Together through thick and thin with my IWC Portugieser Chronograph

Text: Britta Rossander
Photo: Mia Litström

The choice of watch is constantly scrutinised by colleagues and suppliers. It is not wrong to say that a person in ”our” world is judged on the basis of what type of watch they wear. So with that extra pressure it can be hard to choose the ”right” watch. The choice of watch for a journalist with watches as a speciality subject sometimes has ridiculously great significance. 

But it is some form of stance you take through your choice. And those of us who work with describing the world of watches and what it contains often have the ugly habit of not looking people in the eye when we say hello. Embarrassingly enough, the gaze always nails itself to the wrist of the person you meet. Not particularly pleasant but a commonly occurring occupational injury. 

The IWC Portugeiser Chrono is my very best ”work uniform”. It is a watch I have had for a long time and had a lot of fun with. 

Once when I am about to get on a plane from Geneva to Zurich I took a firm grip of the seat back in front of me as I am about to get into my row of seats. Then a head pops up and I hear ”That’s a nice choice of watch”. I do not directly see the person who says it with then he straightens up and I see that it is Georges Kern, not exactly the world's tallest man, but at the time CEO of IWC.  

There are loads of similar stories, such as for example when I handed in my coat at a Tag Heuer event in Paris and the Tag Heuer employee who takes the coat says ”that’s a classy watch!”

Yes, it does have a diameter like a frying pan and a bit of a belly so it is visible, and as I said we have had quite a lot of fun together and that is likely to continue now that it is a bit vintage compared to the new collections. Sure, I would have wished for an in-house movement and the sapphire back but it is quite nice anyway. 

We have had it quite good together but for a few days many years ago it was not fun. There had been a break-in at my then office, with a secret address in a large building, a hard-to-force door, a barred gate as well as a security company that checked the building. BUT there had been a public holiday on a weekday and the guarding had not worked so the break-in was a fact – not only at my place but also in the garage. It was extremely miserable to walk in there – it was an incredible mess and with my job there were loads of bags from fancy brands but in them only press material, the sought-after type of products are never kept at the office. This must have made the thieves furious because they had torn everything out and thrown it in a big pile in the middle of the floor – as if it was going to be a bonfire. 

At this time I also wrote about beauty and the number of nail polishes and perfumes that were at the office became like a smorgasbord for them. Presumably they stuffed as much as they could into their pockets but they dropped loads on the way out, which was as if marked out with nail polish bottles. Unfortunately I kept my work watch at the office – idiotic – yes I know that – so of course it was gone.

The police made several visits – they probably felt quite sorry for me. There was no chance that the perpetrators would be caught and after a few days I started trying to get some kind of order but it was hopeless – all the bookkeeping was thrown out on the floor and I lost the desire to stay at the address. The move became a fact, but it became a smaller office so there was nothing to do but clear out. In the corridor against the wall on the way to the door I had an extremely tall and wide mirror leaning, about 2,80 m high and 1,20 wide. It could not be moved so I smashed it. Guess whether I got a shock when I saw what came out among the broken mirror glass. A bunch of nail polishes and a watch. There had been beauty items there on the floor that I had picked up but I did not think to look in the space behind. The mirror was after all leaning heavily so it was quite a big bit of the floor that I left to its fate.

With the watch in my hand I realised that the thieves must dropped that one too. It has a big dent in the case, like a scar from an accident but that is okey. It was in for restoration at IWC in Schaffhausen and they called and said that they would have to make a bigger intervention to be able to remove the damage on the bezel. I declined this because I think it is ok that you can see it has had a bit of a tough time. 

We continue to have it quite good together with our various blemishes – you can see that we have lived. 

Technical specifications

Brand: IWC
Model: Portugieser Chronograph
Reference number: IW371402

Diameter: 41mm
Thickness: 12mm
Case material: 18k gold
Water resistance: 30m

Dial: White
Bracelet: Leather strap
Buckle: 18k gold

Movement: IWC cal. 79350
Complications: chronograph
Winding: Automatic