The IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Sport Edition “50th Anniversary of Mercedes-AMG” (reference IW380902) is a 250-piece limited edition marking the 50th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz sports car brand. IWC has partnered AMG-Mercedes since 2004. The watch is in a familiar IWC pattern, with a few distinctive details such as the continuous seconds hand shaped like a bolt of lightning, and a sapphire caseback that reveals not the movement, but an anti-magnetic inner case resembling a brake disc.
12-bar water resistance
The case is in titanium, 44 mm in diameter, 15.9 mm thick, with an excellent 12 bar water resistance, so you don’t have to worry about rain or splashes, though you shouldn’t use the chronograph pushers in the presence of water. The watch has a black calfskin strap.
Composite dial design
The dial is distinctive and stylish, with numerals for minutes instead of hours, and dots of luminescent paint that act as hour markers. Personally I’m not a fan of chronograph watches in which the seconds scale is interrupted by other elements and in this watch the dots of lume are right on top of the scale. I’m also a bit puzzled by the irregular positioning of the numerals with respect to the dots of lume. On the positive side, the chronograph minutes and hours are combined in the totalizer at 12 o’clock which is a practical and very legible format.
In-house movement with column wheel and vertical clutch
The watch is powered by the IWC-manufactured 89361 movement which provides the flyback function. This is a high-quality calibre, with column wheel and vertical clutch. IWC calls it a double-clutch movement because there are separate couplings for the chronograph seconds hand with respect to the chronograph minutes and hour hands. The vertical clutch system means that you can leave the chronograph running continuously without adversely affecting power reserve or wear. The movement runs at 28,800 vibrations per hour, 4 Hertz, is self-winding, and has a power reserve of 68 hours. You can’t see anything of the movement through the sapphire caseback, because the movement has a soft-iron inner case for anti-magnetic protection.
The IWC Ingenieur Chronograph Sport Edition “50th Anniversary of Mercedes-AMG” reference IW380902 is a limited edition of 250 pieces, price €13,300, $11,800. You get it free of charge if you buy one of the five Mercedes-AMG GT3 Edition 50 cars that have recently been presented.
