What has happened to the Ref. 5454?

A new thread with pictures of "Portuguese" movements elicited a a comment from several posters that the 5454 was missing from the current catalog. In deed, it is!
Some time ago I was interested in purchasing this model and in looking into it was told by an A.D. that there was a long lag time to get one-months. He hadn't had one in stock for forever. I wish I had gone through with the order now.
What does everyone think about IWC dropping the simple hand-wound from the collection, assuming that is what has happened? That reference is the only direct descendant of the Ref. 325, I believe.

I don't know of course, maybe only IWC does. But my guess is that the, from the exterior simple looking, Portuguese Handwound didn't sell enough anymore, and that its successor was there, the 8 Days Handwound, with both a date and a power reserve indicator. At the time I wrongly assumed it would be the successor of the Portuguese Automatic, that new one being slightly smaller, but I was wrong: presumably the Portuguese Automatic sells enough, what was I thinking?

I wonder what the other ideas are here. The only constant is the change, and one should listen to the market. Remains to say "Goodbye and thank you for being there" to the discontinued Portuguese Handwound. As always they come with a bang and go in silence. I am glad I have two highly related Vintage Collection Portuguese watches, the 5445's, the black dialed steel cased and the white dialed rose gold cased versions.

Kind regards,
Paul

The calibre 98xxx movements were somewhat costly to produce. The new calibre 59215 movements, which are produced in Schaffhausen (technically Neuhausen in the Canton of Schaffhausen), are somewhat easier and more economical to produce, and I believe that IWC considers the performance superior, including by having 8-day autonomy.

It's true that the movement in the 5454 is a direct descendant of the original Portuguese, but aside from the nostalgia factor I believe IWC considers calibre 59215 to be superior as a more modern movement.

Also, in general aside from a small collector base, manual wound movements don't sell as well as automatics throughout the entire Swiss watch industry. As such, have an 8-day manual movement with date helps expand the market for a watch with a manual movement.

Paul, congrats on the 5445's, they are stunning.

As for the 5454, if customers were not buying it it's hard to blame IWC for discontinuing it. On the other hand, some models are worth keeping on heritage significance. I'd need some numbers to have a definitive opinion. A watch like that would be worth keeping in the collection even if it's not a top seller. But if practically nobody was buying it then, IMO, it belongs in a museum more than in shops.

Thomas

Whatever IWC's motives, I am saddened that such a classic, true to heritage watch design and movement, has been dropped.

Paul, the RG is a stunner. I never saw that one before.
Michael, the 5445 retailed for about $3000 less. I get most of the rest of what you are saying (Patek and VC seem to have markets for hand-winders) but not the expense involved; unless IWC were losing money on the model?

So, it seems there is a gap in the IWC collection right now: the high class elegant dress watch. The Portuguese Handwound came close. The Portuguese Pure Classic doesn't really count as it was one time limited. The Portofino's come close too, but I guess they are not the competition for the time only models of the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine, my favourite elegant dress watch right now, the Patek Philippe Calatrava, or the Blancpain Villeret, to name a few. Quite often they come with a yellow gold case too, for me the quintessential material for an elegant dress watch.

Looking at the total collection of IWC, I can imagine that the brand image makes a high class elegant dress watch a bit out of place, IWC is not the brand that comes to mind first here. To me, IWC is robust, fairly big, and quite often every day life, not elegant night. I wonder if IWC will fill up this gap with some new model, or even model range. The Portuguese or the Portofino would be the obvious family, or even the new Da Vinci family, if they will become round again.

Kind regards,
Paul

IMO the current Portofino Automatic would do well as an affordable dress watch were it not for the "60" in red.

But to be in the same class as those mentioned above (and the JLC Master Ulta Thin, which I'd like to add :-)), an elegant dress watch would need an in-house movement and dimensions not exceeding 40 mm in diameter and 10 mm in height. A watch like that absolutely needs to fit effortlessly under the shirt cuffs. I agree this doesn't fit naturally with the brand. Portuguese are too bold IMO to evolve in this direction. The Portofinos would be my choice if a move like that was to be made.

Thomas

So if much of the reason for the 5454 demise is about the cost of the 98000 movement, does this signify the beginning of the end for the 5463 Tourbillons and 5449 Minute Repeaters?