The IWC Portugieser is one of the most quietly authoritative watch designs in Swiss horology - a piece that has never needed to shout. Its origins trace to 1939, when two Portuguese merchants approached IWC Schaffhausen with an unusual request: a wristwatch with the accuracy and presence of a marine chronometer. What IWC produced was a watch that broke entirely from the conventions of its era - large, clean, and round at a time when small dress watches defined the category, with a dial architecture built around legibility and proportion rather than decoration. That original philosophy has never left the Portugieser, and it is precisely why the reference has remained relevant across nearly nine decades of production.

The reference IW371404 is the Portugieser Chronograph in one of its most celebrated dial configurations - the "Reverse Panda." A deep matte black dial carries two silver sub-dials at 6 and 12 o'clock, with raised silver Arabic numerals, silver feuille hands, and blued sub-dial hands completing a composition that is among the most visually resolved in the entire IWC catalog. The 41mm polished case, overhanging deep dish bezel, downturned lugs, and domed sapphire crystal give it a classical presence that larger modern cases rarely achieve. The chronograph pushers at 2 and 4 o'clock sit cleanly within the case profile without ever disrupting its lines.

A 2007 IW371404 represents the Portugieser Chronograph at a particularly desirable point in its production history - before the reference was updated and eventually replaced by the modern Portugieser lineup. Powered by IWC Calibre 79240 with gilt brass construction, oeil-de-perdrix embellishment, and a monometallic balance adjusted to five positions, it is a movement built with genuine craft. For collectors who value proportion, restraint, and classical Swiss watchmaking executed without compromise, this is one of the definitive references to own.

Details and scope available upon request.

Contact Krono Legacy for full information on this piece.

All shipments from Krono Legacy are sent via FedEx Standard Overnight, fully insured, anywhere in North America.