An ’80s Classic Revisited: IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph

IWC Schaffhausen is rolling out an entirely redesigned Da Vinci collection at SIHH 2017. The new timepieces eschew the 1960s-inspired tonneau case from the most recent update of the series in 2007, embracing instead the classic round cases of the 1980s Da Vinci. The brand says that the new collection will comprise a host of 36-mm models tailored to women, as well as a handful of men’s models with haute horlogerie complications. The first of the latter to be released ahead of SIHH 2017 is the new IWC Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar Chronograph — which is also the first IWC watch to combine a chronograph’s hour and minute counters and a moon-phase display in a single subdial.

To develop the new manufacture movement for this watch, IWC’s watchmakers turned to a classic for their inspiration: the Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar from 1985 designed by master watchmaker and IWC living legend Kurt Klaus. The challenge the watchmakers faced, and eventually overcame, in combining the chronograph counters with the moon phase was that IWC’s existing perpetual calendar movement, Caliber 52610, had the moon phase at 12 o’clock, which meant that any hands added there would’ve gone straight through the center of the moon disk. Using the IWC 89360 chronograph caliber as a base was also a non-starter, as its architecture left no room to add a moon-phase. The result was the all-new IWC Caliber 89630, which incorporates a silver-plated or gold-plated moon disk with a rounded, dark blue section, representing the Earth’s shadow, that rotates to show the moon’s waxing and waning. The lunar motif is enhanced by white gold particles sprinkled across the expanse of the dark blue subdial, evoking the look of a star-studded night sky.

The moon-phase is ultra-precise, deviating from the moon’s actual cycle by just one day every 577.5 years. The perpetual calendar displays for the date, month, and day are on three subdials at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, respectively, while a small window at 8 o’clock indicates the four-digit year; like all perpetual calendar watches, its movement is mechanically programmed to account for leap years.

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