IWC Watches have always held a special place for me… they have that men’s no-nonsense thing going on, and really make a nice, simple functional watch. They are the only company that is a manufacture and also makes many watches that suit my personal style. However, I do not own any of them. Why? Because they are simply too small.

I draw the line at 42mm. I do not buy any watches smaller than 42mm anymore simply because I won’t wear them. I still have some, such as my Navitimer and Chronomat that are under 42mm, and I wear the Navi, but not the Chronomat. IWC’s watches at their largest were 43mm with the Ingenieur, and that just simply did not cut it. I believe their Aquatimer Cousteau edition also was a bit larger like 44mm or something, but did not fancy paying the premium for it.

I’ve always wanted an IWC with their Manufacture movement, which is why I liked the 42mm Portuguese with the seven day power reserve. The Ref 5001. Caliber 50010 IWC movement.

Enter the IWC Big Ingenieur
A 45.5mm Ingenieur with a power reserve indicator. Utilizing a Calibre 51112 Movement also with a seven day power reserve! Wow. My dream watch.

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Very nice. Utilizing the IWC Pellaton winding system, and … in case you missed it.. 7 day power reserve! This is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) automatic movements in production. Watch comes on Rubber or Crocodile, and not stainless in this size unfortunately.

I might have to settle for the new 44mm Ingenieur Automatic on steel, but only if they add a Chronograph to it. It looks a bit too plain without any subdials. The 44mm Ingenieur does not have the seven day movement, unfortunately!

Price on the Big Ingenieur is around $11,000.

Oh well… I guess you can’t have it all, right?