Super Clone IWC unveils the Portugieser Eternal Calendar IW505701

Building on their extensive expertise with calendars, replica IWC has expanded its collection by introducing the Super Clone IWC Portugieser Eternal Calendar ref. IW505701.

Unveiled at the Fake Watches and Wonders 2024 event in Geneva (April 9-15), this advanced timepiece, the brand’s first secular perpetual calendar, recognizes the varying lengths of months, adds a leap day every four years, and also manages the complex leap-year exception rules of the Gregorian calendar.

A specially designed 400-year gear ensures that the calendar will automatically skip three leap years over four centuries, with the first instance occurring in the year 2100.

One of the notable features of this model is the moon phase display. Thanks to a newly developed reduction gear, the Double Moon phase display will deviate from the moon’s orbit by only one day after 45 million years.

The Portugieser Eternal Calendar is housed in a 44.4 mm x 15 mm platinum case with polished and brushed surfaces.

The glass dial undergoes a complex manufacturing process. Initially, the underside is frosted and lacquered in white, while the subdials are machined, polished separately, and then affixed to the dial.

In the next step, the printing is applied, and the appliques are mounted by hand.

The numerals and the characteristic Portugieser minute scale are printed on a white lacquered flange situated between the glass dial and the front box-shaped sapphire crystal, which is treated with an antireflective coating on both sides.

The moon phase is displayed on the dial using the distinctive Double Moon indication, showing the moon as seen from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres..

The display consists of two superimposed discs. A celestial disc with two small circular openings rotates above a stationary lower disc with two dots. This negative representation gives the impression that two small moons are waxing or waning. The lower disc is made of titanium and decorated with a Guilloché pattern, while the upper disc is made of glass.

Visible through the box-shaped sapphire glass case back and operating at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour), the newly developed IWC-manufactured 52640 calibre features a highly efficient Pellaton winding system. Using movements of the rotor in both directions, it reliably builds up a power reserve of seven days (168 hours) in the two barrels.

Parts of the winding system subject to high stress are made of virtually wear-free zirconium oxide ceramic. The movement boasts Geneva stripes and circular graining finishes, enhancing its visual appeal.

Translating the irregular calendar into a Clone watch remains a significant engineering feat. The Gregorian calendar divides the year into 12 months, with leap years every four years, except for centurial years not divisible by 400.

Traditional perpetual calendars require corrections every 400 years, whereas the Portugieser Eternal Calendar is mechanically programmed to account for these complexities. It will calculate the leap year correctly until at least the year 3999, as it has not yet been officially decided whether the year 4000 will be a leap year or not.

The Portugieser Eternal Calendar is based on the same modular and synchronized design as the existing perpetual calendar. All its displays can be advanced using the crown. However, while the perpetual calendar is programmed for a four-year cycle, the Portugieser Eternal Calendar features an additional mechanism, the so-called 400-years gear, which completes only one revolution every four centuries.