BY SAM DELAWARE
After spending quite some time in IWC’s archives, 2023 saw the German watchmaker resurrect the Ingenieur in three dial colors of silver, black, and aqua blue/green. Though the latter was captivating, the shade was far less classic than the market would have assumed for an inaugural release — i.e., Genta’s signature deep blue.
But alas, just before the beginning of the new year, IWC has now gifted us a classic rich-blue Ingenieur Automatic 40 in the spirit of Genta’s other most notable creations.
In 1976 IWC tapped Genta to re-engineer the Ingenieur to ruggedize the 50’s era original in order to better match its hard wearing caliber. The soft inner iron core surrounding the Caliber 852 was a penchant of the Ingenieur but its minimalist exterior certainly didn’t scream ‘rugged.’
Wrapped up in the same 40mm stainless steel case, the new Ingenieur Automatic maintains a 45.7mm lug to lug (disregarding the integrated bracelet) and hugs the wrist with a slim 10.8mm case height.
Surrounding a convex sapphire is a riveted fixed bezel finished in the same manner as the main case with equal parts high polish along the chamfers and brushing for the flat surfaces. The case also sports 100m of water resistance protected by a screw down crown protected by a pair of gently sloping guards at the 3.
This release is quite plainly a new dial color and new dial color only – every other element under the glass including the grid-structure, brilliant rhodium-plated handset, logo and logotype, and date window have remained untouched.
IWC’s 32111 calibre possesses a high degree of anti-magnetism due in part to a soft iron core that surrounds the movement in the spirit of the original ref.1832. The new Ingenieur is also a very capable everyday wear piece with 120 hours of power reserve when fully wound and impressive accuracy by way of a 4hz beat rate.
The blue IWC Ingenieur Automatic 40 IW328907 is currently offered with the same H-link integrated stainless steel bracelet meeting the main case with a polished 14mm central link and employs a sleek butterfly clasp.
IWC has already made the blue Ingenieur Automatic 40 IW328907 available alongside the silver, black, and aqua models at a price point of USD $11,700.
