IWC launches two Da Vinci watches for women at SIHH 2017

IWC Schaffhausen’s iconic slogan, “Engineered for men”, has evolved this year with expansion into the women’s market. Although the masculine watch brand has previously launched women’s watches for its Pilot and Portofino collections, this year’s women’s highlights are significant.

Focusing on the Da Vinci collection for this year’s SIHH 2017, IWC launched two new models – the Da Vinci Automatic 36 and the Da Vinci Automatic Moon Phase 36 – created especially for women. Both models come in a variety of material options.

“IWC is fundamentally a storytelling brand and now we are building new blocks of that storytelling,” says Chris Grainger-Herr, IWC’s incoming CEO.

“When you are a young brand, expanding globally, you need that ‘engineered-for-men’ clarity, this is the core of our DNA; but as you grow and attract new customer segments you are going to open the field to new markets and new tastes.”

It is a natural evolution for IWC to tap female collectors as the market grows. This is certainly great news for the brand’s female collectors, and many of IWC’s celebrity fans turned out to show their support during SIHH, including Rosamund Pike, Olga Kurylenko and Zhang Zilin.

The Da Vinci Automatic 36 and Automatic Moon Phase 36 feature more feminine design elements – the crown, for example, is more rounded and a recessed inner circle is encrusted on the dial. Santoni created the watch straps in a rainbow of colours from raspberry to dark blue.

The simplicity of the dial is, however, contrasted with a geometrical “Flower of Life” pattern that echoes the aesthetics of Renaissance man Leonardo Da Vinci, whose great works inspired the collection.

“Engineering goes beyond the way of making movements and designing functionality,” Grainger-Herr says. “It’s a design statement. It’s why you don’t see overly decorated dials at IWC. It’s a design language statement and we found a lot of ladies who [find] this language appealing, rather than looking for dainty floral pieces.”

Both of the women’s pieces run on a self-winding movement that comes with a power reserve of 42 hours. They are available in cases of stainless steel, or 18ct red gold – with or without a diamond encrusted bezel.

With the new women’s collection, IWC has found sales growth by partnering with e-commerce luxury conglomerate Net-a-Porter since last year with the Portofino collection.