126 February 2016 www.bahrainthismonth.com The full moon has been steeped in mystery and legend since the beginning of time. Now the moon exerts a new magnetic power in this series of exceptional watches. One of the world’s leading brands in the luxury watch segment, the Swiss manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen crafts the finest masterpieces of haute horlogerie, combining supreme precision with exclusive design. The Portugieser Perpetual Calendar has two versions in the 2015 anniversary collection, with double and single moons. Their nine functions are powered by in-house movements from the IWC 52000-calibre family. With a number of modest design changes, the Reference 5034 now more closely resembles the Portugieser family and conveys an altogether more discreet and elegant impression. It is undisputed that the moon’s gravitational pull controls the tides and thus exerts a real influence on the earth and our lives. In the revamped model of the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar with a double moon (Ref. 5034), the moon phase display is not only the visual centrepiece of the dial, it is also the technical highlight of a premium timepiece which displays supreme technical skill. The perpetual moon phase display is one of Schaffhausen’s most spectacular in-house designs, primarily for use of a level of precision unique in a mechanical wristwatch. It takes the FEATURES Mechanical movement. Power reserve display. Perpetual calendar with displays for the date, day, month, year in four digits and perpetual moon phase for the northern and southern hemispheres. Small hacking seconds. Glucydur beryllium alloy indexless balance with highprecision adjustment screws on balance rim. Breguet spring. See-through sapphire-glass back. Rotor made of 18-carat red gold. MOVEMENT IWC-manufactured calibre 52615 Frequency 28,800 A/h / 4 Hz Jewels 54 Power reserve 7 days (168 h) Winding automatic WATCH Materials Ref. IW503401: case in 18-carat white gold, midnight blue dial, black alligator leather strap by Santoni, folding clasp in 18-carat white gold Glass Sapphire, arched edge, antireflective coating on both sides Water-resistant 3 bar Diameter 44.2 mm Case height 15.3 mm moon 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and three seconds to orbit the earth. Generations of watchmakers have been frustrated by the task of translating these figures into a moon phase display using only the size and number of wheels in a train. Conventional moon phase displays in mechanical wristwatches need to be corrected at relatively short intervals. Kurt Klaus, the master watchmaker at IWC who designed the company’s first perpetual calendar succeeded, in the mid-1980s, in reducing the deviation of the mini-moon of the display, compared to the moon’s actual orbit, to just one day in 122 years. It was a masterstroke surpassed only in 2003 with the introduction of the large 5000 calibre. Thanks to its considerable size, the calibre’s larger moon phase wheels have a higher transmission ratio. As a result, the display will need to be corrected by one day only after 577.5 years! In the Portugieser Perpetual Calendar with the double moon (Ref. 5034), the moon phase and its mirror image show the state of the moon in both the northern and southern hemispheres. This ingenious achievement was also the work of IWC’s engineers, who have transformed the subdial with the double moon display into a star-studded night sky the same colour as the large dial. The moon and stars appear to hover in infinite space, giving owners south of the equator a view of the moon phase that corresponds to the way they see it. Mechanically programmed, the calendar takes into account the different lengths of the months and even the leap years. IWC timepieces are available in Bahrain at Asia Jewellers. Call 17 535-344 or visit www.asiajewellers.com. marketplace A New Force of Attraction ASIA JEWELLERS
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