BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
Following on from my last piece about the mid-30mm Vacheron Constantin Overseas pieces, the ball is back in IWC’s court, and it’s just hit out with a supposedly aquatic-themed Ingenieur measuring 35.1mm x 9.4mm (with 100m of water resistance) to follow on the smaller models introduced last year.
The Ingenieur is IWC’s tool watch for, well, engineers, as the name implies, thanks to a strong anti-magnetic case. The Ingenieur has been through many iterations over the years, with IWC seemingly unable to get it to how it’d like, although I’d argue that the latest generation introduced in 2023 is bang on the money with its svelte lines, deliberately fussy dials and sturdy yet sculpted cases and bracelets. I do think this generation of the Ingenieur provides the level of class the watch needed to go alongside the brains.
This new version of the 35mm Ingenieur joins a lineup that includes stainless steel and 18k gold variants, with a range of silvery white, dark blue, and black dials. IWC says the colour of the dial on this new piece is “Pool”; I guess that’s their way of saying turquoise? I don’t have the best colour vision when it comes to blues and purples, but I think if this were any less blue, there’d be some kind of lawsuit from the dial colour police, if they’re indeed a thing. The dial does look good, though. I like the unique pattern cut into it, and it has a date window for some functionality but not much else.
Inside the stainless steel case beats the self-winding calibre 47110, which was introduced with this Ingenieur size last year. Unlike some of the larger models, this calibre is on display, allowing us to see the gold winding rotor, although it does away with the soft iron core that makes the Ingenieur resistant to magnetism. I guess these smaller pieces weren’t intended to be used in the same way as the larger ones. The power reserve is 42 hours, and the escapement’s beat rate is 4Hz. The entire calibre is made up of 151 components with 23 jewels.
At a price of USD11,200/CHF10,500, I think IWC’s new 35mm Ingenieur will be difficult to justify to consumers. Which is a shame; the size of this watch isn’t a turn-off in the slightest. I think this smaller size suits my larger wrists rather well.
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