Hands-on with the IWC Ingenieur Dual Time Titanium ref. IW326403

One of the Ingenieur models that we haven’t discussed in detail, is the Ingenieur Dual Time Titanium ref. IW326403. It was launched this January, when IWC introduced the completely “re-engineered” Ingenieur collection. During an IWC event earlier this week we had the chance to get hands-on experience with this robust globetrotter.

Until now the focus was aimed at the classical Ingenieur Automatic, the Ingenieur Chronograph Racer, and the more technical models like the Ingenieur AMG Black Ceramic and the Ingenieur AMG Double Chronograph Titanium. When it comes to pure practicality, the Ingenieur Dual Time Titanium is probably the best horse of the stable. It’s a perfect travelers watch, something that becomes of more value now we travel the world and have friends, family and business around the globe.

The Dual Time Titanium features, as the name explicitly states, a titanium case. That makes it light on the wrist and the newly shaped rubber strap, makes it even more comfortable. The straps of the previous big Ingenieur didn’t fit my wrist so well, but now the strap has been attached to the case with a downward angle and this might sound as a small thing, but tome this is a huge improvement. Now the case stays perfectly ‘glued’ to the wrist and although the diameter of 45 mm isn’t exactly small, it wears like a 44 mm Panerai Luminor (I assume most of you know this watch first hand, so it’s a good reference).

I compared the Dual Time Titanium with the Double Chronograph Titanium, because I had the idea that the Double Chrono was larger. Even on the photo below it looks like it’s larger, however both watches measure 45 mm in diameter. The Dual Time is 3 mm thinner (13 mm in height) and its dial is grey, instead of the (very striking) silver-plated dial of the Double Chrono, give the watch a more sophisticated look. Of course a chronograph always looks more sporty, but the dial color also enhances both the more sophisticated looks of the Dual Timer and the sporty looks of the Double Chrono.

As already mentioned, the Dual Time is probably the most practical of the entire new Ingenieur family. There are two types of dual timezone watches, which features a central hour and minute hand and a central 24-h hand. One version is usually referred to as office-GMT and the other as travelers-GMT. While the so-called office-GMT is usually equipped with a standard ETA 2893 (independently adjustable 24-h hand), the travelers-GMT is equipped with a variety of movements, sometimes even the very same ETA 2893, but modified (like on this Dual Time).

The difference is that a travelers-GMT features an independently adjustable hour hand, making it possible to first set the 24-h hand on home time and while traveling through different timezones, you can adjust the hour hand. The hour hand can be adjusted in one-hour steps (IWC calls this TZC, or Time Zone Corrector), just like on a Rolex GMT-Master II. The 24-h hand will keep indicating the home time with its 24-h hand, so you’ll also know whether your loved ones at home are asleep or not. To make it easier to differentiate between day and night, the top half, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., is darker than the lower half.

Some more specs:

• The mechanical self-winding movement has a power reserve of 42 hours (when fully wound)
• Indications: hours, minutes, seconds, 24-hour display and date.
• Titanium case, measuring 45 mm in diameter, 13 mm in height, water resistance to 12 bar (120 meters), screw-in crown, flat sapphire glass with antireflective coating on both sides.

For more detailed specifications, please visit the IWC website.