Gen IWC Portofino on Milenese Bracelet: Pics of my wedding watch

[NaviChief]

I was extremely lucky to find this watch for a steal through a pawn shop. My first "4 figure" gen

I was looking for a classic watch to buy for my upcoming wedding. The kind that you hold on to for your lifetime in hopes of passing down to your kids. For me that meant a 3 hand dress watch......or an Omega Speedmaster from my birth year. The Omega I could not find, but I had had my eye out for this model Portofino as well. I love IWC as a brand, and for an "entry level" watch, I think the Porto is gorgeous.

It photographs decently, but the little sparkles and details are lost unfortunately. Because the AR is so strong, light glints off of the hour markers beautifully in real life. The dial is speckled with silver flake, you can see some of that in the pics. It becomes very apparent at certain angles of lighting. The case was marked up a bit when I got it, but after a few hours working it over with polish and oiling the bracelet it was back to practically new.

I'm usually an alligator strap kind of guy, so I took another chance on 5 custom alligator straps from a ebay/WUS strapmaker. I got a mix of IWC deployant and regular style. I'll update with pics of those when they come in!

 

[jigelow]

Perfect formal piece! Congrats on the watch and the wedding!

 

[Pamtastic]

Wow! I'm curious how much you paid for this. I don't believe this is an old model by any stretch of the imagination. If this is the 3565 (which it looks to be) this model is only a year or two old.
Congrats on a great find and on the upcoming wedding!

 

[NaviChief]

Thank you for the kind words. First straps have arrived. I was very pleased with the quality for the price. They aren't OEM quality, but they will do the trick. Still waiting on package #2. First up is a brown belly grain on tang buckle. Next up I'm working on the pics of the hornback on deployant...

 

[higginsd]

Fantastic strap!

 

[NaviChief]

And on a hornback deployant....my first hornback. Not exactly dressy, but I love it

 

[Auto_xer]

Beautiful combination, especially the hornback. You've got great taste.

 

[NaviChief]

Thanks! The ceremony is in a few hours, today's the day!

 

[pamegalex]

As Vb mentioned, pretty certain this is the 3565 too as I believe the older 3563 does not have roman numerals on the 12 and 6. I'm also after one of these and the Laureus myself once I'm over with the PAM obsession lol.. And stick with the gator straps, it really brings out the class on this.

Anyway, congrats on a beautiful watch and I'm sure an even more beautiful wedding mate!

 

[NaviChief]

Thanks! Yes is the newest 3565. I need to get more pictures done of it on a blue gator and a black gator. I also have a ostrich on the way! I plan to convert of these straps to quick change pins to not mare up the lugs with each strap change.