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FHH | The Quirky Backstory Of The IWC Ingenieur
The Quirky Backstory Of The IWC Ingenieur_1

Quirky Backstory. Quirky Backstory. Quirky Backstory. Quirky Backstory. Quirky Backstory

IWC Ingenieur. IWC Ingenieur. IWC Ingenieur. IWC Ingenieur

20 February 2026

The Quirky Backstory Of The IWC Ingenieur

education

by @watches_and_culture

iwc's technical director Albert Pellaton was a genious engineer behind many inventive and technical solutions, the most famous being the Pellaton winding system invented in the early 1950’s and still in use in today’s IWC watches.

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In 1955, Pellaton decided to create the ultimate scientist watch. It needed to be highly precise, perfectly legible, robust, waterproof and resistant to magnetic fields, the first IWC Ingenieur was born. Magnetism can greatly affect the functioning of a watch movement. However, thanks to its soft iron case around the movement, the first IWC Ingenieur was 16 times more protected to magnetic fields in comparison to the Swiss norm requirements for antimagnetic watches.
 

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The watch evolved through time and in 1976 legendary watch designer Gerald Genta applied his expertise in integrated bracelet steel sport watch (Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus) and crafted with IWC the Ingenieur SL (first picture). Stylistically and technically speaking, the Ingenieur collection continued to evolve and is still today offered in iwc's catalogue and proposed with various complications.