IWC's Ingenieur and Mercedes forge perfect partnership

If you love high-performance cars, you would understand it if someone praised IWC Ingenieur as "the Mercedes of watches". Watch connoisseurs could relate to a Mercedes as "the IWC of cars". The two brands dovetail nicely and have had a synergistic relationship since 2004.

Both create superb machines and both are dedicated to precision technology allied to outstanding design, which is why they make excellent partners. IWC Schaffhausen is the official engineering partner of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team and has remodelled its Ingenieur models to reflect this partnership.

"If you look at the Ingenieur collection this year," says Niklaus Fumasoli, IWC senior product manager, "we have racing, performance engineering and heritage. Designers picked certain elements such as the polished surfaces, the look of the dashboard and integrated them into the watches.

"In the performance engineering, it's about materials and movements like the constant force tourbillon. We've done our first carbon case, which is clearly inspired by motorsports. The perpetual digital calendar is contained in a titanium alumina case, which is used in motorsports car parts that are exposed to high temperatures."

Turning to the question of heritage, Fumasoli cited the glamour of motorsports in the 1930s and '50s. "It's more aesthetics. For example, we have a calfskin inlay strap because, in the '30s, the hoods of the cars were secured by leather straps."