Review: IWC Ingenieur IW323601

Whilst just about everyone is willing to commit all manner of sins to get hold of a Audemars Piguet Royal Oak or Patek Philippe Nautilus, there remains a watch within the circle of famed designer Gérald Genta’s legacy that, somehow, remains untouched. Lean in closer and I’ll tell you more.

Background

Gérald Genta, if you haven’t heard of the name already, was a man with a plan. What was that plan exactly? Well, apparently it was to upset the entire industry with audacious design and superfluous trinkets. Imagine suggesting that one of the oldest and most revered watchmakers in the world, known for its high complications and extraordinary finishing, would make a watch with big hexagonal screws that can’t even turn, that are completely and deliberately pointless. Genta made that happen.

How? Because when the doo-doo hits the Dyson, desperation sets in and people start to panic. When that particular brand of faecal matter was aimed squarely at Switzerland in the shape of a battery-powered quartz watch from Japan, Genta’s phone began to ring. The industry needed his offbeat cynicism and disdain for tradition. They needed the man who said, and I quote, “I don’t like watches.”

From Genta’s first, the sedate Universal Genéve Polerouter, he slowly veered away from the well-trodden track with every passing design, until he found himself one evening on the phone to the CEO of Audemars Piguet, who had set about in a panicked manner to ask if Genta could design him a watch for the big watch show the next day. Audemars Piguet was going down the toilet and they had nothing. And so Genta gave them something: the bonkers AP Royal Oak.

The success of that watch made it an easy decision for every other CEO within 100 miles of Geneva to come banging on Genta’s door. His work was either commissioned or copied by any Swiss watchmaker that wanted to see the next decade. One of those watchmakers was IWC.

1976 was a good year for Gérald Genta. He may not have liked watches, but they liked him, and he had the biggest watch brands in the world clamouring to give him money. Patek Philippe wanted the Nautilus and IWC the Ingenieur. Where the Nautilus was a new model, the Ingenieur was an update of an anti-magnetic engineer’s watch, a candidate IWC determined was most in need of the magic Genta touch.

So, with a wave of his paintbrush—Genta preferred watercolours to traditional pen and ink—he applied the quirks he had become famous for to the Ingenieur. An integrated bracelet, needless bezel decoration and an oddly textured dial. IWC, of course, went away very pleased and continues to live on to this day.

The great irony is that the watches Genta penned for an industry on its last dying breath were ones he had created because of his distaste for that same industry, and so to see them readily accepted must’ve been bittersweet.

I have a theory: contrary to the tales of their creation on the spot with hours to go before deadline, I think many of these designs already existed as Genta’s personal release from designing the boring stuff, and that he whipped them out on request almost as a deterrent. Their acceptance must’ve been like The Sex Pistols finding out Her Royal Highness is a big fan.

The reason I think this is because Genta’s career after this enormous success was clearly geared towards designing watches the industry would never, ever, accept. The Octo, the Grande Sonnerie and of course, the Mickey Mouse watch made sure to cement his legacy as a man who made odd watches.

Review

Despite his best efforts, many of Genta’s watch designs remain enormously popular today—including the Mickey Mouse watch. They haven’t continuously enjoyed fame, however, their deliberately abrasive looks falling out of favour for a few decades between now and the 70s, but if you were simply to take a snapshot of today, you’ll soon see that the world has gone a bit wild for them.

Except for one. The Royal Oak and Nautilus may have attained the status of mythology by this point, and even the copycat Vacheron Constantin 222—but not the IWC Ingenieur. The Ingenieur today is more akin to the watch it was originally, simple and straightforward, but there was a period before when IWC made something closer to Genta’s vision.

You could say that this watch here, the IW323601, is not the same as the Genta’s original Ingeniuer, and indeed it is more accurate to say it was inspired by it—but then so too is Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas, and that sells just fine.

No, what I think is that because IWC stopped making this irregularly proportioned watch just a hair before 70s madness set in, it’s quite simply flown under the radar. This is a watch with true Genta looks and legacy for the same price as a Tudor Black Bay Chrono. At least, it is for now.

It’s a bit of a weapon, too. 46mm across and 15mm thick, it’ll definitely remind you it’s on your wrist, even on the lightweight rubber strap. There’s 120m of water-resistance to protect the in-house calibre 80110, replete with 44 hours of power reserve and highly efficient Pellaton winding system. And it doesn’t do the original dirty either, still packing proper anti-magnetic properties with the inclusion of a soft iron inner case.

So, despite the changes, does it still retain the essence of Genta? I certainly think so. The strap is integrated of course, with the central element echoed along its length. The bezel has those superfluous holes that actually line up this time. The dial is unusually textured with a motif that reveals itself to be a repeating pattern of interlocking letter I’s. You know, for Ingenieur.

I’d say its equivalent is the Royal Oak Offshore. This, really, is an Ingenieur Offshore. It’s plumper overall, wearing its weight visually in the thick case and added crown guards, balanced by the shipping container hands and markers. It loses almost all of the delicacy of Genta’s original—but that hasn’t done anything to dissuade people from Audemars Piguet’s own gym bro.

The fact this watch can be purchased for the price of a new TAG Heuer Carrera suggests to me that this watch has just plain old been forgotten. I mean, I’ll let you into a little secret: I actually owned one of these many years ago and even I forgot about it…

That’s the great thing about being around watches like this all the time. I spotted it and the memories came flooding back, quickly followed by all the questions I’ve attempted to answer here. My conclusion: it’s a great watch at a great price, and for anyone looking to celebrate the watches Genta probably came to loathe, one of if not the cheapest way to do it.

Now, I don’t think this secret is going to hang around for long, because if you ask me, IWC is sitting on a golden egg with the Ingenieur. Audemars Piguet are loving it, Patek Philippe is loving it, Vacheron Constantin is loving it, so it’s only a matter of time. And when that happens, you can be as sure as shoestrings that this little puppy is going to follow along. That’ll be yet another watch to add to my list of regrettable sale decisions…

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