The Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia is the most exclusive and most complicated mechanical watch ever created by IWC Schaffhausen.
View DetailsThe Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia is an apogee in the art of watchmaking from Schaffhausen. Never before, in the company history going back over 140 years, has an IWC watch featured such an array of astronomical displays combined with numerous complications and new advances in watchmaking.
The watch combines the romanticism of the star-studded night sky with rigorous scientific demands, complex watchmaking technology with astonishingly simple operation, and meticulous attention to detail with visionary far-sightedness. Viewed from the front, this fascinating masterpiece is a classic Portuguese, viewed from the back, it is an astronomical instrument. And on the inside, it is a technical milestone in the history of Haute Horlogerie.
It took the project team at IWC Schaffhausen ten years to develop and create the Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia. Watch specialists and astronomers combined their know-how and a wealth of experience in this ambitious project.
Apart from mean solar time – in other words, the normal time of day – the dial in the classic Portuguese style features three other highlights of mechanical watchmaking: a newly developed constant-force tourbillon, a display showing sidereal – or star – time, which is indispensable for astronomers, and a power reserve display showing 96 hours when the watch is fully wound.
Behind the sapphire-glass back we see the night sky studded with hundreds of stars, the detail and mathematical precision of which will quicken the pulse of any astronomer. Among other things, the watch displays the section of the sky visible from a precise location on Earth, together with the apparent orbit of the Sun in the course of the year, and the celestial equator. These are joined by complications such as the perpetual calendar and the absolute day of the year, together with sunrise and sunset as well as solar and sidereal time.
Every watch is unmistakably unique. Not only because the entire celestial chart is calculated individually but also – fully in keeping with IWC’s philosophy – because the customer can personally combine the components, whose selection can result in over 200 different design options of the watch itself.
In view of the enormous amount of work involved with each watch, production will be restricted to just a few pieces per year.
The Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia wristwatch has a night sky disc that reveals the full glory of the star-studded heavens. Realistically, it is possible to show around 500 to 1,000 stars on the glass, every single point representing a real, existing star. The meticulously plotted constellations make it easier to take one’s bearing. A precise location chosen by the customer provides the basis for the celestial chart and the astronomical displays.
The sky disc rotates in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction, depending on whether the chosen geographic location is in the northern or southern hemisphere. The horizon, identifiable as a yellow ellipse, shows the movements of the stars and the section of the sky currently visible in the real sky above the chosen coordinates. They may be indicated in terms of longitude and latitude, but also as GPS data or the name of a town or place.
Sunrise is the precise time at which the upper edge of the Sun appears above the horizon. Sunrise times vary each day throughout the year due to the tilt of the Earth's rotational. It also depends on the longitude, latitude and elevation of your location. If you are located north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, there are days of the year when the Sun never rises and never sets.
On the rear of the Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia wristwatch, two red triangle hands on the outer 24-hour rings indicate sunrise and sunset. The times are calculated individually for a specific location.
Dawn is the time before sunrise when the sky is no longer completely dark. Likewise, dusk is the time after sunset when the sky is not yet completely dark. Twilight is the time between dawn and sunrise and between sunset and dusk.
The time at which the last part of the Sun disappears below the horizon is sunset. Sunset times vary each day throughout the year due to the tilt of the Earth's rotational. It also depends on the longitude, latitude and elevation of your location. If you are located north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, there are days of the year when the Sun never rises and never sets.
On the rear of the Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia wristwatch, two red triangle hands on the outer 24-hour rings indicate sunrise and sunset. The times are calculated individually for a specific location.
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The Portuguese Sidérale Scafusia is the first watch from IWC to feature a patented constant-force tourbillon together with many other complications and individually calculated astronomical displays. Every watch is made on special request and will be unmistakably unique.
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