For 'tis the sport to have the Ingenieur
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, 3. Act, Scene 4.
Stronger, more resistant, larger and more technical, the Ingenieur from IWC is back.
Now, 2 years after continue of the production, it feels like it had never been gone.
The origin of this line goes back to 1944 when Albert Pellaton created a new mechanism for automatic winding. He invented the seated spring rotor and the pawl winding mechanism that improved the energy transmission of the barrel spring, making it the most robust system to date. In the 1950s, this Calibre 8521 gave birth to the first watches called ‘Ingenieur’ that had a classic appearance but were technically very refined, such as their complete protection from magnetic fields.
Over the years, IWC’s Ingenieur established itself as one of the most solid watches of its era, culminating perhaps with the Ingenieur SL, designed by Gérald Genta for IWC in 1976. The rather large dimensions of 40mm were truly ahead of the times. This is the model that inspired the new Ingenieur family that is being launched in 2005 by IWC.
To begin with, this collection is equipped with an entirely new movement, the Calibre 80110 ‘Ingenieur Qualified’, that the brand’s managers qualify as the “most robust watch that IWC has every made.â€
IWC Caliber 80110
- Vibrations: 28 800/h / 4 Hz
- Jewels: 28
- Power-reserve: 44 h
- Automatic movement with Pellaton winding system
- Integrated shock-absorbing system
- Date display with crown-activated rapid calendar advance
- Hour and minute hands
- Central seconds hand with stop function
- Soft-iron inner case for protection against magnetic fields of up to 80,000 A/m
- Screw-in back
- Screw-in crown
- Luminous elements of hands and indices
- IWC metal bracelet system with folding clasp
- Sapphire glass coated on both sides
- Water-resistant to 120 m
But how good is the replica?
The case feels solid. It consists of three parts: bezel, body and caseback. The finish is extraordinary, there is not a single sharp edge and all surfaces are brushed or polished with a lot of love to the detail. You know, my best friend, a watchsmith who normally deals with the genuine stated once that there would always be a special feeling to gens that a rep could not even come close to. He did not say that again after servicing my Ingy – and that was when it was unmodded.
The caseback is pretty well made, too. But unlike the genuine item are the engravings not as sharp, the written “Ingenieur - International Watch Co.†should be polished and the “Co.†should be “CO.†At least for later batches. I have the strong feeling that the Ingenieur prototype has had the “Co.†written in the same way as it is on our replicas. I can’t proof this, yet. But I’ll be after this, promised. Note also that the spacing is not spot on.
As the authentic one is waterresistant to 120m, which isn’t quite much, the replica made the Bergeon pressure-test for 50m without problems. Just make sure your caseback and crown are screwn in properly! Unlike the Patek Nautilus, which is a Genta design as well, the Ingy has a screw in crown. Again, the performance is extraordinary. Where the Steelfish has a problem with it’s tiny thread, the Ingy winds in smooth as hell.
The engravings on the crown are nice, but not as deep as the genuine. Another thing I noticed is that on the replica, only the IWC logo is polished. On the genuine, however, it is the whole surface.
The bezel with the five holes goes back to the Genta classic, where the holes are used to screw it in and water tighten the case. Due to that there is hardly a single one with an aligned bezel. On the 2005 relaunched version the rep tries to imitate, the bezel is pressed in so the holes are only for cosmetically and homage reasons and therefore perfectly aligned. Unfortunately, the repmakers did not notice that and a lot of reps I have seen, have that flaw.
The Movement 80110 on the authentic is often declared as a manufacture calibre. Speaking frankly, it is more likely a tuned 7750 with a shock absorbed rotor and pellaton winding system. As the rather high price of the Ingy is pretty much justified with the “in-house†calibre, I think this belongs to the little white lies thread, but in the genuine section. Regardless the point that it is a VERY NICE movement.
The replica is powered by a solid ETA 2824-2, work horse, also used in high quality watches such as the Breitling Superocean series.
In my eyes a perfect fit if there wasn’t the datewheel issue. As the genuine has a fancy technical looking Ingyfont, the stock wheel of the rep looks rather lame.
This flaw can be solved. The RWG.cc member Lello managed to print a 2428-2 datewheel with Ingyfont. I ordered one from him and had my watchsmith put it in without problems. The only downer is that some dates aren’t as centered as I’d like them to be, such as “20â€. But most are perfect.
Soft-iron layered or not, the rep’s dial is state of the art. While back in 1976 the look was called “Chess-Board-Structureâ€, Schaffhausen has given it a new name in 2005, the “Ingenieur-Structureâ€. It makes the dial look different and gives it a “glow†from certain angles. As the name has changed from 1976 to 2005, the whole design has gotten a new styling. The place where the IWC logo used to be is now taken by the large numeral “12â€, while the “6†puts in the necessitated balance. Also the fat emblem became a small “IWC Schaffhausen†writing.
The lume is weak, on the rep as well as on the genuine. Note that the small “30†and “60†at six and twelve are luminous on the authentic watch. The only flaw I know of is the chipped of paint at the secondscale-ring around the dial, which occurred on some reps. I couldn’t detect it on my own, so I guess it’s fine. You’d need a high magnification to spot it, anyway.
The hands have become much fatter from 1976 to 2005, which I like a lot. It is so comfortable to tell the time from them. Unfortunately, they’re way too short on the replica. It is a glaring flaw which cannot be solved easily, as genuine hands are expensive and damn hard to come by. Even if you manage to source them, they are of the size of an ETA 7750 and won’t fir a 2824-2 without modification…
Genuine:
Replica:
I wish the makers would have had a little more attention to detail when it comes to the hands.
Still the shine as if they were rhodined, just as the gen’s.
The crystal is made from sapphire and on the authentic watch it is heavily double ARed. Really heavy. It does not shine all bluish like the ARed crystals of some replicas do, such as the SFSO. It simply disappears. The replica does not even use singlesided AR and due to that, the beauty of the dial structure does not come out. It reflects awful, too, which decreases the read out thoroughgoing.
If you want the rep anywhere close to the genuine, I’d suggest you a Chieftang or K2222 AR coating. I had mine glareproofed by K2222 and his service is unbelievable.
I am glad to consider him a friend, now.
The AR is of the same (!) quality as described above. The crystal just disappears, you can seldom spot a bluish-purple tint on the crystal like on the authentic one.
It is also very scratch-resistant, I worked with it two days in a row in a bar and danged it against the counter more often than I had liked. But nothing happened.
See for yourself:
Just WOW. Right?
The bracelet-system is taken from the GST-line and feels high-class on the wrist. There are no sharp edges or hair-tugging spaces. It is designed to fit straight into the watch and gives a nice sound when bending it. Like the gen it can be adjusted without a screwdriver, but with the IWC adjusting-tool.
Gen:
Rep:
The counterfeit’s clasp has a grinding on the inside, as seen on the picture:
Oops! Sorry, that is a picture from a genuine. Mine is here:
I have also found a genuine which looks different, brushed instead of grinded:
It looks like as IWC has changed that design between badges…
My clasp is locking and unlocking very smooth and it does not open by accident. The engraved IWC looks sharp. It is told to be the weak point of the watch, however. I read about some broken clasps, but as K2222 for example offers a fix for that issue if it might occur, I don’t think it is really that much a downer. My clasp does not show any problems and I’m glad about that. Even after a year, I still love it. You can change it to a very nice Kevlar strap if you find the steel bracelet too heavy, though.
CONCLUSION
Modded IWC Ingenieur IW322701 replica
Strap and clasp (max. 10points)
The GST bracelet is extraordinary, feels like gen and looks awesome. I do not want to put in the breaking issue as it does not seem to appear regularly.
It can be switched for a nice Kevlar strap as an alternative.
10points
Operation (5)
Easy adjusting at the screw-in crown. The custom datewheel however does not center on every day, but it looks spot on.
5p
Design (15)
Contemporary interpretation of a Gérald Genta classic. It “screams†understatement.
14p
Instrument read-out (5)
Extremely rich in contrast. After K2222’s work on the crystal you can read-out under any adverse conditions. Luminosity is bad, however. Really bad, just like on the gen. So you will have problems in the dark.
4p
Wearing comfort (10)
The watch remains present at the wrist, which I like a lot. As the GST-system bracelet is somewhat integrated in the watch it snuggles smoothly around even very small wrists.
10p
Movement (15)
Same beatrate as the genuine, both have a handstack function. You can’t go wrong with an ETA 2824-2. But as the genuine is 7750 based, genuine hands do not fit.
14p
Accuracy and reliability (15)
I had my watch serviced and it runs in a COSC range. Even without the service, it would run very, very accurate.
15p
Workmanship (15)
Pretty good, after the mods it is visually almost indistinguishable from genuine item, crown screws very well and the dial is very good. Finish is extraordinary. Only the bezel should be aligned better.
I wish it had better hands, too.
13p
Countervalue (10)
As this is custom made and only a handful of people have made the step to AR it and put a lello datewheel in, I think I would getout good money if I were up to sell it. But as this became immediately my favourite watch, I don’t think this will ever happen.
9p
My valuation: 94 %
This watch is my daily beater now and I enjoy looking at it everyday. It was definitely worth the trouble modding it.
Thanks for all interested.
