

The brown dial is very difficult to capture in pictures since at most angles, the dial appears to be a reflective brown black color.

Here's the white gold variant.  You can tell the difference between white gold and steel by looking at the hour markers.  Notice the hour markers in this white gold piece are applied numerals instead of painted luminova.

Here's a better picture of the applied hour markers.

These are all the pictures I took at the Boutique, but both Ming and Art have tons more to share such as wrist shots.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Anthony

PS.  For SJX's IWC SIHH 2009 report, please CLICK HERE  to see even more pictures.

PSS.  Yelena also gave each of us a nice parting gift - an IWC hat.  Thank you!

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