IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Silberpfeil


IWC Ingenieur Chronograph SilberpfeilIWC upgraded its Ingenieur collection of sports watches in 2013, incorporating design touches inspired by the brand’s partnership with the Mercedes-Benz AMG Petronas Formula One racing team. Among the models in the line is the Ingenieur Chronograph Silberpfeil, which pays tribute to a classic race car.

The Chronograph Silberpfeil is named for the Mercedes-Benz W25 Silver Arrow (“Silberpfeil” in German), which famously got its name from  a race at the Nürburgring in 1934 in which the Mercedes pit crew stripped the white paint off of the car to enable it to achieve its weight limit and revealed its silvery aluminum bodywork.

The watch’s dial, available in either silver or brown, sports a cloud-like perlage pattern of overlapping circles — in watchmaking, usually found only on movement plates and bridges — that evokes the dashboard of the legendary Mercedes race car. The red elements on the dial, including the center-mounted chronograph seconds hand, echo the look of the Silver Arrow’s tachymeter and revolutions counter. The date display is integrated into the seconds subdial at 6 o’clock.

 

 

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Silberpfeil

The strap, which bonds a calfskin-inlay leather outer layer with an inner layer of rubber, is also reminiscent of 1930s motor racing tradition, in which sturdy leather straps were commonly found on drivers’ overalls and in the cockpits and bonnets of their vehicles. Stainless steel bracelets with fine-adjustment clasps are also available. The solid, stainless-steel caseback features an engraved illustration of the Mercedes W25 Silver Arrow race car.

IWC’s in-house chronograph movement, Caliber 89361, powers the watch’s signature function, a chronograph with a flyback mechanism. The dial’s design enables stopped hours and minutes to be read easily on the same subdial at 12 o’clock. The central seconds counter can be used in conjunction with the tachymeter scale around the dial to calculate speeds. The flyback function is engineered with racing pit stops in mind: pressing the reset button returns the seconds hand instantly to zero and immediately starts timing another sequence. IWC’s Pellaton winding system — developed by technical director and longtime Mercedes racing enthusiast Albert Pellaton — enables the movement to maintain a power reserve of 68 hours.

For wallpaper images of the Silberpfeil and other IWC Ingenieur watches, click here.

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Silberpfeil - Back

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Silberpfeil on racetrack

This article was originally published on April 19, 2013, and has been updated.

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  1. Doug Crew

    The caseback photo isn’t of the Silberpfeil watch because it has a contemporary F1 car engraved on it.

    Reply
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