Hello, everyone. I was following the forum for some time and finally become obsessed with owning one of these great watches.
I've been bit torn between Portofino IW510103 vs Portugieser IW500704. They both for me classify as suitable for business casual and formal occasions, maybe except for black tie.
Could you as experts and funs of IWC please advise me which should I pick? BTW I have rather big hands and wrists.
Many thanks. J
I own the Portofino, and I can only recommend it. Although fairly big, it is very comfortable, because it is light and fairly thin: you hardly notice it. The movement is a technical marvel. And I like the way it looks, not only in itself, but also on the wrist. I have the white dial version, where the dial is the faintest champagne, going well with the hands and the cool, round, polished steel case. And those hands are very special indeed, they define the looks of the watch.
The Portuguese is a great watch too, but it is a bit chunkier. I don't own it, I own the perpetual calendar version, which probably is a bit heavier. You notice it when you wear the watch, but you get used to it.
If I had to choose between the two watches you mention, I would choose the Portofino. You might have a look at the watch that combines both watches: the Portuguese 8 Days Handwound. It is a Portuguese, which has a bit more prestige than the Portofino, and it has about the same movement as the Portofino. It doesn't get much attention, but it is thinner and lighter than the Portuguese Automatic, and to me it is a very attractive watch.
Kind regards,
Paul
Thank you very much Paul. Much appreciated. Finally, I decided to go for Portofino Hand-Wound Eight days (steel with silver-plated dial). Having your reco and clear preference of my wife I had no choice ;-). In this context it was a bit funny to read in the other topic that women are not interested in watches.
Once I receive the watch I'll come back to share my first impressions.
regards
Jacek
Here's mine, I like it as a summer watch. Very elegant, quite big but thin.
Beautiful watch JLT, I can't wait to put mine on my wrist.
BTW, has someone thought of replacing the standard strap for black one? Can I buy it separately at IWC or I have to go for non-IWC one?
There is a black Santoni strap, used on the Laureus version of the watch. Whether it is readily available to you remains to be seen, it maybe depends on the relationship with your AD: ask him. In my experience the middle brown strap looks great with this watch, it will darken a bit over time. Black straps sometimes kill a watch, make them look boring: there are some people here who exchanged their black strap for a brown Santoni strap, especially as the structure of these brown straps show beautifully.
Kind regards,
Paul
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