Review – IWC Portuguese 7-Day Automatic (5001-07)

[P Diddy]

Been a long time since I’ve posted, as I’m primarily just a reader until I get into watch buying mode every couple years. I wanted to share with everyone a short review and a few photos of my most recent purchase, an IWC 7-Day Portuguese, in an effort to give back to this great community since I benefited greatly from the reviews and commentary on this watch available on these forums before purchasing.

By way of background, this is my first IWC, and I traded in my Omega Planet Ocean and Breitling Navitimer plus some cash in order to get my hands on this one. I couldn’t be happier with this trade, as I found myself hardly ever wearing either of those two ever since I bought my Rolex Deepsea 3 years ago. I found that I preferred wearing the Rolex in business and formal settings as well as casual settings. It’s such an amazingly versatile style, that it somewhat rendered my Omega and Breitlings obsolete as far as wrist time is concerned.

Here are just a few things I would note about the IWC:

Case and Dial Design: It is just such an absolutely classic, elegant and timeless design that I don’t see myself parting with this one in the future. What I love about it is that the design is somewhat simple and understated, but coupled with fairly modern proportions (42mm and a nice thickness of 15mm.. I think). It’s worth mentioning that the 42mm diameter belies how large this watch wears – it actually looks about as big as my Deepsea on the wrist due to the thin bezel. Perfect size for my tastes, but worth noting. I’ve seen others complain that the watch is too thick, but that’s personally one of the main selling points for me as I prefer a more substantial watch. I also began having the left cuff on my shirts an extra 3/4” wider to accommodate my watches a few years ago (something I’d highly recommend for those who own thick watches), so it fits perfectly with what I wear to work every day. Finally, the last thing I’ll note about the design is that the legibility is just incredible. I can read the time so quickly, that it takes no more than a faint glance. Also, with the silver/white dial, it’s even legible at night sans lume in all but pitch black conditions.
Comfort: Extremely comfortable to wear and has a decent heft to it (it feels paper-light after taking off my Deepsea, which I’m sure will change as my senses adjust). It seems to have the right amount of weight to remind you it’s there, which I like in a watch.
Movement: I love that it has IWC’s in-house 5000 movement. The 7-day power reserve is just amazing, and is something I expect to use every week since I will likely wear the Rolex on weekends from now on, so it will be nice to not have to set the time on Monday mornings when I put the IWC back on. I also really like the power reserve indicator. It’s a shame more watches don’t have this, as I feel more connected with the watch when I can see the power reserve increase throughout the day or as I’m winding it. Any review of this movement would be remiss without mention of its beauty as showcased in the Portuguese. I’ll let the pictures speak to that (crappy iPhone photos notwithstanding).
Accuracy: Over the past week, the watch has been keeping time at about +10s per day, but honestly it doesn’t bother me for a couple reasons. First, I have a tendency to be late, so at least it’s on the fast side. Second, the fact that the 7-day saves me from re-setting it every week might actually keep it more accurate on those days when I hastily set my watch, but if it doesn’t, I can always use the time I saved from not having to re-set it completely to true it up. Perhaps I’ll have it regulated to within COSC specs before my IWC warranty runs out, but for now I’m perfectly happy with its timekeeping and I refuse to give it up for any extended period of time.
Overall: I’m in love with this watch and highly recommend it to anyone considering it. My biggest complaint is that I frequently find myself staring at the dial and even taking the watch off to gaze at the stunning 7-day movement through its massive sapphire case-back. Perhaps some of that will wear off after the honeymoon period is over.

Finally, I would also just like to put in an honest plug for David SW. This is the second watch I’ve bought from him (the first being my Deepsea), and his service is amazing, prices competitive, and communication very professional. I can’t recommend him enough. He also offered me what I would consider fair prices for the two watches I traded in, so the transaction couldn’t have been any smoother. Not only that, but I knew I wanted to put a brown strap on my watch, and David arranged to have an OEM brown IWC strap installed at the dealer before it shipped, so I didn’t have to worry about doing that as soon as I got it. Exemplary customer service.

[Psmith]

A beauty - congrats

[DreambreaX]

nice watch!

[vman]

I've always loved this model. Congratulations!

[BH13GMT]

fabulous watch, in a timeless colour combo. thanks for sharing

[Urosfan]

Very nice

[robisan]

Nice watch and movement, one of IWC greats.

[Frogdog]

Very classy! Love the brown strap! 👍👍

[Maxtor]

Great review. Thanks for sharing.

[JCZ5]

Looks great! Just as a reference, what is your wrist size? My wrist size is 6.7, so not sure if it would look too big.

Too lazy to make it to a IWC AD haha

[cger]

on 6.7 it would not look to big at all. Far from it.

[Rb10chris]

great review! Does it take a long time to wind up to 7 days?

[watchstudent]

nice write up thank you. saw this one in the flesh the other day. it is incredible. the case back is spectacular the way that massive movement fills up the whole 42mm is something that needs to be seen to be believed.

hope you are still enjoying this one.

[Hairdude1]

Great review

[sea-dweller]

Very nice!

[aspivo]

Nice watch

[young.chi]

I remember reading this review before buying my 5001-14 several months ago, so gotta say thanks for the write-up.

Second the comments on this being a tank of a piece. It dwarves my GMT2 which I thought was pretty heft already (coming from a seamaster).

Hopefully the size trend in my collection doesn't continue in the same trajectory...

[freiwillifer]

:пальцы вверх:

[erredi7734]

Very nice,
I’ve the 5007, great piece