Review (2012/12/08) - 2013/02/13 (Updated on 2013/03/21)
IWC the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer
AT HOME OUT ON THE CIRCUIT
IWC Schaffhausen set to enter the motor-racing season in 2013 as the Official Engineering Partner of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula OneTM Team. To mark their cooperation, IWC is launching the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer in stainless steel with an engraving of a Formula OneTM racing car on the case back.
For one of the parties in the venture, time is a genuine ally; for the other, a powerful opponent. Nevertheless, the en gineers and designers from IWC Schaffhausen and the mechanics with the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula OneTM Team have the same vision: they repeatedly push the boundaries of mechanical engineering and redefine the limits of precision technology. The two companies have a name for this untiring quest for perfection: performance en gineering. As part of this joint venture, IWC is dedicating the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer (Ref. IW378507, IW378508, IW378509, IW378510) to the Formula OneTM racing team. Recording periods of time of up to 12 hours, timing pit stops and calculating the average speed attained over a measured distance: there is virtually no timerelated task to which the watch is not equal. A perfect watch for the racetrack.
THE 89361 CALIBRE – A PARAGON OF EFFICIENCY
The setup of a Formula OneTM racing car and the assembly of a highprecision timepiece exemplify the art of engineering at the highestpossible level. They pose the same questions to watchmakers and racing mechanics: what will happen to one of the parameters if we change something about another? How can we make the powertrain even more efficient? And how can we assemble the individual parts – in an Ingenieur Chronograph there are over 300 of them, in a Formula OneTM vehicle ten times as many – to produce the optimum result?
The development of the 89361 calibre is a perfect example of the crucial role played by passion and expertise in the quest to achieve a leading position in the Constructors’ Championship for watch manufacturers. A team of engineers at IWC Schaffhausen spent four years developing this superb movement. In the beginning was a vision: the members of the team wanted to develop a chronograph display that would eliminate the mental arithmetic needed to calculate recorded times of over one minute using both the hour and minute counters. In addition, they set themselves the ambitious goal of making the ingenious Pellaton winding system, one of the most outstanding watchmaking achieve ments ever to emerge from Schaffhausen, even more effi cient. A solution to the first challenge was soon found. Recorded hours and minutes are combined in a single totalizer which has two hands and is read off like an ana logue watch display: for example “8 hours and 52 minutes”. Shorter recorded times, i.e. those less than a full minute, continue to be shown by the central chronograph hand. In order to put this simple but revolutionary idea into practice, IWC’s engineers had to develop a completely new move ment based on the Pellaton winding system. They also found a brilliant solution to their second task. The mechanism, which is known as doublepawl winding, no longer has just two pawls in series but a total of four – two sets of double pawls – assembled diagonally to the pawl wheel. These transmit the pushandpull movements generated by the rotor to the barrel. The arrangement eliminates dead spots during winding and boosts the system’s efficiency by a measurable 30 per cent. Even if the chronograph displays a recorded time for a protracted period, the amplitude remains constant and the watch’s accuracy is unaffected. Additionally, the pawls are not fitted with springs but de signed as springs themselves, and rest against the pawl wheel with precisely the right degree of tension. The pawls are controlled by a miniature drive shaft – similar to the crankshaft in a car – which is set in motion by the rotor. For this reason, it is only logical that the 89361 calibre is now the driving force behind the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer.
PERFECT FOR THE RACETRACK: TACHYMETER AND FLYBACK FUNCTIONS
With the help of the tachymeter scale on the chronograph’s bezel, it is a simple task to calculate the speed of a car: if a measured distance of 1,000 metres is covered in 30 seconds, the tachymeter scale shows 120. The vehicle’s speed over the kilometre is thus 120 km/h. Thanks to the flyback func tion, pressing the reset button brings the stopwatch hand back to zero and immediately restarts timing, making it perfect for recording pitstop times.
The Ingenieur Chronograph Racer is available with a slate coloured dial and black totalizers or with a silverplated dial, silverplated totalizers and blue hands and appliqués. The red “60” in the chapter ring was inspired by the digital display on the steering wheel of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula OneTM racing car, which shows the selected gear, oil temperature and lap times during the race. The engraving of a Formula OneTM racing car – a modern Silver Arrow, of course – decorates the case back.
The watch comes with a robust stainlesssteel bracelet fitted with a special fineadjustment clasp, which allows the wearer to make minor adjustments to the length of the strap at any time. All he needs to do is press gently on the button with the IWC logo in the middle of the clasp cover and to pull or push the bracelet slightly. The timepiece is also available with a sporty rubber strap with a textile inlay. While the material on the upper side is very attractive to look at, the rubber on the inside makes the strap enormously durable and pleasant to wear.
Ref. : IW378507 · IW378508 · IW378509 · IW378510
FEATURES
- Mechanical chronograph movement
- Date display with crownactivated rapid advance
- Stopwatch function with hours, minutes and seconds
- Hour and minute counters combined in a totalizer at 12 o’clock
- Flyback function
- Small hacking seconds
- Screwin crown
MOVEMENT
- Calibre : 89361
- Frequency : 28,800 A/h / 4 Hz
- Jewels : 38
- Power reserve : 68 h
- Winding : automatic
WATCH
- Materials :
- Ref. IW378507: stainlesssteel case, slatecoloured dial, black rubber strap with textile inlay, pin buckle in stainless steel
- Ref. IW378508: stainlesssteel case, slatecoloured dial, stainlesssteel bracelet with fineadjustment clasp
- Ref. IW378509: stainlesssteel case, silverplated dial, black rubber strap with textile inlay, pin buckle in stainless steel
- Ref. IW378510: stainlesssteel case, silverplated dial, stainlesssteel bracelet with fineadjustment clasp
- Glass : sapphire, flat, antireflective coating on both sides
- Waterresistant : 12 bar
- Diameter : 45 mm
- Case height : 14,5 mm