155 IWC Extremely Fine and Large, Portugieser, Wristwatch in Steel, With Rare Black Dial, Reference 325

Estimate: €12,000 –⁠ 24,000

Model: Portugieser
Reference: 325
Case Material: Stainless Steel
Bracelet Material: Leather Strap
Year: 1943
Movement: Manual
Caliber: 74
Case N°: 1 087 200
Movement N°: 931 908
Dimensions: 42 mm
Signed: Dial, Movement and Case

The Portugieser design is simple but surprisingly distinctive. Believed to have been created after the request of a Portuguese dealer in the late 1930s, the model satisfied the demands of the Portuguese market for a man’s watch featuring marine chronometer precision. The lot here offered is a remarkable specimen of reference 325: despite now being a collectable piece, at the time of manufacturing the requests were very high, in fact, it seems that barely 250 sales of ref. 325 are recorded at IWC until the early 1970s, meaning that finding such a watch nowadays is a true challenge. This rare example has a nicely preserved 42 mm wide case in stainless steel with a snap on the back, big winding crown and an uncommon dial. The black color of the dial is definitely charming and probably one of the most rare variants for these oversize IWC. It also bears sub seconds at 6, luminous materials Arabic indexes, outer minute track, luminous hands and the long signature “International Watch & Co—Schaffhausen”.