Introducing the Portuguese GST series

Hi All,

As you may have seen, I have had an incoming IWC for a few weeks now and it has finally turned up today.

As with any new IWC, there is always a story to a new watch, so here goes.

I purchased my first IWC a number of years ago which is a 5001-09 - I have worn this piece a few days a week and still love it.

Along the way, I picked up a few other pieces and had a mix of vintage and new totalling 6 watches and had a few other pieces on my hit list when at the beginning of this year I saw a Portuguese Perpetual Calendar in white gold with ardoise dial - a 5022 which I just had to have so I traded a couple of my watches, hanging on to my 5001, 3799 and 3568 and adding the 5022 which was a bit of a grail watch and now made the collection Portuguese heavy.

As with any collection, some times it is good to have some madness but some times you need a direction so I took the decision to focus on building on the Portuguese theme, looking to add a 5441 or 5444 to the collection and then it hit me - why not a Portuguese GST series.

As it stands, building a Portuguese GST series might sound fairly straight forward, you could take a 5001 in Stainless, 5001 in either gold version and a Portuguese Yacht Club Volvo race edition in Titanium and you would be done, but I kind of feel that the Portuguese Yacht Club is more of a cousin twice removed and not a fully fledged family member of the Portuguese family so went searching for another way to achieve my goal.

Ruling out the Yacht Club, that left me with only one other option, and the problem was, that one option is a fairly rare option with only 50 in the world and almost all of them in Singapore.

The new addition to the family and the one that provides the Titanium component of a Portuguese GST series is the limited edition 5444-05 for Sincere in Titanium - a "true" portuguese and also working in with the desire to have a Portuguese Regulateur in the collection (5444 or 5443 would both be good but only the 5444 is available in Ti).

I picked the watch up today after a rather arduous route from Singapore to Australia and have to say I am absolutely over the moon with the new watch! It is a great size, wears great on the wrist and brings a manual wind back into my collection (The MK XI was traded in to get the 5022) and has the added benefit of having a black dial like the rest of my watches (I am will look to add a different colour dial some time soon - maybe blue . . .) but for now am happy with the black dials - especially the ardoise.

Where to from here I am not sure, I can see a Pilot being added to the collection next year (fingers crossed, Pilot Forum special #3) but a offer come over my desk the other day for an 5441 amongst other things which may be too good to pass up, but I would also like to add some more ceramic to the collection (especially in a Da Vinci chassis) but only time will tell.

Cheers,

Ben

Wow, Wow, and Wow! That is quite a collection!

I must say, you had me completely confused in talking about a Portuguese GST. I thought you were going to put a bracelet on your 5001!

Glad to see I was wrong and that you have assembled three beauties.

Hi Ben,
Always great to follow an interesting build up that leads to purchase of a new watch...your motivation is very rationale..
but the result is the best...
I really think that IWC must have a permanent Regulateur in the catalogue...
I was on hunt for one myself...not as rare as yours...but, as always patience is very important for nice pieces, which are not produced anymore...
so your version in titanium is absolutely gorgeous...
the Regulateur is understatement at its best and sophisticated at the same time...
not for everyone an that's what makes it so special..
congrats,
yitzhak

Excellent collection built up. That's quite a nice trio you have there.The regulateur is a wonderfull watch. A classic and timeless beauty and this one is really special!

Love the Regulateur. And your Portuguese collection is fantastic! Congratulations.

Man, that is a real find. I love Portuguese, I love titanium, and to combine that with a Regulator - simply sublime. Let me know if you find another one - I want one too :-)

Big congrats!!!

Congratulations Ben! Nice to see what it finally is. You must be pretty happy. Building a collection is great fun. Never ending though!!

Ben, bravo - abolutely stunning (and might I add exceptional) collection!

I find your approach to collecting quiet unique too.

Wear in good health and thanks for sharing.

Wow, what a magnificent addition to your collection! It's also great how you describe the build up. With these three, you have quite a Portuguese collection now!

Enjoy them all and wear them in good health.

Kind regards,

Clemens

An impressive trio. You are now on this slippery slope which will require several more purchases to complete the set. Enjoy them.

Ben, great collection. And a very interesting approach, too. Congrats.

Aghh, my eyes!

Those are very beautiful, Ben and quite a story in collecting your Portuguese series. Wear them in good health!

Any Portuguese collection is a good collection but yours is truly excellent. Congratulations.

Fantastic collection, Ben! I enjoyed your informative post and the accompaning pics!

Ben, very impressive addition to your Portoguieser collection. Nicely done. Congratulations and wear the Regulator in good health.

Is funny, I was only thinking this last night - although was wondering if a Portuguese Tourbillon had been released in Platinum - A quick look at the current line up reveals the Portuguese Tourbillon Mystere Retrograde in Platinum! The problem is, no matter how you look at it, Minute Repeater, Tourbillon, Regulateur, 5441, as soon as you mention Platinum, you are on a very slippery slope in deed.

As it stands, the collection has 3 different metals and 3 different movements / complications so to build on it I will probably have to look at a minute repeater or tourbillon - both of which I would love to have in the collection but both of which will take a little more time to acquire than the current collection (either of those would cost about the same or more than the entire current collection!) - but we all have to have goals, and if you ask me, getting one of those 2 into the collection is as good a goal as any.

Skule - there is another one that I know of for sale at present, if you do a search on the web for 5444-05 I am sure you will find it, keeping in mind that they are mostly all located in Singapore.

I wore the Regulateur to work yesterday and spent the most time looking at my wrist in am long time - it s a pleasure to wear, sits a little smaller on the wrist than the 5000 cal Portuguese's and the gold hands are just a beauty to look at. The PPC is back on the wrist today but over the next few days (it will be 5001 tomorrow) I will get some obligatory wrist shots and post them.

Cheers,

Ben

Ben,
Oh wow, what an exceptional great collection! Congratulations
Kind regards, Daniel

WOW! I love that Regulateur. That is truly a special piece. I have to ask Ben, as most of us just collect what we love, and since you have chosen to have a theme (and a wonderful theme, at that), have you ever read "Marking Time" by Michael Korda, who is editor-in-chief, at Simon and Schuster? I ask that, as he in his wonderful book on watch collecting believes a collection should have a theme. I disagree, but here's what he writes....

“Merely owning a lot of watches, whatever they are and however much they may be worth, doesn’t necessarily make them a “collection,” however. A collection, by definition, needs to be focused on something—a type of watch, a brand of watch, a particular style of watch, a period of watchmaking—if it is to have any serious meaning. A drawer full of watches without any common thread of interest is merely a drawer full of watches, not a collection. It is not necessary to collect expensive watches, but it is necessary that they represent in some way a special interest or taste on the part of the collector, that they demonstrate a theme, however personal and strange it may be. Mere quantity won’t do it.”

Michael Korda
“Marking Time,” Barnes and Noble Books, 2004

The title fooled me into thinking this was an official announcement! Nice to see a collection with a theme as Larry suggests. All I can say is you must be glad the GST line never included another letter, specifically P.
Regulateurs are a real class act and whether it's in G, S or T it's still a class act. WIGH and enjoy.

Hi Larry,

I have not read that book but sounds like it may be worth a read so will look into getting it.

I kind of agree with the statement in that I think it is good to have a theme to a collection but also think that there doesn't have to be a theme that ties a collection together as such, as long is there is a bit of a story to each piece that means something to the owner - it doesn't have to mean anything to anyone who the story may be told to but as long as it means something to you, then I think it justifies the title "collection"

For me at preset I am happy with having a theme to the collection but who know, that may change down the track.

As Greg said and others have hinted at, I am lucky at present that GST does not include P but that just makes it all the more interesting for me - I had been trying to build a Portuguese GST collection for the best part of a year now and now that that is done, the next challenge awaits and that may just be the addition of a Platinum Portuguese, one from the more complicated end of the collection so that not only can I have a collection with all of the metals that the Portuguese has been released in, but also have a good breadth of complications - maybe after that the next goal will be the complete collection of complications but I think we are talking a number of years down the track now, especially if a Siderale is to be added to the collection (one with the constellations as seen when standing out the front of the Sydney Opera House!), but this is why IWC and collecting watches is a fun exercise - just when you think you have completed a collection, you turn another corner and a new collection or expansion awaits.

For now, I am appreciating the latest addition :)

Cheers,

Ben

Ben, while re-reading this post and the replies, I thought of another watch you could add: a rose gold Portuguese Chrono! You have the choice of three, the original, the new Classic or the Yacht Club!

Kind regards,

Clemens

Geeze, talk about a group of enablers!

Whilst I think the Portuguese Classic or the original Chrono would be good in the collection, I do not think I will go down the Rose Gold path - technically, I already have a gold piece in the collection with the 5022 and do not see a change of colour as a big enough differentiator at present.

The basis for the collection at present is:

Must be a immediately identifiable as a Portuguese which for me rules out the Yacht Club.

Must be a piece from each of the metals that a Portuguese has been released in (GST to start with)

Should be an in-house movement

I am semi-flexible on the last one, especially if a Portuguese Grand Complication were to come my way but at present it is all in-house.

I could add a Portuguese Chrono to the collection and still obtain the Platinum Status - a 3712-05 or, 3714-07 would sit nicely in the collection but I have to say, whilst not for everyone, a 5442-05 is in my sights at present as well as a 5241-04!

Cheers,

Ben

An "Art[](s904.photobucket.com/user/padj1839/media/20131024_153311_zps7c339d88.jpg.html)" shot.
I believe I'll be staying with the Portuguese family for a while. The 5001 is very handsome. I like it in white gold,something I don't have.