IWC Portofino - Movement choice?

[phwtan]

Hi all,

I've recently caught the IWC bug and am looking to get a non-chronograph Portofino (ss, white dial) ToroBravo. It's such an elegant watch!

There are 3 listed there with different movements:

Asian 2892

Asian 2824

Miyota

Which would y'all go for? What have been your experiences between the 2 movements?

Is there much difference in reliability or the bph?

Am I correct in thinking that the watchcase, hands, dial, etc would be the same between the 2?

I'm also interested to hear existing owner's thoughts on how well replicated the watch is and whether there are any obvious tells.

Many thanks

[Bueffel]

Hi there,

 

I bought an IWC Portofino Automatic Black Dial about 2 years ago. It was shiped with an Asian 2892 which was broken the day I received the watch! I bought a swiss eta 2892-2 (it´s important to get the "-2" movement since this one has the correct size!) from a RWG member to get it replaced, an AR treatment and a gen strap. That was (is) a quite good looking watch. Unfortunately the movement was not extremly reliable and finally broke too. Therefore I was looking for a gen movement. By now IWC builds the Portofino Automatic with the caliber 35110 which is basicaly a swiss Selita movement, a derivative of the eta 2892-2 of course. Prior to this the Portofino Automatic was equiped with the caliber 30110 which is based on the eta 2892-2 as well. From my point of view, buy the watch with whatever movement and get it replaced with a gen movement. To do so:

 

google uhren-roemer.de/Uhrenersatzteile-nach-Marken/IWC-Uhrenersatzteile/IWC-Uhrwerke/IWC-C-30110-auch-Eta-2892-A2-schwarze-Datumscheibe-Datum-bei-der-3

 

Good luck and enjoy this beautiful dress-watch.

[peter pan]

I have one with a 2892 and one with a Miyota 9015. The 2892 is pricier and way less noisey and the date font is way better. The Miyota on the other hand is (of course) cheaper, makes a lot of noise on the wrist (although I got used to it, but it took me some time) and the date font is completely wrong. Some numbers are ok but some are just weird. Actually it bothers me (quite a lot sometimes to be honest) because some dates look just so much off (for example the '2', while the '21' for example is ok)! The dials and indexes are basically the same, although the hands on the Miyota are nicer shaped (the 2892s hands are flatter shaped)

 

Unfortunately I am away from home for quite some time so I can't show pictures of what I mean. I personally would propably not buy the Miyota again, since the date is so off! But thats just a matter of how much this would bother you personally i suppose.

[phwtan]

Thanks guys, very helpful comments!

 

The more I look at this watch, the more I like it.  It's got such a minimalist elegance to it.

 

Bueffel, I'm amazed that the price of the gen IWC 30110 is EUR 297!

So the hands are compatible with it and the movement fits into the case without any mods?

 

Also, where did you source the gen strap, and how much did it cost?

 

I've read in a few places that the crystal doesn't have AR on it.  How doe one go about getting AR treatment done?

 

Peter pan, thanks for your advice.  I will go for the Asian 2892 movement

 

May I ask, which TD did y'all source yours from?  I'm considering ordering from ToroBravo.

 

Cheers

[peter pan]

As far as I remember I've got one from ryan (intime) and one from Angus (Puretime) but any TD can get almost any watch. Just make sure that you ask if it is available before you place your order

Edited April 24, 2015 by peter pan

[Bueffel]

Yes, everything fits together easily. No case modification needed! There is indeed no AR applied. I sent the watch to WIZ in France to get an AR and it is really worth it. The strap I bought from a rwg member for, as far as I remember, 90 Euro.

 

Cheers