You should send this info to Oliver Siiegle or someone else at IWC. Or hopefully they will read about it here. Having met you, I know you are passionate about the details in watches. And since you are living in Portugal your opinion should not be taken lightly.
Thanks for the explanation about the symbolism. I found it very interesting.
A flawless Portuguese would be a first :-)), and not even the Swiss, with their reputation for thoroughness and accuracy, were able to produce one. The era of the Descobrimentos was the apex the history of Portugal but, unfortunately, it has been downhill ever since.
I doubt IWC will be able to correct the mistake and add the armillary sphere. From what I was able to understand, IWC's design and production process is not very flexible and does not easily accommodate change. On the other hand, this error may render the watch more collectible, as is the case of misspellings in certain movements. Not to me. I do not intend acquiring this watch.
Wow, what a beautiful watch, thanks for sharing the picture. I normally do not like wearing red or yellow gold watches for myself but this one is a stuuner.
Regards
Farjad
I was under the impression Schaffhausen monitored the forum on a regular basis. I recall that, occasionally IWC replied to, or commented on more technical issues, although I have not seen any such participation in a long time.
The error in the Portuguese shield is a matter of fact, and not of opinion, let alone my opinion. All IWC had to do to get the shield right was an internet search.
I must, however, entertain the possibility that this is exactly how IWC wanted to do it. It is only a watch after all. Much ado about nothing, all over again? :-))
I am in fact passionate about the details in watches, especially IWC's tool watches: Pilots, Ingenieurs and Aquatimers, which I think ought to remain true to their name, and not become expensive fashion watches at the expense of their fundamental characteristics.
Well, I did look at "Flag of Portugal" in Wikipedia. Quite an impressive explanation of the flag, its history, its changes over time. The connection between the armillary sphere, being "an important astronomical and navigational instrument for the Portuguese sailors", and "the most important period of the nation - the Portuguese discoveries -" is well explained. However, when looking for "Portuguese shield", the Internet shows a lot of pictures of the shield alone, without the sphere. This may explain what happened. Given the marketing effort of IWC, stressing the maritime connotation to the Portuguese watch (which we all know is incorrect, the two Portuguese gentlemen contacting IWC in the 20th century only had a nice watch in mind), the sphere should be there.
By the way: when really wanting to correct the mistake, I cannot imagine that a redesign of a medallion would take so much time. It is not like changing a vital part of the movement. If I were IWC, I would not like to have a second Sidney.
Kind regards,
Paul
Linking Mr Rodrigues and Mr. Teixeira request for a large and accurate wrist watch for the Portuguese market in 1939, with the Portuguese Descobrimentos at the launching of the Ref 5441 - a revival of the Ref 325 - for IWC's 125th anniversary, was a brilliant marketing strategy. IWC's claim that Mr. Teixeira was a descendant of one of the first explorers is far fetched, but added color to the myth. There are additional inaccurate historical statements, but IWC is selling watches and must not be viewed as an accurate historical source. There are many inaccurate accounts of the Descobrimentos in Portugal as well, including the actual role of Principe D. Henrique O (so called) Navegador even though he never set foot inside a boat that lost sight of the Portuguese coast. But this is not the place to discuss this matter.
Myths from all sides apart, they gave origin to an outstanding line of beautiful watches for our pleasure. And for that I am thankful to IWC.
The armillary sphere must me there. Without it, there is no co connection with the Descobrimentos and the "Spirit of Navigation."
Thans very much for the explanation about the flag and the history, it's increadible what we can learn on this Forum!
Kind regards,
Clemens
The rotor disk is great! I feel as if this should be on all Portuguese rotors.
I like that one very much. Thanks for posting it here Bill.
Very rich looking...Nice!
It's impossible to see pictures of this beauty too many times:-)
Steve