IWC introduced the stainless steel Ingenieur with integrated steel bracelet in 1976, designed by Gerald Genta. Last week, during the SIHH 2013, IWC again introduced the Ingenieur collection. One of them, Ingenieur ref.3239 comes very close to the original Genta designed Ingenieur, according to IWC replica watches. If you are a regular reader here on Fratellowatches, you can probably skip the next few sentences.
Some years later, Genta also designed the Patek Philippe Nautilus 3700 and the IWC Ingenieur SL1832. The Ingenieur was designed to be a swiss fake watch for scientists or technicians, people who had to work in surroundings with strong magnetic fields. Hence the well chosen name ‘Ingenieur’.
The new IWC Ingenieur Automatic ref.3239 is part of the new Ingenieur collection of 2013. Although IWC re-introduced the Ingenieur collection with integrated bracelet in 2005 with the ref.3227, they decided to start over. The 3227 was a 42mm hefty chunk of stainless steel, being one of their first swiss copy watches featuring IWC’s in-house mechanical movement caliber 80110. However, it was discontinued again in 2009. Reason unknown. Purists loved it, but I guess that it was too ‘extreme’ for most people.
Perhaps some IWC fans might wonder why IWC did not use their caliber 80110, but my guess is that the ETA2892-A2 is more flat so it would fit the 10mm case. Personally, I love that they did this, as this best replica watch truly breathes functionality.
Gerald Genta, one of the first dedicated and independent watch designers (he was on the OMEGA payroll for a long time) designed the Royal Oak 5402ST in 1972. Audemars Piguet asked him to come up with an all stainless steel luxury cheap fake watch. Rumour is, that this was an overnight request and that he delivered the sketches for the Royal Oak next day. Although the managing board at Audemars Piguet was skeptical at first, we all know what happened with the Royal Oak. It has become their most popular collection.