Look who else has a Portofino watch line

Now I wouldn't compare the Morellato line of women's quartz watches with IWC's masterpiece of simple, elegant design... if it weren't for the identical name.

http://www.morellato.com/#/prodotti/Portofino/eng

Is it heretical for me to wonder if this name is better suited to an Italian jewelery outfit than to a Swiss-German watch company? Why does IWC pair with Da Vinci, Portofino or Portuguese? It seems the Fliegeruhr would be closer to its DNA, or is this too simple an extrapolation?

It's a rather novice question you ask - but a good one. Certainly, other brands like General Motors in the USA sell products called Monte Carlo, etc. However, the IWC lines you speak are more purposeful, and overt. I can easily answer 2 of them:

1. DaVinci, which is a person mainly associated with the Renaissance, a time when science clashed with people's faith, architecture, technology, art and enlightenment. Leonardo DaVinci's name is synonymous with the Renaissance. In the late 1960s, IWC developed a watch movement called the Beta21 which was the pre-cursor to the quartz watch. A genius invention, that unfortunately had the result of nearly killing the entire Swiss watch industry - as the market shifted toward the simple utility of timekeeping - and cheap, quartz watches did the trick - and no one wanted to buy mechanical movements. Many Swiss watch manufacturers went under. Companies like IWC were on the brink. Then, in the mid 1980s - IWC Management, Gunter Blumlein and Kurt Klaus had the notion that mechanical should be special, complicated, gold and precious. An astounding perpetual calendar that was mechanically pre-programmed for centuries and accounted for leap years, moonphases for generations - and set by the crown. This would put IWC back on top. The market would no longer be for telling the time, simple utility - it would be a new Renaissanceof the industry - and complexity of the timepiece would become appreciated and adored. So IWC relaunched the watch that almost 'killed' them, with the same name, DaVinci.

2. The Portuguese line came about in the 1930s. A pair of successful Portuguese businessmen approached IWC to commission wrist watches in large cases, using pocket watch movements that would be targeted to their jewelry market in Portugal. This was ahead of it's time, styles in this period were very small and demure. Since, the heritage of Portuguese explorers have been linked to the line...

I am sure others can add commentary - while I am not totally certain of my claims above - I feel I am somewhat close to it...

Good

I love the continuing evolution of those lines that were birthed through the incidence of time and space: an American watchmaker who started a Swiss watch-making company 143 years ago; two changing, evolving, modernizing series that take their names from the historical heritage, ideals & flavour from a very consequential period in Italy (indeed modern world, at that time) and the sea-faring tradition of the people of Portugal (to this day Portugal maintains a strong fishing tradition which can be seen in industry and cuisine).

The essence of the historical origination may seem distant and be more of a function of marketing hype, but I feel it’s a brave effort to keep these editions and the spatial thinking they initiate in us consistent. This evolution and adaptation to modernity is something I don’t see in other watch brands, and is what has attached me so strongly to this brand within such a short time.

I certainly feel there are ideals from history that should give us pause to reflect - on Time. And yet at the same time I remind myself the only constant is change. And time at the end of it, is what we all have or not have, contingent on how we use and view it. Like Peter Pan’s ticking crocodile, time is chasing after each of us.

(apologies for stealing the Pisa Portugeiser pic from Rave I believe).

Point taken for the "novice" origins of my question Ardoise. Thank you for your detailed response. Still, I feel that the texts above provide a "how" rather than a "why" in regards to the latin namesakes of these three watch lines (we still have no definite link with IWC and Portofino?).

I would like to make the remark that the curves in all of IWC's wonderful creations are never soft. There is a hard, masculine line to IWC. This could stereotypically be attributed to its Swiss-German origins, but it is perhaps more a function of Kurt and company's precise esthetics which have made IWC a distinctive success. The concept of a "Da Vinci" watch is practically generic and I associate tonneau cases with French or Italian designs.

The Ingenieur and Pilots are closest to IWC's DNA in my humble opinion. It's a question of the feeling exuding from the watches rather than of the histories deliberately outlined in the various texts on the subject of each line.

Best regards to you and Shing.

I wonder whether the Da Vinci and Portofino choice of name isn't foremost marketing driven. If I am well informed traditionally Italy was a very important market for IWC. Smart then to choose names with an Italian connotation. And from about 1985, the modern era, IWC almost exclusively made watches for men, not for women, and again put this choice into an marketing effort, like the German "Der Uhr". Uhr = watch. For the word "the" there are three German words, "der", "die" and "das": "der" is for masculine nouns, "die" for feminine nouns, "das" for neuter nouns. Watch is feminine in German, so normally one says "Die Uhr". By using the masculine "Der Uhr" IWC signified brillantly what their business was.

Kind regards,
Paul