Is the portofino worth buying?

I was in Schaffhausen last year to see the IWC factory (but it was closed). Although I wasn't able to see much more than the museum, I was able to meet with a watch repair person and see them fix a watch. In our conversation, they asked me if I was interested in buying an IWC (or if I had already purchased one) and I told them that although I loved the portuguese chronometer, the portofino was more in my price range (before they substantially increased prices).

Interesting thing was, they almost immediately disapproved. They said the portofino was a very common movement that wasn't worth my time (no pun intended I think), and that I should buy either a portuguese chrono or an ingenieur, in steel.

I'm interested in people's thoughts on this, as I still like the design of the portofino, though I don't like the idea of a subpar movement. I know IWC would never put a poorly functioning movement in a watch, but the comment from the repair person was most likely an "honest" opinion from someone very knowledgable on the subject.

J

J,

I've got the new portofino automatic that IWC came out with last year. Unlike it's predecessor, the new portofino auto has a sellita movement. I was somewhat worried given that sellita doesn't have as long a history as eta, but the 35110 movement is superb. In the time I've owned mine, it hasn't missed a beat - no loss of time whatsoever.

I say buy one, especially if it is in your price range. I too love the Portuguese Chrono, but more savings will be needed. Maybe next year...

Todd

Hi J,
Was the criticism based on the movement being common or particular recurrent problems?
I am surprised that the response you received was specific to Portofinos as the AT Galapagos (ref 3767) and the Pilots watch chrono (ref 3717)among others also have the same ETA based movement as the Portofino chronograph(cal 79320).
I have the Portofino 8 days hand-wound with the in-house cal 59210 and think it is an excellent movement in a beautiful watch.

As many of the passionate collectors and experts on this forum often say, if a watch speaks to you then buy it. Seems to me you are hearing the seductive song of a portofino loud and clear - I say go for it!

Peter

Hi PFJ,

I don't think the 8 day portofino can be compared to the other lower-end models as it is an impressive in-house movement. I think the watch repairer was more or less unimpressed with the new portofinos (it was in the summer time - and if memory serves, after the new collections was announced). I shared their enthusiasm for the portuguese (which is what I'm pretty sure I'm buying this week), but their honesty was surpassing and also refreshing.

In reality, I don't think IWC is without their faults, or to put it another way, I don't think every IWC watch has that "je ne sais quoi" like the Portuguese line (which has drawn many people to IWC - myself included).

J

Beside that ETA's are well built movements, people who critice them in IWC's should remember that most likely IWC would not exist today if they hadn't bought in movements in the 1980/90s.