IWC Ref. 419 Portuguese like, 1946 vintage ideal timepiece

As I'm new here I would like to say welcome .

I'm coming here to learn more about timepiece that I have and it seems to be
really rare one.
It's IWC Ref. 419 Cal 83 , steel mans vintage wrist watch from 1946.
It is in perfect condition after IWC renovation.
I do also have certificate of authenticity confirming the Ref and year.

At first I was sure that this is Portugueser, but it's story seems to be more
twisted.
This watch is from 1946 and looks like Portugueser ref. 5441 form 1993.

Could any of you who knows the story of ref. 419 enlight me a bit?

Beautiful watch in fantastic condition!

As the papers say...... It is a Cal 83 movement, which was a very popular
watch in its time and was made from 1930 to 1947 at which time it was replaced
by cal 88.

There is a slight resemblance to Portugieser 325, but there is a big size
difference and these came with pocket watch movements either cal 74 (1939 to
1951) and 98 (1944 to 1970)

Thank you Mark for you reply.

I do realize that Cal 83 movement was commonly used at that time but I
couldn't find anywhere any info about model itself, so Ref 419.

It would be grate to figure out how many of them where produced and what is
the historical value of this timepiece (if any)?

Also I was trying to find any historical auctions where this model was sold to
estimate the value and I couldn't find any.

Indeed I'm pleased how well it was renovated by IWC. It looks like brand new!

Thank you

KNG

Hi KNG,

this is a normal Cal. 83 wristwatch, it has nothing to do with a Portugieser
from that area. The Portugieser is a large oversize wristwatch equipped with a
pocket watch movement and was produced in very few examples.

The Cal 83 was produced in a total nuber of 68400 pieces. It was used in
various refrences. The Portugieser with Cal 74 you refer to was produced in
304 pcs.

Nice watch anyhow.

br

Cromagnonman

Appreciate you answer.

Amazing is how similar is the dial of Jubilee Portugieser - Ref. 5441.

Seems that designer run out of ideas :)

All the best

KNG

Hi KNG,

good dial designs tend to come back! I have added some similar dials designs
from the Reference list.

Ref 540, Ref 456, Ref 548 or Ref 521

also a Ref. 325 a Portugieser

br Cromagnonman

It will be probably impossible to find out how many cal. 83 watches with this
specific dial have been made.

If over 68.000 cal 83 movements have been made, dozens of different cases and
even more different dials have been applied.

Here the dial is alike a Portugieser but as said before it is not a
Portugieser and t will never be one. As you perhaps know, there is a cal. 83
watch which is even more valuable for some collectors as the 'Real
Portugieser, ref. 325'. I am refering to the 'Uhr fur Flieger' the first Pilot
watch made by IWC. And of course there was the W.W.W. watch. All cal. 83
watches were noted in the archives, not as a specific model but only with
movement and case number in the same way as all other watches from IWC.
Therefore identifying a specific model is impossible.

Best regards,

Adrian,

(alwaysiwc).