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Familiar Favourites

IWC's new Portugieser collection for 2020 pays tribute to its past while keeping an eye on the future.

Dylan Tan

Published Thu, May 7, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Watches

WITH ITS ELEGANTLY understated design and minimalist aesthetic, it's easy to see why the Portugieser comes across as the quieter cousin in IWC's family of watches.

But the collection is definitely an important one to the Schaffhausen luxury watch brand. Just ask Christoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC, for confirmation. "The Portugieser is our most iconic watch family," he tells BTWeekend Magazine in an interview ahead of the brand unveiling its 2020 Portugieser novelties for Watches & Wonders last month.

Unsurprising too because, come to think of it, both the Portugieser and IWC share more than a few things in common.

For a start, both are connected to water - IWC was established in 1868 when its American founder Florentine Ariosto Jones crossed the Atlantic and set up a hydroelectric-powered shop by the Rhine River; while…