Gearing Up for SIHH 2013: IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Racer


IWC Ingenieur Chronograph RacerNews of new watch launches at next month’s SIHH watch fair in Geneva continues to trickle into WatchTime’s offices, the latest from IWC Schaffhausen. Last year, IWC focused on expanding and revamping its Pilot’s Watch collection. It appears that in 2013, it will be the brand’s sporty Ingenieur collection in the spotlight, starting with the new Ingenieur Chronograph Racer.

The reason for the revamping and expanding of the Ingenieur — which IWC introduced in the 1950s and whose modern, industrial look was heavily influenced by the designs of Gérald Genta in the 1970s — is the brand’s new partnership with the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One racing team. IWC and Mercedes-Benz have had a relationship since 2004, but 2013 will mark the first year that they will join forces in the Formula One racing arena. IWC CEO Georges Kern saw the new era as the perfect time to update the Ingenieur collection, incorporating materials used regularly in motorsports, such as carbon fiber, ceramic and titanium, and drawing on design elements from the cockpits of F1 cars.

The only watch in the overhauled Ingenieur family for which IWC has released photos thus far is the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer (Ref. 3785), which has a stainless-steel case with the trademark five visible screw bores in the tachymeter-scale bezel (first used by Genta in his design for the now-famous Ingenieur SL) and new, ergonomically improved lugs. The tachymeter, used in conjunction with the chronograph, can be used by a driver to measure speed over a certain distance. The new rubber strap has a textile (shown) or leather inlay. The Racer also comes on a steel bracelet with a button-operated fine-adjustment clasp.

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Racer sideview

IWC will also unveil several other new Ingenieur models at SIHH, with complications including a tourbillon, perpetual calendar, digital big date, and moon-phase indicator, as well as several Mercedes AMG-inspired limited editions. “The new Ingenieur collection boasts three distinct qualities,” says Kern, “first-class IWC-manufactured movements, sophisticated functions and typical Formula One materials… the Ingenier watch line has finally taken its place in the upper echelons of haute horlogerie.

WatchTime.com will continue to bring news on the new IWC Ingenier collection as it is released.

IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Racer front

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