ENGINEERING SUCCESS

The IWC Ingenieur collection this year inspires the editors of three editions of WOW to examine the merits of looking back to understand the present

- WORDS ASHOK SOMAN, DANIEL GOH AND RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

Watches often evolve in unpredictable ways, especially if they were made to fulfil some kind of need or requirement.

If said needs and requirements change, so too does the watch, or watches, in question. Take for example the IWC Ingenieur, which is experiencing a major revival at the moment that is very far removed from its debut 70 years ago. That original Ingenieur watch was designed to meet the emerging challenge of navigating magnetic fields, alongside a host of other such watches. Watchmakers perceived a threat to the running of their creations from these fields, which would in fact go on to dominate our work and home environments.

Hence, IWC introduced the Ingenieur with an automatic movement and an inner soft iron shell that would function as a Faraday cage. In 1955. Even as the model went through a variety of changes, these elements remained consistent...until now that is. The editors of WOW Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand saw all the new models at Watches and Wonders Geneva this year; the Ingenieur in particular drew their attention. The collection, inspired not by the 1955 original but the 1976 Ingenieur SL imagined by the famed Gerald Genta, sparked their first discussion centred not on broad topics but on just one subject.

RC: Guys, we are at the beginning of something new: a brand-specific discussion among the editors!

AS: It is indeed a brand new day...in a manner of speaking. And, we're also going collection specific. So, are we ready for the IWC Ingenieur of 2025?

RC: Presently, of all five collections listed on the IWC web site, “Ingenieur" is one of the two families named after a profession, with the other being "Pilot's Watches”. And that reflects the focused nature or objective with which the watch was developed in the first place.