IWC Portugieser Chronograph IW371617

Specifications

Case size

41mm diameter

Case material

Stainless steel

Bezel

None, fixed case, dress chronograph

Dial

Silver-plated with blue hands and appliques (also produced in black, blue, green and red on other dial variants)

Movement

IWC-manufacture Calibre 69355, automatic column-wheel chronograph, 28,800 vph

Power reserve

46 hours

Water resistance

30 meters

Crystal

Sapphire, front and exhibition case back

Bracelet

Stainless steel bracelet with butterfly folding clasp

The story

The IW371617 is the stainless steel Portugieser Chronograph fitted with IWC's own in-house chronograph movement and, for the first time in the line, a matching steel bracelet with a butterfly folding clasp. It was introduced in 2020 as part of a broader move by IWC to bring manufacture movements to more of the Portugieser family. Its direct predecessor, the IW371446, used the automatic Calibre 79350, a movement built on a Valjoux/ETA 7750 base with a column-wheel module added by IWC. The IW371617 replaced that with the Calibre 69355, developed in-house by IWC, retaining the column-wheel chronograph architecture that collectors associate with the Portugieser Chronograph but built entirely on IWC's own base caliber. Power reserve increased slightly and the movement can be viewed through a sapphire case back. The Portugieser Chronograph itself dates to 1995, when IWC's design team led by Kurt Klaus created a chronograph case to complement the Portugieser range's stepped lugs and large, uncluttered dial, a design cue borrowed from the 1939 Portugieser pocket-watch-movement wristwatch. The bracelet option on the IW371617 broadened the line's everyday wearability beyond the strap-only configurations that had defined it for two decades.

What to check before you buy

Buyers should distinguish the IW371617 (bracelet, in-house Calibre 69355) from the earlier IW371446 and IW371447 references, which run the 7750-based Calibre 79350 and were sold on strap only; the movement type is the clearest way to separate them, since case dimensions look similar at a glance. Because the bracelet uses a butterfly folding clasp specific to this reference, a full set should include the extra bracelet links if the watch has been sized. Water resistance is modest at 30 meters, so this is not a watch to swim in, and buyers should ask about gasket servicing history on older examples.

Common questions