At 40 mm, it’s not a small watch, but given current tastes, the size is reasonable. It’s also thin, at 10.7 mm, and has a closed case back (housing the caliber 32111 with its 120-hour power reserve) and 100 meters of water resistance.
Of course, you can’t get titanium without a price increase. Here, that puts the watch at $14,600, firmly placing the Ingenieur in a completely different category of sports watches – one that includes models like Chopard’s Alpine Eagle.
Does this make the price too expensive? The answer to that question lies in the minds of individual buyers. I see this as a strategic move by the brand to reposition the collection, and regardless of the price, I think this titanium iteration of the watch is the standout.
IWC Ingenieur
With the Ingenieur’s 70s-era Root Tower-centric heritage (and the design codes that came with it), and the classic Ingenieur logo on the dial, this watch feels steeped in its own history. However, thanks to the checkerboard dial, the modern IWC logo, and the 40mm size, no one will confuse it with a vintage swiss replica rolex watches.
What happens next with this collection is anyone’s guess, but IWC has already made a statement with the Ingenieur (especially in titanium), opening a new chapter in the model’s future.
One of our main talking points here at Watches & Wonders this year has been the observation that many brands have scaled back their releases, opting instead to concentrate on one or two SKUs. We saw this with Lange and the new Odysseus chronograph, and we saw it – almost to an extreme – with the rebirth of IWC and the Ingenieur.
On Monday, we wrote about the new Ingenieur model in steel – directly inspired by the specific vintage watch (SL) conceived by Gérald Genta (father of the Royal Oak and Aquanaut).
Although theoretically reissued, I think these watches represent a thoughtful way of incorporating tradition into a completely modern package. Last year’s show featured a textbook reissue of Vacheron Constantin’s 222 in gold. The new Ingenieur watch is a reawakening of tradition.
The steel models feature graphic dials in white, black, or green-blue. Holding these watches in hand brings shades of Aquanaut and certainly fits the modern trend of re-exploring the integrated bracelet sports watch. In fact, it was a neglected child until today – but it used to offer great value and was one of the cheapest IWC replica luxury watches available. Now that’s all over.
With this year’s release, IWC is devoting all its W&W energy to the Ingenieur and positioning it in a new way. That means a price tag of over $11,000 ($11,700) in steel. And on top of it all, IWC has not only released three steel Ingenieur watches – there’s also a titanium one, and boy, is it cool.
It was an unremarkable release that we didn’t know existed until we met with IWC at the show. The standout feature that sets this watch apart from steel is its gray dial and dark gray titanium case, and H-bracelet, giving it a pseudo-all-gray aesthetic.
But it is more than just a titanium case and bracelet. It’s been sandblasted to provide some nice texture. The purpose of this, at least in my opinion, is to separate this model from the whole integrated steel sports watch “thing” because it’s not made of steel. In fact, it’s 45% lighter than steel. The titanium, and in particular the treatment of the metal, gives this watch a unique look – a far cry from the Jumbo SL era of the 1970s. It brings the Ingenieur collection into a modern context. It contains all the new design codes found in the steel models, including a redesigned crown guard and screws on the bezel, reminiscent of Genta’s SL design.
